美国国家公共电台 NPR--Rising prices take a toll on Democrats. How has Biden responded to inflation?

Rising prices take a toll¹ on Democrats³. How has Biden responded to inflation?

Transcript⁴

Inflation upended President Biden's domestic agenda and is a top issue for voters heading into the midterms. We track how the White House changed its approach, and how voters have responded.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Days before the election, Democrats are addressing an issue that has endangered their majorities in Congress. We've heard it the last two mornings from voters on this program.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)

MARK ONDRUSEK: My labor⁵ is up 30, 40% versus⁶ four years ago. The cost of everything - utilities, electric, gas - every vendor's tacking⁷ on fuel charges onto the bills.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)

MARGARET BUSH: I'll take example - a bucket of chitlins used to be 8.99. OK? Nobody eats chitlins but Black people.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: That's true.

BUSH: OK? Now they're 24.99, the same bucket that was 8.99 two years ago.

INSKEEP: Democrats might prefer that voters focused on something else, but here we are. So today President Biden is expected to give a speech arguing that Republican policies would make inflation worse. NPR White House correspondent Asma Khalid has been following the White House approach to inflation over time. Good morning.

ASMA KHALID, BYLINE⁸: Good morning, Steve.

INSKEEP: What are you hearing from voters?

KHALID: Well, a lot of voters I meet - Republicans and Democrats - agree they are frustrated⁹ with rising prices, but they differ on who is to blame. The key question I have been trying to answer as a political reporter is how, if at all, people's inflation frustrations¹⁰ actually translate to votes. And so, Steve, I went to an early voting site in Georgia. It's about an hour's drive north of Atlanta. That's where I met Somesh and Mousumi Karanjee. They're feeling inflation on everything from bread and eggs to home renovations. But they voted to keep their Democratic senator in Congress.

SOMESH KARANJEE: The economy, I don't think, has direct relationship with politics. It's - if economy is bad here, it's globally bad. And the previous two years has been a very important factor. The COVID situation, supply chain situation - I don't think politics has anything to do with it.

MOUSUMI KARANJEE: I mean, economy is always - like, it has its ups and downs.

INSKEEP: And so they voted for the Democrat² in their election. But what do you hear from Republican voters?

KHALID: So a little while later, I met Velvet¹¹ and Darryl Sheets. They told me their No. 1 concern is inflation, and they voted for Republicans up and down the ballot¹².

VELVET SHEETS: We never run out of milk, right? We always keep milk in the refrigerator. And it just seems like it just keeps getting higher and higher and higher. Eggs - same thing.

DARRYL SHEETS: Our 401(k)s are down by 25 to 35%. There's, you know, one party controlling what's going on politically. You have to assign that somebody.

KHALID: And so they assign that blame to the Democrats.

INSKEEP: So how has the White House been responding over time?

KHALID: You know, Steve, it has been a challenge. But I want to take you back in time to Biden's first week in the Oval Office. He was worried about COVID, hunger, evictions and unemployment.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Yesterday, we learned that 900,000 more Americans filed for unemployment.

KHALID: So Democrats came in proposing this massive pandemic aid package, nearly $2 trillion. And this set off some alarm bells about inflation. Larry Summers, an economist¹³ who had worked in the Obama administration, took to the pages of The Washington Post and warned it was too much money. The president dismissed those concerns.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BIDEN: The way I see it, the biggest risk is not going too big. If we go, it's if we go too small.

KHALID: But by May, prices were creeping up. The White House insisted it was not a long-term problem. Biden's team kept using this one word to describe it.

(SOUNDBITE OF MONTAGE)

JANET YELLEN: I expect all of this to be transitory.

BRIAN DEESE: At the end of the day, a lot of that issues are transitory.

JEN PSAKI: Most economic analysts¹⁴ believe that it will have a temporary or transitory impact.

KHALID: The president said the price increases were the result of an economy roaring back to life after the pandemic.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BIDEN: The vast majority of the experts, including Wall Street, are suggesting that it's highly unlikely that it's going to be long-term inflation that's going to get out of hand.

KHALID: But by the fall of 2021, inflation had hit a 30-year high. The White House stopped using that word transitory and spent more time explaining why inflation was happening and what the president could do about it.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BIDEN: COVID-19 has stretched global supply chains like never before, and suddenly when you go to order a pair of sneakers or a bicycle or Christmas presents for the family, you're met with higher prices and long delays or they say they just don't have any at all.

KHALID: Inflation kept climbing, and then Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, and gas prices spiked¹⁵. The president and his team continued to blame a combination of culprits.

(SOUNDBITE OF MONTAGE)

BIDEN: The inflation has everything to do with the supply chain.

You want to bring down inflation? Let's make sure the wealthiest corporations pay their fair share.

Today's inflation report confirms what Americans already know. Putin's price hike is hitting America hard.

KHALID: Biden decided¹⁶ to release an unprecedented¹⁷ amount of oil out of emergency reserves. It was one of the few tools he had to combat gas prices. And he repeatedly told Americans he was trying to do more to fight inflation.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BIDEN: My top priority is getting prices under control.

KHALID: But in June, inflation hit another record. And shortly after, Democrats passed a massive bill to curb¹⁸ climate change and lower health care costs. They called it the Inflation Reduction Act. And it's something they have been trying to campaign on.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BIDEN: Democrats are lowering your everyday costs like prescription¹⁹ drugs, health care premiums²⁰, energy bills and gas prices.

(CHEERING)

INSKEEP: OK, some people cheering there, Asma. But how are voters broadly taking the White House efforts to adapt here?

KHALID: You know, Steve, I've been talking to voters about inflation since prices started rising last year. I went to different states - Pennsylvania, Michigan and Florida. And in the beginning, there was a sense that the White House was perhaps slow to acknowledge people's pain. But the more that prices increased, I will say, the more we saw how politicized this issue became. The White House is confident that it's done everything it can and things are beginning to move in the right direction. I spoke²¹ with one of Biden's top economic advisers²², Jared Bernstein.

And I will say, Steve, you know, this White House message does seem to resonate with some people, at least some Democrats. Back in Georgia, I met Aylessa Morris and Pablo Zacarias. They say everything does feel super expensive, between groceries for their kids and lumber²³ prices for his construction company. But they say the president is trying.

PABLO ZACARIAS: We feel like he did the best he could...

AYLESSA MORRIS: Yes. Like, every president has their thing.

ZACARIAS: ...With the situation.

MORRIS: Yes. So I feel like he's doing the most that he can to make things better.

INSKEEP: Well, what is Biden's closing argument on this?

KHALID: The president has pointed²⁴ out that inflation is currently not getting worse and gas prices have come down. And his final message is essentially²⁵ that the cost of living will go up if Republicans take over Congress.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BIDEN: If they take control, they said their first aim is to get rid of the Inflation Reduction Act, and inflation is going to go up, not down.

KHALID: And so, you know, Steve, he is trying to cast this election as a choice rather than a referendum on his own performance. The challenge for Democrats, though, is that they are the party in power. And so whether or not Biden is actually responsible for rising prices, he and his party often bear the consequences of people's frustrations. Back in Georgia again, I met Dale Jordan. He describes himself as a fiscal²⁶ conservative. He didn't like the Republican, couldn't get himself to vote for the Democrat either. So he voted third party. He blames Democratic policies for his high bills.

DALE JORDAN: You cannot keep printing money. Just like in business, you can't keep throwing money at something.

KHALID: Democrats keep talking about this Inflation Reduction Act.

JORDAN: Well, that's a joke. I've read parts of it. It's a joke. And anything it does will take, you know, 10 years for you to see anything.

KHALID: You know, from my interviews, it is clear that Republicans are angry about the economy. The White House is trying to counter that pessimistic view. And I will say, in these final days, we're actually hearing both parties try to use fears about the economy to drive voter turnout.

INSKEEP: NPR's Asma Khalid, pleasure to hear from you.

KHALID: Always a pleasure.

1 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

2 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

3 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

5 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

6 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

7 tacking   

（帆船）抢风行驶，定位焊[铆]紧钉

参考例句：

• He was tacking about on this daily though perilous voyage. 他在进行这种日常的、惊险的航行。
• He spent the afternoon tacking the pictures. 他花了一个下午的时间用图钉固定那些图片。

8 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

9 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 frustrations   

挫折( frustration的名词复数 )； 失败； 挫败； 失意

参考例句：

• The temptation would grow to take out our frustrations on Saigon. 由于我们遭到挫折而要同西贡算帐的引诱力会增加。
• Aspirations will be raised, but so will frustrations. 人们会产生种种憧憬，但是种种挫折也会随之而来。

11 velvet   

n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的

参考例句：

• This material feels like velvet.这料子摸起来像丝绒。
• The new settlers wore the finest silk and velvet clothing.新来的移民穿着最华丽的丝绸和天鹅绒衣服。

12 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

13 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

14 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

15 spiked   

adj.有穗的；成锥形的；有尖顶的

参考例句：

• The editor spiked the story. 编辑删去了这篇报道。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They wondered whether their drinks had been spiked. 他们有些疑惑自己的饮料里是否被偷偷搀了烈性酒。 来自辞典例句

16 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

17 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

18 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

19 prescription   

n.处方，开药；指示，规定

参考例句：

• The physician made a prescription against sea- sickness for him.医生给他开了个治晕船的药方。
• The drug is available on prescription only.这种药只能凭处方购买。

20 premiums   

n.费用( premium的名词复数 )；保险费；额外费用；（商品定价、贷款利息等以外的）加价

参考例句：

• He paid premiums on his life insurance last year. 他去年付了人寿保险费。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Moves are afoot to increase car insurance premiums. 现正在酝酿提高汽车的保险费。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

22 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

23 lumber   

n.木材，木料；v.以破旧东西堆满；伐木；笨重移动

参考例句：

• The truck was sent to carry lumber.卡车被派出去运木材。
• They slapped together a cabin out of old lumber.他们利用旧木料草草地盖起了一间小屋。

24 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

25 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

26 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。