During an event Tuesday celebrating the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attempted to praise President Joe Biden for his work. The audience was less than prepared to do so.
“Mr. President, thank you for unifying and inspiring a vision of a stronger, fairer, safer future for all, for our children,” Pelosi said. “Your extraordinary leadership has made this glorious day possible.”
Pelosi paused briefly as if she was expecting an audience to applaud.
When they did not, she took matters into her own hands with four demanding words.
“That’s an applause line,” Pelosi said.
Nancy Pelosi to Joe Biden:
“Your extraordinary leadership has made this glorious day possible. I—That’s an applause line.” pic.twitter.com/Ds3RNyEI0U
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) September 13, 2022
The moment resembled a similar one from years earlier during the 2016 election cycle.
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Then-candidate Jeb Bush had to ask the audience to “please clap” at a campaign event, and the moment became a well-known joke for years afterward.
The Daily Wire put the two clips beside one another, and the resemblance was rather clear.
“She stole Jeb’s trademark,” the outlet joked in its Twitter caption.
She stole Jeb’s trademark pic.twitter.com/Kg22Q4yTj2
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) September 13, 2022
Perhaps the reason the audience did not want to applaud Biden’s work on the Inflation Reduction Act was that as of now, inflation is still through the roof.
In August, consumer prices rose 8.3 percent over the previous year, WGRZ reported. This was down less than 1 percent from the 40-year high in June, when consumer prices rose 9.1 percent from 2021.
While prices rose just 0.1 percent from July to August, lower gas prices contributed greatly to that number. The core price index, which excludes food and energy because of their volatile nature, surged 0.6 percent from July to August.
This was double the increase that Americans felt from June to July, when core prices rose 0.3 percent.
In addition, many Americans have serious doubts as to whether the Inflation Reduction Act that Biden has championed will actually reduce inflation.
Last month, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who is the ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee, said the Congressional Budget Office confirmed the law would not meaningfully address inflation.
“When it comes to the Manchin-Schumer so-called ‘inflation reduction’ proposal, another shoe has just dropped,” Graham said in a statement. “According to CBO analysis, the proposal’s effect on inflation is negligible at best. The estimate ranges from reducing inflation by 0.1 percent to increasing it by 0.1 percent in the near term.
“The idea that this tax and spend proposal is going to blunt inflation is yet again rejected, this time by CBO. Democratic statements about the proposal are quite frankly wrong and misleading.”
Despite these concerns, the Inflation Reduction Act narrowly passed in the Senate, thanks in large part to a late change of heart from Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin.
The reality is that this law will almost certainly fail to actually reduce inflation. In fact, a preliminary analysis from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School found it was likely to increase inflation through 2024.
Instead of admitting this fact, the Democrats decided to hold a celebration in Washington for their useless new law, as Americans continue to suffer from high prices. It is no wonder the audience did not want to clap.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.