Jean-Pierre totally flounders when reporter asks when Inflation Reduction Act will actually reduce inflation

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was tripped up Tuesday over how the Inflation Reduction Act will accomplish inflation reduction.

Earlier in the day, the Bureau of Labor Statistics published the consumer price index for August, showing a 0.1% inflation increase from July, a worrying sign, especially amid dropping gas prices. The figures showed inflation grew 8.3% year over year.

Even worse, so-called "core inflation" — which excludes food and energy costs — grew 0.6% from July.

What happened?

Democrats claimed the Inflation Reduction Act, which Biden signed into law last month, would reduce inflation. So, as inflation has only continued to increase, a reporter asked Jean-Pierre at the press briefing when Americans can expect the promised inflation reduction.

"What exactly would the Inflation Reduction Act do to reduce inflation in the short term?" the reporter asked.

The lay-up question, however, proved difficult for Jean-Pierre, who stumbled and was unable to give a substantive answer.

First, she claimed that health care cost savings (which most Americans either can't or won't be able to use) will reduce inflation, but then she claimed deficit reduction will reduce inflation (as the administration continues to spend more money) before resorting to rehearsing praise for the law.

Look, experts, economists has (sic) said themselves that this would be — the Inflation Reduction Act would — would be beneficial to that extra $300 billion in deficit that is really important, as we have — right now have $1.7 billion (sic) in deficit deduction (sic) under this administration. It would — it would help lower that even more, which is incredibly important.

And so, look, we’ve heard from Republicans and Democrats who were U.S. Treasury Secretaries who said it would lower inflation. We’ve heard from more than 126 economists said it would lower inflation.

When the reporter pushed back, noting that many alleged benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act remain out of touch for several years, Jean-Pierre turned to the clean energy tax credits and rebates.

But as TheBlaze noted, the administration has oversold those benefits.

Later, Jean-Pierre was asked about the dissonance between the Biden administration celebrating the Inflation Reduction Act on the same day government numbers proved inflation is not being reduced.

Instead of acknowledging the clear contradiction, Jean-Pierre called the Inflation Reduction Act — which is not reducing inflation — a "huge, huge historic, historic win" for Americans.

09/13/22: Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierreyoutu.be