MSNBC host, former Obama adviser say Biden should thank Manchin for halting Build Back Better
MSNBC's Joe Scarborough and former Obama adviser Steve Rattner wonders if Joe Manchin deserves praise from the Biden administration for stifling Build Back Better and preventing inflation from being even worse.
Former Obama adviser Steven Rattner and MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough praised Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., for derailing President Biden’s Build Back Better Act because interest rates would be even higher if the costly bill had passed.
Rattner joined MSNBC’s "Morning Joe" to discuss inflation as the liberal network’s on-screen chyron noted it had reached a four-decade high.
"This is what we’ve been warning of, this is what happens. I was wondering why it was taking so long, but you flood the economy with too much money, with too much government debt, with too many government programs, too much defecit spending, this is exactly what happens," Scarborough said. "My God, I just wonder what would have happened if progressives would've gotten their six-trillion dollar wish earlier this year."
MANCHIN KILLS BUILD BACK BETTER AND GIVES NATION – AND REPUBLICANS – A BIG WIN
Last year, Manchin famously declared he would not support "spending trillions more" on social programs amid a dispute between the moderate Democrat and party leaders and effectively killed the massive social policy spending bill known as Build Back Better.
At the time, Manchin said he "made clear to the president and Democratic leaders" that it would be the "definition of fiscal insanity" to greenlight more spending despite funding shortages for social security and Medicare. Manchin also cited concerns about the potential impact to inflation and the shaky U.S. economic recovery.
Former Obama adviser Steven Rattner and MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough praised Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., for derailing President Biden’s Build Back Better Act because interest rates would be even higher if the costly bill was passed. (Getty)
Rattner, a former Treasury Department official under the Obama administration, agrees in hindsight.
"In an ironic way you almost have to thank Joe Manchin for blocking that because $6.5 trillion of spending in this economy would make these numbers look small," Rattner told Scarborough.
AMERICANS' INFLATION EXPECTATIONS JUMPED TO ANOTHER 11-YEAR HIGH IN MAY, NEW YORK FED SAYS
"We had a huge budget deficit, we had an unbelievable aggressive reaction by the Fed to the pandemic, you can kind of understand why they were trying," he continued. "But they just tried too hard, and now we’re all going to pay the consequences in a very, very tough environment over the next year or two while this gets sorted out."
Scarborough agreed that Manchin helped save Democrats by stopping Biden’s Build Back Better Act.
Former Obama adviser Steven Rattner said "you almost have to thank Joe Manchin for blocking" President Biden’s Build Back Better act. (REUTERS/Brendan McDermid)
"I wouldn’t even say ironically thank Joe Manchin, you can just thank Joe Manchin if you’re glad that interest rates aren’t even higher," Scarborough said, referring to the Fed's rate hike to try to tamp down spending.
'UGLY' INFLATION REPORT COULD PUT FED RATE HIKE OF 75-BASIS POINTS ON THE TABLE
U.S. consumers ratcheted up their outlook for where inflation will be one year from now, according to a key Federal Reserve Bank of New York survey published Monday, a potentially worrisome sign for the central bank as it tries to tame white-hot prices.
The median expectation is that the inflation rate will be up 6.6% one year from now, matching an 11-year-high recorded in March, according to the New York Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Expectations, which dates back to 2013. Three years from now, consumers would see inflation hitting 3.9% – unchanged from last month.
President Biden speaks about inflation and supply chain issues at the Port of Los Angeles, Friday, June 10, 2022, in Los Angeles. ((AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes))
The new projections come on the heels of a scorching-hot Labor Department report that showed the consumer price index, a broad measure of the price for everyday goods, including gasoline, groceries and rents, rose 8.6% in May from a year ago, faster than expected. Prices jumped 1% in the one-month period from April.
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It marks the fastest pace of inflation since December 1981.
Fox News’ Jack Durschlag and Fox Business’ Megan Henney contributed to this report.