An economic adviser for President Biden claimed that Americans will notice a decrease in inflation when tax credits kick in that will allow them to weatherize their home.
Asked by CNN Sunday when the Inflation Reduction Act will start bringing down inflation, Biden economic adviser Cecilia Rouse promised a noticeable difference “next year.”
“For example, there are tax credits for energy to help people weatherize their homes and also bring down other forms of energy costs,” Rouse said. “We are focused on helping to make that transition to clean energy in a way that brings down energy costs for families.”
The comments come as inflation has remained stubbornly high in recent months, forcing aggressive action by the Federal Reserve in an attempt to cool the trend. The Consumer Price Index has fallen only slightly since the Fed took action to tighten monetary policy, falling from an 8.5% increase over the previous 12 months when the Fed announced the move to 8.2% in September.
Council of Economic Advisers Chair Cecilia Rouse.
While the White House initially attempted to downplay fears over rising inflation, the Biden administration was forced to promise action on the issue as Americans pinned the blame for rising prices on Democrats.
Biden was eventually able to lead an effort to pass the Inflation Reduction Act earlier this year, though critics and supporters alike stated the legislation would do little to tackle soaring prices.
“Naming it ‘anti-inflation’ is a joke,” O’Shares ETFs Chairman Kevin O’Leary said at the time during an appearance on CNBC. “This is going to be very inflationary almost immediately because we’re printing billions of dollars.”
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President Biden. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
O’Leary’s assessment was shared by the nonpartisan Penn Wharton Budget Model, which found the bill’s effect on inflation would be “statistically indistinguishable from zero.”
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Even U.S. special presidential climate envoy John Kerry, praising the bill for what it does for climate change at the International Energy Agency’s Global Clean Energy Action Forum in Septmber, said he was “not sure how much it has to do with inflation.”
Reached for comment by Fox News, a White House spokesperson said the legislation was designed to attack “the biggest costs families face, including energy, health care, and prescription drugs, while having big corporations and the wealthiest taxpayers pay their fair share to bring down the deficit.”
The spokesperson also pointed to a Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget finding that argued “almost every one of these policies [in the Inflation Reduction Act], in and of itself, will fight inflation.”