President Joe Biden in a speech on Wednesday touted the economic progress made by his administration in its first six months, while also pushing back on worries about rising prices and the concerns about inflation.

What You Need To Know

  • President Joe Biden in a speech on Wednesday touted the economic progress made by his administration in its first six months

  • But he also pushed back on concerns about rising prices and inflation, which he said were temporary and a normal part of recovery

  • The speech came during a pivotal week for his presidency, as Democrats on Capitol Hill forge ahead with both pieces of his domestic agenda

  • President Biden pushed for unity on infrastructure, and he called for passage of the bipartisan infrastructure plan agreed to at the White House last month

The speech came during a pivotal week for his presidency, as Democrats on Capitol Hill forge ahead with both pieces of his domestic agenda, both by moving forward the smaller bipartisan infrastructure plan and by finalizing the larger $3.5 trillion budget plan meant to pass without Republican support.

But the president’s remarks also came amid increasing worries about inflation after evidence of sharply rising prices in recent months.

“Most of the price increases we’ve seen were expected and expected to be temporary,” the president said.

President Biden also said he had been in close contact with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who has reiterated that he also expects inflation to be short term.

“There’s nobody suggesting there’s unchecked inflation on the way, no serious economist,” Biden added later.

The speech marked nearly six months since the president was inaugurated, and he took the opportunity to highlight ways he said he had boosted the country’s recovery since then: the American Rescue Plan, an improved vaccination rollout and implementation of an expanded Child Tax Credit.

"Look, we brought this economy back from the brink," Biden said, saying his administration’s strategy would “lay the foundation for a long term boom”

President Biden also made it clear what he sees as the next step in the economic recovery: passing the $1 trillion infrastructure plan agreed on at the White House last month by a bipartisan group of senators. 

“We should be united in one thing: passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework, which we shook hands on,” he said. 

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., was set to file cloture on the package Monday, formalizing the legislative push on Capitol Hill, though details of the plan are still being hammered out. 

President Biden acknowledged increasing prices, but he firmly pushed back on the idea that they would last. 

"Reality is you can't flip the global economic light back on and not expect this to happen," he said. "As demand returns, there's going to be global supply chain challenges."

The president directly connected the U.S. economy’s recovery so far to the vaccination rollout he took over in late January, which has now led to more than 161 million Americans fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“We fundamentally changed the course of the pandemic from one that threatens all Americans to a disease that has the most severe impacts only on the unvaccinated people,” he said. “We can’t let up.”

The spread of the delta variant threatens recovery particularly in areas of the country with lower vaccination rates, some of which are now seeing alarming spikes in COVID-19 case numbers.

“This virus doesn't have to hold you back any longer. Doesn't have to hold our economy back,” President Biden said. “The only way we put it behind us is if more Americans get vaccinated.”