ABC's Jon Karl cites CBO report, asks Karine Jean-Pierre if the Inflation Reduction Act is 'Orwellian'

ABC's Jonathan Karl pressed White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre Sunday about the Inflation Reduction Act, wondering if the moniker was a bit "Orwellian."

The Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 last week as a negotiated version of the Build Back Better Act. The $739 billion measure passed without any "yes" votes from Republicans, who argued that it is packed with unnecessary spending and will not address rising inflation, with many citing a report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office that said the legislation will have a "negligible" effect on inflation.

Karl presented the CBO findings to the press secretary.

"But let me ask you, it's called the Inflation Reduction Act, but the Congressional Budget Office which is nonpartisan said that there would be a negligible impact on inflation this year and barely impact inflation at all next year, isn't it almost Orwellian?" Karl asked Jean-Pierre Sunday on "This Week."

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Jean-Pierre defended the bill as "making sure that billionaires in corporate America are paying their fair share, making sure that the tax code is a little bit more fair," and claimed that "when you put it in its totality, you will see that it will bring down lower the deficit, which will help fight inflation."

"It is going to fight inflation," she later added of the bill. "It has been proven, it has been said by economists across the board on the Republican side and the Democrat side." 

A University of Pennsylvania Penn Wharton analysis released Friday also concluded the measure would only reduce annual inflation by 0.1 percentage point over the next five years. 

"Remember this day," House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif, said after the vote. "When Democrats jammed through a 700-page bill that raises your taxes and doubles the size of the IRS."

Yet Democratic leadership blasted the GOP for voting against the measure, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi citing the bill's climate change efforts and claiming Republicans had voted against "Mother Earth."

"How could they vote against lowering prescription drug costs? How could they vote against helping families with their health care costs?" she said at the bill enrollment ceremony on Friday. "How can they vote against the planet, Mother Earth? Mother Earth gets angry from time to time, and this legislation will help us address all of that."

President Biden is expected to sign the Inflation Reduction Act next week.

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Karl also asked Jean-Pierre about Biden's poor economic approval, with 70% saying in an ABC News/Ipsos poll they think the economy is "getting worse."

"We get it," Jean-Pierre said. "We understand what the American people are feeling at this time. This is a No. 1 priority. Inflation has been a No. 1 priority for this president. Lowering costs has been a No. 1 priority for this president."

Jean-Pierre said every day this summer saw gas prices go down, by more than a dollar overall, saving Americans with two cars a little more than $100 a month and "that matters." She added, "That is because partly of the work that this president has done." Both she and Karl noted that inflation eased slightly in July.