U.S. Representative John Rose (R-TN-06) slammed the White House Council of Economic Advisors on Tuesday for “actively trying to change the definition of the word ‘recession.'”
Rose spoke from the U.S. House floor, ahead of the expected release of economic data for the second quarter of 2022.
“Madam Speaker, on Thursday, the Bureau of Economic Analysis will release its second-quarter gross domestic product numbers, an overall measure of our country’s economic output from April through June,” Rose said.
“For decades, a recession has been defined as two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth. Therefore, if Thursday’s second-quarter GDP number is in the negative, then by definition, the United States’ economy will be in a recession,” he added.
Rose proceeded to criticize the White House for the very public attempt to change the conversation on what constitutes a recession.
“However, that won’t stop the White House from doing everything it can to deny the obvious. In fact, the White House Council of Economic Advisors is actively trying to change the definition of the word ‘recession,'” he said.
“In a blog post published on July 21st titled ‘How Do Economists Determine Whether the Economy Is in a Recession?’ the White House argues that ‘it is unlikely that the decline in GDP in the first quarter of this year – even if followed by another GDP decline in the second quarter – indicates a recession,'” the U.S. representative added.
“I hope those students who will be taking Economics 101 in the fall are taking notes – because the Biden administration is attempting to change the decades-old answers to the test questions for purely political purposes. Instead of President Biden and his administration attempting to bait and switch the public on the definition of a recession, they should change course on their policies that are crushing our economy and creating significant pain for millions of Americans,” Rose emphasized.
Rose additionally blamed the Biden administration’s economic policies for the inflation crisis and other economic indicators.
“President Biden’s disastrous economic policies are having a ripple effect on the housing market, gas and food prices, real wages, and of course overall inflation. Now, we’ll find out on Thursday whether – by definition – we’re in a recession,” he said.
“Madam Speaker, it didn’t have to be this way. We didn’t have to borrow and spend ourselves into this mess. The president didn’t need to cancel the Keystone Pipeline. He didn’t need to restrict new oil and gas leases on public lands. He didn’t need to create new regulations on every sector of the economy through the Securities and Exchange Commission and other bureaucratic government agencies,” he added.
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