White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki is explaining why President Joe Biden is pushing for several trillion dollars in spending as the economy recovers.
During a press conference on Friday, Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked, “If the economy is so great, you guys are celebrating jobs being created at a historic…”
“Wouldn’t you say over 900,000 jobs created is pretty good?” Psaki asked.
Doocy responded, “So this is my question, why then is the president still pushing for big relief packages, pandemic-era relief packages like the eviction moratorium?”
“One of the biggest pieces of the legislation he’s pushing for as we know is the infrastructure package, and also the Build Back Better agenda,” the press secretary responded.
She continued, “Most of the components in those packages are long-term investments. They’re overdue. They’re meant to modernize our infrastructure, put people back to work over the long-term, and make us competitive over the long-term.”
Finally, she said, “It is still a reality even with a good jobs number this month, and even with four million jobs created over six months that there are still people out of work, there are still people who don’t have enough money to make ends meet.”
Watch the video below:
PETER DOOCY: On the jobs report, if the economy is so great–
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 6, 2021
JEN PSAKI: Wouldn't you say over 900,000 jobs created is pretty good? pic.twitter.com/3ZQ9ul7s18
The U.S. added 943,000 jobs in July according to the Burueau of Labor Statistics and unemployment fell to 5.4%.
The latest jobs report comes after the Biden administration extended a moratorium on evictions through Oct. 3. The latest freeze applies to parts of the U.S. that have “high” or “substantial” transmission of COVID-19.
On Saturday, the federal freeze on evictions expired which led progressives to ramp up pressure on Biden to extend it.
While some members of the Biden administration initially raised questions over whether an extension of the moratorium would be legal, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced it would extend the freeze.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told NPR, “Where we are right now with such high disease rates, we felt a new, tailored order [was needed] to make sure that … working Americans who were at risk of eviction could be stably housed during this really tenuous, challenging period of time.”
Biden is currently pushing Congress to pass a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package and a separate $3.5 trillion spending bill.