President Biden is set to declare on Thursday that the economy has finally reached a turning point he has long sought. With price growth cooling and borrowing costs beginning to fall, he will cast the economic moment as vindication for his often-criticized management of the recovery from the pandemic recession.
But Mr. Biden will stop short of “declaring victory” over inflation in his speech to the Economic Club of Washington, administration officials said.
Instead, the president will stress the need for further action to bring down the costs of housing, groceries and other daily necessities that continue to frustrate American consumers. That is a nod to the politics of price growth, which are challenging for Vice President Kamala Harris as she seeks to succeed Mr. Biden in the November presidential election.
“The president knows this is no time for a victory lap, which is why he will talk about the work ahead,” Jeffrey Zients, the White House chief of staff, told reporters on Wednesday.
Still, Mr. Biden appears poised to more boldly claim credit for the economy’s performance than he has in recent months. The president and Ms. Harris have struggled to shake off voter discontent over an inflation surge earlier in his presidency that has left many Americans with a lingering case of sticker shock.
In recent weeks, the president has been buoyed by a run of good news on prices, including for gasoline, groceries and the overall inflation rate, as well as the first report of rising real incomes for the typical American since the pandemic began. Mortgage rates have fallen from their recent highs, and on Wednesday, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by half a percentage point and signaled further cuts this year.
It is that last move — the Fed rate cut, long awaited by White House aides — that is clearly spurring Mr. Biden’s new posture. The president previewed his forthcoming speech in a post on X on Wednesday, shortly after the Fed announced its interest-rate decision.
“We just reached an important moment: Inflation and interest rates are falling while the economy remains strong,” he wrote. “The critics said it couldn’t happen — but our policies are lowering costs and creating jobs.”
Mr. Biden added that he would use his Thursday speech to discuss “what this means for Americans.”
Mr. Zients and Lael Brainard, who leads the White House National Economic Council, said on Wednesday that Mr. Biden would trumpet his administration’s efforts to strengthen the recession recovery he inherited from former President Donald J. Trump, who is Ms. Harris’s opponent this fall. That included a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill that economists credit for fueling faster post-pandemic growth in the United States than any comparable wealthy nation — but also blame for adding, in part, to soaring inflation in 2021 and 2022.
Mr. Biden is also prepared to claim credit for his administration’s efforts to unclog global supply chains and release oil from America’s strategic reserve in attempts to cool price growth early in his term. He will also, as he is fond of doing, champion legislation he pursued and signed that invests in infrastructure, semiconductor production, low-emission energy and other advanced domestic manufacturing.
Ms. Brainard said the president would also “emphasize that we must continue to work together to tackle longstanding affordability challenges for middle-class families” — including health care, child care and housing.
She, like Mr. Zients, said the president would not be proclaiming victory over inflation. That echoed Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair, who said in a news conference that the central bank was making no such declaration.
“We’re not saying ‘mission accomplished’ or anything like that,” Mr. Powell said. “I have to say, though, we are encouraged by the progress we have made.”
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