U.S. Senator Katie Britt on Monday released a statement expressing her concerns about confirming the nomination of Dr. Jared Bernstein to serve as Biden’s Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors (CEA).
“Make no mistake, Jared Bernstein has been one of the primary architects of the Biden Administration’s disastrous economic policies,” said Sen. Britt. “The last thing that he deserves is a promotion. While hardworking Americans are struggling to make ends meet amid persistent inflation, Dr. Bernstein has pledged to double down on the same reckless tax-and-spend policies that have caused crushing pain around kitchen tables nationwide. The Senate should overwhelmingly reject this nomination and send a message to the White House that it’s past time to restore American energy dominance, slash burdensome regulations, lower taxes, and onshore good-paying jobs.”
Britt is a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. During Dr. Bernstein’s appearance before the Banking Committee in April, Senator Britt questioned him about the direction he wanted to take the economy. As she noted in her line of questioning, Dr. Bernstein was satisfied with the direction of the economy and expressed no desire to change course on the current economic policies.
Britt claimed that Bernstein’s insistence on advising the President to continue pushing what she called “an irresponsible, partisan tax-and-spend agenda” makes him unfit to serve as our nation’s chief economist – a role which traditionally is reserved for a nonpartisan, serious economic expert.
Specifically, Britt is concerned with inflation. In response to Britt’s questioning, Dr. Bernstein asserted that categorizing inflation as “transitory” was “correct” but “too ambiguous.”
Bernstein would not say that the term “transitory” should not have been used by the Administration.
“The last thing the American people need is a continuation of crushing inflation,” said Sen. Britt immediately following Bernstein’s testimony in April. “Instead of owning up to this Administration’s failures and committing to a course correction, Dr. Bernstein used his testimony today to deflect blame, shirk responsibility, and even claim that this economy is a success. This is a stark departure from the harsh reality facing hardworking Alabamians around their kitchen table every day. Since President Biden took office, inflation is up 15.4%. As a mom of two school-aged children, I see this firsthand every time I walk the aisles at the grocery store or fill up at the gas pump: grocery prices are up nearly 20%, while energy costs are up 36%. Simply put, the American Dream is slipping further and further out of reach. Dr. Bernstein made it clear today that we can only expect more of the same under his counsel. He should be fired, not promoted.”
It is common in American economic history for deficit spending to be utilized as an economic necessity during times of war or recession. The United States is in neither, but under President Joe Biden, the nation has borrowed trillions of dollars, largely for domestic programs, even though the economy is at full employment. The public sector is competing with both the private sector and even other public sector needs for labor, construction materials, capital, energy, etc. The Biden economic policies have yielded jobs and increased wages. Still, Republicans warn that wages have not kept up with inflation, while rapidly rising interest rates have effectively locked tens of millions of American families out of buying a home.
The full Senate will soon vote on confirming Bernstein.
Katie Britt was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2022.
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