WASHINGTON — President Biden’s chief spokesperson falsely mentioned Tuesday that grocery costs have “come down” not too long ago — when federal knowledge present they price 21.1% extra than when Biden took workplace in 2021, together with a persistent 1.1.% bump over the previous 12 months.
White Home press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre made the unfactual declare when requested by a reporter if Biden agrees with Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign-trail argument that “price-gouging continues” with groceries.
“Sure, we’ve talked about this,” Jean-Pierre mentioned at her common briefing.
Then she added, “To be clear, we’ve seen grocery costs come down over the previous 12 months or extra, and so that’s vital, and lots of that has been the work that’s been achieved by this administration.”
Labor Division knowledge present that grocery costs haven’t come down, though they’re rising much less dramatically throughout Biden’s ultimate 12 months in workplace.
Jean-Pierre drew viral mockery for her error, with the account RNC analysis tweeting, “Karine Jean-Pierre continues to indicate why she is the least competent press secretary in historical past.”
Harris, 59, revived her concentrate on the alleged company greed driving grocery-store worth hikes with an advert launched Tuesday through which a narrator says the Democratic presidential candidate will “make groceries extra inexpensive by cracking down on price-gouging.”
The vice chairman final month introduced plans for worth controls on groceries — however has hardly ever talked about the plan since, after withering bipartisan criticism, together with from the Washington Submit editorial board, which usually backs Democrats, and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Trump, 78, has cited Harris’ grocery worth controls to depict her as a “communist” — referring to her as “Comrade Kamala” and insisting that she’s pushing the “Maduro plan,” referring to the financial collapse in Venezuela underneath the nation’s socialist strongman, Nicolas Maduro.
The meals business has disputed Harris’ attribution of blame, arguing that groceries are dearer as a result of general inflation has prompted labor and power costs to extend.
“We perceive why there may be this sticker shock and why it’s upsetting. However to mechanically simply say there’s bought to be one thing nefarious, I believe to us that’s oversimplified,” Andy Harig, a vice chairman at FMI, a commerce group representing meals retailers and suppliers, advised the Wall Road Journal.
Trump has campaigned on inflation underneath Biden, together with grocery costs — saying final month that “individuals are voting with their stomachs, that means they’re going to the grocery retailer, they’re paying 50, 60, 70% extra for meals than they did simply a few years in the past.”
The White Home didn’t instantly supply additional remark.
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