White House embraces 'Bidenomics' ahead of next leg of 'Investing in America' tour

WASHINGTON (TND) — A term often used by the president's political opponents is now one the Biden administration hopes to flip to their advantage as it promotes results of legislative gains from the past two years.

"Bidenomics" is the "word of the day, word of the week, word of the month, word of the year at the White House," Principal Deputy Press Secretary Olivia Dalton told reporters on Tuesday ahead of President Joe Biden's trip to Chicago, where he's set to deliver a major address Wednesday on his economic vision.

In the second leg of the "Investing in America Tour," Vice President Kamala Harris, first lady Dr. Jill Biden and members of the president's cabinet will spend three weeks traveling across the country to highlight the administration's agenda for manufacturing, infrastructure, clean energy, lowering costs and creating jobs.

Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, for example, has stops in New York and Pennsylvania to showcase education and training components of the agenda aimed at making sure there are enough skilled workers in relevant industries like semiconductors and biomanufacturing.

Ahead of the tour, Cardona said he'd like to see more apprenticeships and STEM education.

Let's make sure that we start earlier to let (students) know, you know, there's a wind energy industry coming to your neck of the woods. Maybe you want to study something in that area, whether it's engineering or how to operate a CNC machine so that you can make the parts that will make that machine work," Cardona said.

The Republican National Committee called the blitz "Biden's Bankrupting America Tour." The president's opponents often use the terms "Bidenomics" or "Bidenflation" to reference high inflation they say is a result of excessive government spending.

In a push to rebrand the term, the White House defines "Bidenomics" as the president's philosophy for "growing the economy from the middle out and the bottom up, not the top-down."

We believe our job is to continue to speak to the American people to lay out what it is that the president is doing on behalf of American families," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Monday. “We have the numbers to show that his economic policy has indeed worked.

As inflation has fallen to 4% from its peak last summer and unemployment remains low at 3.7%, the president has seen a bump in his approval ratings. According to Gallup, 43% approve of how Biden is handling his job as president—the highest since August 2022. However, Gallup's Economic Confidence Index is lower than it was when Biden took office.

Between May and June consumer confidence jumped to the highest level since January 2022, according to the Conference Board's latest index, and they have a more positive assessment of current business and labor market conditions.

At the same time, the index measured a sight drop in the share of consumers who expect their incomes to increase in the short-term. As economists track a slowdown in consumer activity associated with interest rate increases from the Federal Reserve, the Conference Board observed a slowdown in the six-month moving average of those who plan to plan to purchase homes and vehicles.