Texas Sen. Ted Cruz appeared to take a stab at President Joe Biden on Saturday by sharing a clip of his Democratic predecessor Bill Clinton declaring that a recession accounts for “two-fourths” of the economic contraction.
Republican lawmakers retweeted a video clip of Clinton sitting in the White House on December 19, 2000 with incoming Republican President George W. Bush.
When asked about his fears of an imminent recession, Clinton replied, “Well, a recession is two straight quarters of negative growth.”
“Bill Clinton was right,” Cruz wrote on Twitter.
It comes as the Biden administration continues to deny that the US economy is in recession, despite contracting for a second straight quarter late last week.
President Joe Biden and his officials are pointing to metrics such as record job growth and resilient levels of consumer spending to argue the country is not yet in a recession — previously claiming that such a downturn is not inevitable.
The Clinton clip shared by Cruz further shows the former president presenting an optimistic view of the economy under Bush’s leadership, in a show of bipartisanship less well known in Washington today.
He argued that negative GDP growth after a period of substantial gains is not uncommon — similar to how the Biden administration has argued about the economy’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz said “Bill Clinton was right” when the former Democratic president defined a recession as “two consecutive quarters” of negative economic growth
“I think there’s going to be things to deal with and there’s still going to be economic challenges, and you’re giving him all the chances to meet them and not find out everything in advance,” Clinton told his Republican successor’s reporters.
Biden has been criticized from both sides of the aisle for being slow to respond to the mounting financial strain on Americans.
From calling inflation “temporary” in the summer of 2021 to denying a recession despite two quarters of negative economic growth, multiple polls have shown that US voters feel the president is disconnected from their struggles.
A recent CNN poll found that just 30 percent of Americans agree with how he’s handling the economy, and nearly 7 in 10 believe the president hasn’t paid attention to the country’s worst problems.
A poll by Black to the Future Action Fund and Socioanalitica Research released last week shows the economy is among the top concerns of black voters, a critical bloc of support for Biden.
“Well, there’s no doubt that we expect slower growth than last year, and – for the rapid increase that we’ve had. But that is consistent with a transition to stable, steady growth and lower inflation,” Biden said at a meeting with business leaders after the data was released.
The latest inflation data shows that the average cost of consumer goods rose 9.1 percent year-on-year in June. This is the strongest increase in four decades.
“There’s going to be a lot of talk today on Wall Street and among pundits about whether we’re in a recession,” Biden said Thursday.
“But if you look at our job market — consumer spending, business investment — we’re still seeing signs of economic progress in the second quarter.”
Cruz’s tweet appeared to be a veiled smack at President Joe Biden, though he doesn’t mention him by name. Biden critics have slammed the president for continuing to deny that the US is in a recession
US inflation rose to 9.1 percent in June, the highest since 1981 and better than economists had forecast
Biden pointed out that Federal Reserve Chairman Powell “has made it clear that he does not believe the US is currently in a recession.”
Cruz, meanwhile, shared the clip after being singled out online and by Democrats as one of the Republican senators who opposed legislation that would have expanded health care for military veterans exposed to toxic “burn pits.”
These “fire pits” to destroy materiel in Iraq and Afghanistan have left US troops home with a range of ailments from asthma to deadly cancer.
It had been passed by the Senate, but had to be voted on again for technical reasons.
Republicans, including Cruz, claimed they voted against it for “budgetary” reasons and accused Democrats of including unrelated provisions in the bill.
“The bill that Ted Cruz voted yes to had exactly the same funding provisions as the bill that he voted no to. It’s the exact same bill. None of this makes sense,” Jon Stewart, who has been a advocate for veterans for decades, said on Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press.
Stewart described Cruz’s statement as “a jumble of words he spits into his coffee cup on his way to God knows where while veterans in Washington, DC, sit in the sweltering heat demanding they pass this law they fought for.” , for 15 years.’