CNBC host to Buttigieg on national debt: 'No one' with credit card bills 'thinks the answer is to spend more'

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CNBC host presses Buttigieg on government spending: 'No one with a credit card bill thinks the answer is to spend more'

CNBC Host Joe Kernen pressed Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's, D-Calif., claims that government spending would reduce the national debt and that it was not inflationary.

CNBC host Joe Kernen pressed Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's, D-Calif., claims that government spending would reduce the national debt and that it was not inflationary. 

Kernen asked Buttigieg during Tuesday's "Squawk Box" segment if Pelosi's statement was the view of the entire administration, and if he could "make that statement in a logical way." 

During a recent discussion of the Build Back Better bill, Pelosi argued that is "non-inflationary because of the way its written."

"So when we're having this discussion, it's important to dispel some of those who say, well it's the government spending – no, it isn't," she said. "The government spending is doing the exact reverse, reducing the national debt. It is not inflationary." 

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

"If you look at our fiscal policy, it is true," Buttigieg said in response to Kernen. "The deficit has gone down, and down by a remarkable amount."

PELOSI CLAIMS GOVERNMENT SPENDING IS ‘REDUCING THE NATIONAL DEBT,’ NOT CAUSING INFLATION

"Some of the investments we make help with inflation. I mean that's definitely true with the infrastructure investments, right, because we know how infrastructure is related to supply chain and supply chain is related to inflation," he continued.    

"It sounds like she's saying ‘we’re going to spend our way out of debt' and obviously no one that has a credit card bill thinks the answer is to spend more," Kernen responded. "Just to say government spending reduces the debt, maybe she didn't mean that, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt."

Shell gas pump showing high gas prices in Lafayette, California, November 25, 2021. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images) (Getty Images)

Co-host Rebecca Quick asked their guest what the administration was going to do about the record-high gas prices Americans are seeing at the pump and if they were in favor of putting the national gas tax on hold. 

CNBC'S RICK SANTELLI RIPS BIDEN ADMINISTRATION'S EVOLVING EXCUSES FOR INFLATION: ‘NOW WE’RE AT PUTIN' 

Buttigieg said it was important to "keep options open," adding that President Biden has taken steps to alleviate the sting. He said the eventual solution to this would be energy independence and a "shift to renewable energy." 

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg speaks during an event to discuss investments in the U.S. electric vehicle charging network, outside Department of Transportation headquarters on February 10, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images))

"Gas prices are famously something that is largely outside of the direct control of any political figure," Buttigieg also said, adding that the administration could be doing other things such as lowering the price of insulin and child care. He said they were getting a lot of push back from "the same people" that are criticizing the president's response to the increased gas prices. 

"There are lots of things way more under our control than the dynamics of global oil markets at a time when an oil producing country is going to war," the transportation secretary said. 

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Gas prices hit a record high on March 11 when the national average hit $4.33 per gallon. The average price per gallon dropped about a half of a cent over the weekend as the average hit $4.33. 

Inflation hit a 40-year high in February, increasing to 7.9%. Gas prices made up about a third of the price hikes, rising 6.6% in February. 

Biden has blamed the increase in gas prices and rising inflation on Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

"Putin's war is already hurting American families at the gas pump since Putin began his military buildup on Ukrainian borders," Biden said during his announcement of a Russian oil ban.  "And with this action, it's going to go up further. I'm going to do everything I can to minimize Putin's price hike here at home and coordination with our partners."