“Too many families are struggling to keep up with their bills,” Biden said, noting that soaring costs are keeping workers from reaping the benefits of the strong labor market and rising wages. “I get it. That’s why my top priority is getting prices under control.”
To get inflation under control, the President called on companies to lower their costs and not their wages. He asked the car and tech industries to bring their supply chains back home and make both vehicles and semiconductors on US soil.
“Instead of relying on foreign supply chains, let’s make it in America,” he said.
Biden also called for increased investment in infrastructure and innovation, as well as more well-paying jobs and raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.
“Now our infrastructure is ranked 13th in the world,” Biden said. “We won’t be able to compete for the jobs of the 21st Century if we don’t fix that.”
Biden proposed capping the cost of insulin to $35 a month and letting Medicare negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs.
Child care, Biden noted, has weighed on families especially during the pandemic.
“Middle-class and working families shouldn’t have to pay more than 7% of their income for care of young children,” he said. “My plan will cut the cost in half for most families and help parents, including millions of women, who left the workforce during the pandemic because they couldn’t afford child care, to be able to get back to work.”
Biden also called for an extension of the enhanced Child Tax Credit, which was beefed up for 2021 as part of the American Rescue Plan Act.
Energy costs, which touch Americans when they’re heating their homes as much as when they’re fueling their cars, rose by 27% over the past year and have contributed a lot to inflation. Gas prices rose a whopping 40% in the year ended January.
Biden wants to cut energy costs for families by an average of $500 per year while also combating climate change.
“Let’s provide investments and tax credits to weatherize your homes and businesses to be energy efficient and you get a tax credit for it,” he said.
So far, Washington’s policies have done little to stop inflation.
While investors and economists long anticipated the Fed’s move, it will take time to for Americans to see any real relief.
