CNN host presses Biden econ adviser over Inflation Reduction Act: ‘Could have named’ it something else

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CNN Anchor blasts White House econ adviser over Inflation Reduction Act's name: ‘Could have named’ it something else

CNN host Kate Bolduan called out White House economic advisor Cecilia Rouse for Democratic Party naming the massive new spending bill the Inflation Reduction Act when it seems the bill doesn’t prioritize lowering inflation.

During the latest episode of CNN’s "At This Hour," host Kate Bolduan called out White House economic advisor Cecilia Rouse to the Democrat Party’s massive new spending bill as the "Inflation Reduction Act" when it seems the bill doesn’t prioritize lowering inflation.

As Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., put it the other day while citing the Congressional Budget Office’s analysis of the bill, the Inflation Reduction Act "will have a minimal impact on inflation."

Rouse’s response to Bolduan’s insistence that the bill was inaptly named was not convincing. She merely claimed the bill would "grow" other sectors of the economy, hoping the CNN anchor and the audience could accept that as a strategy to lower near 40-year high inflation.

Bolduan prompted Rouse, referencing the gulf between the law’s name and its function as described by the CBO. "Cecilia, Democrats titled this bill the Inflation Reduction Act, which begs, of course, for voters to hold you all accountable to that. The Congressional Budget Office … says that the bill would have negligible impact on inflation this year and next," she stated.

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CNN anchor Kate Bolduan presses White House economic advisor Cecilia Rouse on why the Inflation Reduction Act was given its name when it supposedly doesn't lower inflation.

Bolduan then asked, "Are you personally comfortable as an economist calling it the Inflation Reduction Act?"

Rouse opted for a meandering answer about how the legislation will stimulate economic growth which will somehow turn match supply to the high demand that’s causing inflation.

She stated, "So this bill represents really important investments we know we need to make that help to expand our economic capacity. Inflation happens when we have too much demand for the supply, and we know we need to be investing in the supply supports so that we are better able as a country to address issues like inflation going forward."

Rouse added, "So this will increase our economic growth, and because of how we plan to implement it and provisions in the bill, it will — that growth will be more equitably shared."

Though this answer wasn’t satisfactory for Bolduan who wanted to know how inflation would be combated by this legislation in the immediate future. The host pressed Rouse again, "But if you passed a bill called the Fill Every Pothole Act, I mean, voters should expect you to fill every pothole. I mean, so should voters measure the success of this bill on how much you reduce inflation in the next couple of years?"

The Congressional Budget Office has claimed that the Inflation Reduction Act will have a "minimal" impact on inflation. (Composite)

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Rouse answered by talking about how the bill is an investment in the economy that would shape it in the long term. "So this bill spins out over several years and so the tax provisions, for example, some of the tax revenue will happen immediately, some of the benefits in terms of deficit reduction will materialize over time. So, again, this is really an investment in our economy."

She added, "It represents the president’s economic vision for transitioning to an economy that works better for American families by generating the kind of growth that’s based on stable, steady productivity gains in the language of economists, so that kind of growth that we know we need to be making in order to ensure that we continue progressing for the decades to come."

Bolduan wasn’t too impressed with the word salad, pushing back one more time on the deceptiveness of the bill’s name. "And a name is just a name. But there are definitely a lot of other names you could have named this bill," Bolduan said, laughing. 

During a CNN segment from earlier on Tuesday, CNN White House correspondent John Harwood claimed that Democrats named the bill the Inflation Reduction Act as a "marketing device" to get Sen. Joe Manchin, R-W.Va., to vote for it. 

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CNN anchor Kate Bolduan interrogated Council of Economic Advisers Chair Cecilia Rouse over the name of the Inflation Reduction Act on Tuesday. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)