White House chief of staff Ron Klain has defended Joe Biden and his administration as the presidents approval ratings continues to fa...
White House chief of staff Ron Klain has defended Joe Biden and his administration as the presidents approval ratings continues to fall amid rapidly rising inflation and a 'cost of living' crisis.
Polling from Monmouth University suggests confidence in the president is in short supply and dwindling with 42 per cent saying they are unsure of the president's ability to rescue the economy in the aftermath of COVID-19.
The figures are 12 per cent lower than when Biden took office in January when his approval rating sat at 54 percent.
White House chief of staff Ron Klain, pictured, has defended several crises afflicting the Biden administration including rising inflation, high unemployment and supply chain issues
'Things are a lot better in this country than they were a year ago with regard to covid, with regard to the economy but we have a lot of work left to do and I think voters are in a "show me, don't tell me" mode,' Klain told Jake Tapper, seen left, on CNN
Confidence is lacking that Biden will be able to help recover the economy from ruin caused by the pandemic – including spiking inflation and supply chain bottlenecks coupled with high levels of unemployment.
'Things are a lot better in this country than they were a year ago with regard to covid, with regard to the economy but we have a lot of work left to do and I think voters are in a 'show me, don't tell me' mode,' Klain told Jake Tapper on CNN.
'The infrastructure bill the president is going to sign on Monday is a big step forwards in terms of dealing with long-standing issues in this country. I think the Build Back Better bill, which we hope the House will vote on is another thing.
'We have to continue to work on the other economic problems and continue our work on COVID,' Klain said as he rapidly pivoted to where the administration has been more successful.
'Just this past week we rolled out the vaccine for ages 5-11. Our country is the only one in the world that has bought enough vaccine for every child to be vaccinated. We got one million children vaccinated in the first few days of this program. We're going to see that continue to grow in the days ahead. We have problems to solve, but we're solving.'
President Joe Biden’s big spending plans on infrastructure, support programs, and climate change remain broadly popular even though he personally does not
Biden currently holds a job performance rating of 42% approve and 50% disapprove. This marks another decline in his approval number since he hit 54% in April, before dropping to 48% in June and 46% in Septembee
In its first week of rollout it's believed up to one million children got vaccinated
The president’s large spending plans remain broadly popular. Support for the Bipartisan Infrastructure deal which passed Congress last week and awaits the president’s signature
Tapper brought the interview back to the subject of rapidly rising inflation impacting Americans, referencing a tweet from Senator Joe Manchin.
'By all accounts, the threat posed by record inflation to the American people is not 'transitory' and is instead getting worse. From the grocery store to the gas pump, Americans know the inflation tax is real and DC can no longer ignore the economic pain Americans feel every day.'
'Do you think that Build Back Better in its current form is essentially dead because of inflation?' Tapper asked Klain.
'Quite the opposite,' he replied adding Manchin's concerns 'make the strongest possible case for Build Back Better.'
'I think if your concern is the cost of living, it's a concern we have here at the White House, it's a concern Senator Manchin shares, the Build Back Better bill is the best answer we have to bring those costs down,' Klain said.
Democratic Senator Joe Manchin tweeted about rapidly rising inflation on Americans
Tapper references a poll that suggested 42 percent of American families believe they 'have not benefited at all' from President Biden's policies.
The dip could hinder Biden's ability to lead Democrats into the 2022 midterms.
Americans are particularly perturbed by rising inflation leading to increased prices on goods and services, which the administration in the past has dismissed as a cyclical rise despite the higher-than-normal increase.
'I understand why a lot of them might feel that way because of all the increase in prices. Gas, used cars, bacon, beef, chicken, eggs, furniture, TVs, kids' shoes, electricity, rent. What do you say to these Americans who say, you know what, we're not feeling any help from President Biden?'
Items and consumer prices across all areas of life have gone up from cars to electricity
The consumer price index rose 5.4% in September from a year ago, up slightly from August's gain of 5.3% and matching the increases in June and July
Supply chain bottlenecks – in part caused by the pandemic labor shortage – has Americans worried about goods shortages going into the holiday season
Klain did not address the issue directly instead referencing another part of the Monmouth poll that suggested the public was in favor of the Infrastructure bill.
'I have no beef with voters, pardon the pun, who say, look, the recovery is making progress, but not far enough along for me yet. That's why we aren't stopping work now. That's why we're working hard to move the recovery forward,' he added
Last month, Klain called the economic downturn a 'high class problem'.
Inflation rose 5.4 per cent from September 2020 to September 2021 having been affected by several factors like the pandemic, labor shortages and the supply chain bottlenecks – specifically at the Port of Los Angeles, where more than half of shipping containers coming to the U.S. arrive.
In October Biden announced that along with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg a deal was brokered with private sector companies to keep the port open 24/7 to help with delays and ship traffic jams.
Trucks are not arriving fast enough to offload the massive number of ships arriving with containers. And now, the trucking industry could face a shortage of the labor force as the vaccine mandate goes into effect.
Companies are now begging the administration to delay the mandate until after the holiday season.
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