Statement from President Joe Biden on February CPI Report
Today’s report shows annual inflation is down by a third from this summer at a time when the unemployment rate remains near a 50-year low. That is the slowest annual increase since September 2021. I will continue working to lower costs for hard-working Americans so they have a little more breathing room at the end of the month.
On that front, I am pleased at today’s announcement that, in line with my call, Novo Nordisk will be lowering their insulin prices by 75 percent, following Eli Lilly’s action. This builds on the important progress we made last year when I signed a law to cap insulin at $35 for seniors. I urge all other manufacturers to follow suit and Republicans in Congress to join us and cap insulin at $35 for all Americans.
As I’ve long said, and as challenges in the banking sector remind us, there will be setbacks along the way in our transition to steady and stable growth. But we face these challenges from a position of strength. More than 12 million jobs have been created since I took office and the share of working age adults in jobs or looking for work is the highest it has been in 15 years. We will continue to make progress in our fight to build an economy from the bottom up and middle out, not top down.
At the same time, I will do everything in my power to prevent us from going backwards on the progress we’ve made – including by standing up to Congressional Republicans who threaten economic catastrophe over the debt limit in order to secure tax cuts for the wealthy and large corporations and reckless cuts to critical programs that American seniors and families count on.
###