00:00So, Dr. Phelan, if you are confirmed, your job would be to advise President Trump on economic policy.
00:07The Council of Economic Advisers is, quote,
00:11charged with offering the President objective economic advice.
00:17Not political advice, objective economic advice.
00:20So let's go through a few objective facts.
00:23Americans are spending more on everything from gas to groceries.
00:27Prices are rising faster than paychecks.
00:31And Trump's one big, beautiful bill rips away health care coverage for 15 million people
00:37in order to pay for tax cuts for billionaires and giant corporations.
00:43And it adds $4.7 trillion to the national debt.
00:49And that is why we need someone who will tell the truth about the economy
00:53and not just say whatever it is the President wants them to say.
00:58So, you have a Ph.D. in economics from a very prestigious university.
01:02You've been a professor for nearly 30 years.
01:05You've taught thousands of students by this point.
01:09On paper, you look like someone who should be able to provide objective advice.
01:15So, I have some questions and, quite frankly, I hope they are really easy questions for you.
01:22President Trump promised to bring prices down on, quote, day one.
01:28Is headline inflation higher today than it was in February 2025?
01:37Thank you, Senator.
01:40Headline inflation now is certainly lower than it was during the Biden administration.
01:48I'm sorry.
01:49Come on.
01:49Let's not play this game.
01:50You heard my question.
01:52President Trump was sworn in in January 2025 under the promise he would lower costs on day one.
01:59The question I'm asking is, is inflation, headline inflation, today higher than it was in February 2025?
02:10It's a fact question.
02:13Thank you, Senator.
02:15There is a reason economists tend to focus on core inflation, and that is because food and energy is quite
02:21volatile.
02:22Okay.
02:23Can you give me the answer?
02:23More inflation is lower than when President Trump took office.
02:26Can you give me – we'll do core.
02:26Can you give me the answer on headline inflation?
02:30I don't want to know how fast you can dance.
02:33I want to know if you can answer simple, factual questions.
02:37That's all I'm looking for here.
02:40Thank you, Ranking Member.
02:42I do not know exactly what the headline inflation was on January 20th, 2025.
02:472.8%.
02:49So answer the question.
02:51Is headline inflation higher today than it was in February 2025?
02:58Headline inflation now, the last one was year over year, 4.2%.
03:04Okay.
03:05So is 4.2% higher than 2.8%?
03:11Ranking Member, yes, it is.
03:12Oh, wow.
03:13Was that so hard?
03:15You know, you're going to be the guy I called on to give real facts.
03:20So let me try another one.
03:22Dr. Phelan, is annual inflation higher than wage growth today?
03:30Thank you, Ranking Member.
03:33There has been, since President Trump took office, weekly inflation-adjusted earnings are higher now
03:41than they were the day President Trump took office.
03:44The question I asked you is, is inflation higher than wage growth right now?
03:51In other words, even if families are getting raises, on average, are they falling behind because of inflation?
03:59Thank you, Ranking Member.
04:00I do think it's important to have an appropriate time frame when considering anything like this.
04:05An appropriate time frame is when President Trump took office.
04:10The question is, I just want a fact.
04:12If somebody says to you, today are families getting ahead or falling behind, you've got one word to answer that.
04:19What's your word?
04:20My word is at.
04:23Real wages are higher now.
04:25At?
04:25That's your one word?
04:26At?
04:26Real wages are higher now than they were at the beginning of Trump's administration.
04:30You've already told me inflation is 4.2 percent, right?
04:34What's the annual wage growth right now?
04:37It's just a fact question.
04:39Thank you, Senator.
04:39I do not have that in front of me right now.
04:41It's 3.4 percent.
04:43So, let's put this one together.
04:46Is 4.2 higher than 3.4?
04:50I will repeat what I said, which is real wage growth in this administration is positive.
04:57It is right now families are falling behind.
05:01And I've got to say, I can keep this one up, fact after fact, but you have now made clear
05:07what your position is.
05:08And that is you can't even do the basic facts.
05:11I didn't even get to the hard questions here about what this means.
05:15I just want to start with what the facts are.
05:18These are facts that come out of the Trump administration.
05:21They're there for anybody to see.
05:24And you can't bring yourself as the person who sits there and says, I want to be the head of
05:30the Council of Economic Advisors.
05:32Oh, I'm sorry, to give objective economic advice.
05:37And you can't even say, yeah, inflation is running higher than wages right now.
05:43And we're still going to try to keep it on behalf of the chairman to five minutes.
05:47Fair enough.
05:47I think this person has disqualified himself in five minutes.
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