Nancy Pelosi awkwardly tried to excite the crowd celebrating Joe Biden’s signing of the Inflation Reduction Act on Tuesday.
Touting the president’s reconciliation bill as a way to reduce rampant inflation, the House speaker was greeted by a lukewarm audience that didn’t cheer after her praise of Biden.
‘Mr. President, thank you for uniting and inspiring a vision for a stronger, more just and safer future for all our children. Your extraordinary leadership made this glorious day possible,” Pelosi said, after which the crowd observed a moment of silence.
“It’s applause,” she continued, motioning for the crowd to cheer.
On Tuesday, Nancy Pelosi awkwardly asked the audience to clap for her praise of Joe Biden and his Inflation Reduction Act. Pictured: Pelosi (left) with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer
It comes as Democrats try to sell Biden’s work on reducing inflation, which fell in August after hitting an all-time high of 9.1 percent in June
The moment was reminiscent of Jeb Bush’s famous “please clap” moment, when the Republican presidential candidate implored a crowd of unenthusiastic supporters to root for him during his failed 2016 campaign.
While Pelosi was dealing with her own failure on Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was by her side to play off the awkward moment.
After she asked the crowd to cheer, Pelosi said, “And let’s welcome Leader Schumer [and] to his colleagues in the Senate for their extraordinary leadership and success in bringing this bill to the floor.”
Schumer responded, “It’s a round of applause!”
This moment was part of the Democrats’ victory over the Inflation Reduction Act, designed to to reinforce Democrats» ahead of the November election and remind voters of the work Biden has done to ease cost of living for Americans.
President Joe Biden’s victory on his climate change law and prescription drug prices suffered a setback on Tuesday as he celebrated its passage at the White House, while the stock market posted its biggest drop in two years
Wall Street’s major stock indexes fell sharply for the first time on Tuesday as the latest inflation data raised concerns that the Fed will continue its aggressive rate hikes
On a hot sunny day, more than a thousand people crowded the South Lawn. Democratic members of Congress, union officials and Biden supporters were there to support the president.
But the downward spiral of markets and inflation in August cast a cloud over the event, and Biden stumbled a bit.
He took off his jacket on an 80-degree day, threw it on the stage floor, but then stepped on it.
He spoke of his legislative victory when it happened: “This extraordinary story is being written in America today by this administration as I step on my coattails.”
He stopped to pick it up. “It’s a good thing my mom isn’t around,” he quipped as the audience laughed.
President Joe Biden (2nd right), US Vice President Kamala Harris (right), First Lady Jill Biden (2nd left) and Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff (left) participate in a celebration of the Inflation Reduction Act
In his speech, Biden berated Republicans for not voting for the bill.
“I think Republicans could and should have joined us on this bill as well,” Biden said. “At the end of the day, this bill has cut costs for families to help reduce inflation at the kitchen table.”
He also criticized Donald Trump’s tax cuts, but did not mention the former president by name: “My predecessor had a $2 trillion tax cut that didn’t pay a dime, and it mostly benefited the richest 1% of Americans. people and the largest corporations,” he said.
Ahead of the big event came news that prices rose 0.1 percent in August from a month earlier, despite a drop in gas prices. Food prices have soared, however, as have monthly rental rates.
This was bad news for the Biden administration and a sign that the Federal Reserve will continue to raise interest rates, which will lead to higher rates on mortgages, auto loans and credit cards.
Inflation was 8.3 percent in August, down from 8.5 percent in July and 9.1 percent in June. Nevertheless, economists hoped for a sharper drop. The stock market erupted on the news, with the Dow down more than 500 points and the S&P and Nasdaq both down 2 percent.
The August inflation rate of 8.3% represents a drop from a 40-year high of 9.1% in June and 8.5% in July, but shows that inflation is still high and well above the Fed’s 2% target rate.
The Biden administration has repeatedly touted the fact that gas prices have fallen over the past few months — after they topped $5 a gallon in some parts of the country.
But August’s inflation numbers sent food prices soaring. Food prices rose 13.5 percent from a year ago, the largest annual increase since February 1979.
Republicans went on the attack with Republican National Committee Chairwoman Rona McDaniel arguing that Americans “cannot afford” Biden as president.
“Families simply cannot afford Biden and the Democrats. Voters know that Democrats’ reckless spending got us into this mess, and the only way to fix it is to vote these politicians out. While Biden and the Democrats are winning out of touch today, Americans are struggling to fill their grocery carts,” she said in a statement.
Costs for services such as eating out or childcare have also risen.
In addition, Americans are also paying more per month in rent as more people shy away from buying homes due to high mortgage rates, which in turn reduces the number of available rental properties.
