Former White House chief of staff Ron Klain acknowledged Wednesday that U.S. prices “remain high” and warned President Biden that “more progress is needed” to reduce costs.
Appearing on MSNBC’s “All In,” Klain predicted the pocketbook issue would be a big part of the November election as Biden and his allies scramble to fine-tune their message on the economy.
Klain, who served as White House chief of staff for the first two years of the Biden administration, said: “Inflation is slowing, but prices are still high, gas prices and other goods are still high, and people are feeling the pinch. “There is,” he said.
“Wages are rising, and statistics show that wages are rising faster than prices, yet people are still feeling tight in their pockets,” he added. “So I think the president needs to go further on this.”
A Wall Street Journal poll released Tuesday night found Mr. Biden, 81, leading Mr. Trump, 77, by 20 points (54% to 34%) among registered voters in seven battleground states. ) What separates them is the question of which man can best handle this problem. economy.
The survey also found that a majority of voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin rate the country’s economic situation as “not very good” or “poor.”
Annual inflation peaked at 9.1% in June 2022, before falling to 3.2% in February, the latest month for which statistics are available.
“I understand that people say, ‘I’m glad the economy is doing well, I’m glad we have jobs,'” Crain said. A notebook is better. ”
Elsewhere in the interview, Klain said that despite the president’s insistence that Biden needs to pass additional security spending to give him authority to combat the migrant surge, He said there was a need to “strive to bring more order to the border by means of means.” .
“If Congress doesn’t act on that, I think the president needs to continue what he’s doing on border control and use limited authority,” he said. “And I think that’s the right thing to do.
“As the campaign progresses, I think we’ll be talking about our immigrants and the contributions they make to our economy, and what is inhumane in general terms.” [Donald] Trump calls immigrants animals. ”
Mr. Crane continued. “It’s part of the campaign, but I think the president needs to do his job first and foremost, which is to try to use the tools of the presidency to bring about more order.” Across the border. To try to clean up the mess left by Donald Trump. ”
