Top Biden official says sky-high inflation underscores 'urgency' for Congress to spend even more money

A top Biden administration official suggested Wednesday the shocking new inflation report is evidence the government needs to spend more money.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the updated consumer price index on Wednesday, showing a 9.1% year-over-year inflation increase. The sobering figure is worse than every expert prediction.

What did Deese say?

Appearing on CNBC to spin the awful CPI report, National Economic Council Director Brian Deese called the report "backward-looking" and claimed "it doesn’t reflect what we’ve seen over the last 30 days."

In fact, what the report actually indicates is the need for more spending, Deese claimed.

"I just want to underscore if there's one thing to take away from this report it’s that there is more urgency now than ever in Congress moving to pass a bill to try to build more domestic semiconductors, to try to bring down the price of those goods," he said.

CNBC host Carl Quintanilla immediately pushed back.

"Although that brings us right back to the circular argument, Brian, that more spending is not what you typically do in the face of high inflation," Quintanilla noted. "How do we break out of that circle?"

"No, look, I think you have to look at the unique situation that we’re in as an economy and think about how do we build more supply, how do we increase the productive capacity of our economy, so that we actually can supply more goods, bring prices down." Deese responded. "We know the answer on semiconductors exactly — we need more supply of those goods."

Deese was referring to legislation worth $52 billion that would help boost domestic semiconductor production, thus allowing American companies to better compete with China.

Anything else?

President Joe Biden released a statement Wednesday morning downplaying the bad inflation report.

Oddly, the statement celebrated that core inflation is below 6%. But Jason Furman, a top adviser in the Obama administration and Harvard professor, observed that June's core inflation figure — 5.9% — is precisely why the new report is "brutal."

Fortunately, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has already put the kibosh on any new spending.

"No matter what spending aspirations some in Congress may have, it is clear to anyone who visits a grocery store or a gas station that we cannot add any more fuel to this inflation fire," Manchin said on Wednesday.

Inflation core is too high: White House economist Brian Deesewww.youtube.com