Klain: ‘Prices Are Too High’ and Biden Needs ‘More Progress’ and to ‘Use His Tools’ on Border

On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “All In,” former Biden Chief of Staff Ron Klain stated that “Prices are too high” and “the price of gasoline is still high, other prices are still high, and people feel that pinch.” And President Joe Biden “needs to make more progress on that.” He also stated that Biden has “to try to use his tools to try to bring more order at the border and to try to clean up the mess that he was left by Donald Trump.”

Klain said that the “theory of the case” for Biden is, “the President’s done a good job, he’s running on his record, and he also has an agenda to make the country a better place. And calling migrants who come to this country and work hard and pay taxes and do so many important jobs in our country, calling them animals is just disgraceful. So, I think the President thinks he’s going to confront Donald Trump on his disgraceful conduct, on his record, and also talk about what he’s done and what he wants to do. And the event today with Sen. Sanders (I-VT) was a good example. It also — it acknowledged the progress they’ve made on bringing down the cost of prescription drugs. Yet, there’s still a big agenda left to be done. Working together with President Biden, with Sen. Sanders, got a bill passed that allows Medicare to negotiate the price of prescription drugs. That will save the government and save our senior citizens a lot of money on prescription drugs. Now, the President wants that to be true for everyone in our country and for people under 65 to have that same benefit, bring down the cost of their prescription drugs. That’s a real result that matters in people’s lives. Prices are too high. People need more money in their pockets. And so, I think both confronting President Trump on his outrageous conduct and chaos and having an agenda for what he wants to do in another four years, I think that is the key thing for getting President Biden re-elected.”

Klain added that the “disconnect” between economic data and Biden’s approval ratings is due to the fact that “people live their lives and they want to know how it affects them and their kitchen table and their family budget. And prices — although inflation has moderated, prices are still high, the price of gasoline is still high, other prices are still high, and people feel that pinch. And though wages have gone up, and the statistics say wages have gone up faster than prices, people still feel pinched in their pocketbooks. And so, I think the President needs to make more progress on that. I think that was part of the thing he was talking about today about prescription drugs, which is a key pain point for many families. And he’s going to continue to fight to bring down prices on key things that matter to families. And he’s going to have to make more progress. So, I understand that people say, hey, I’m glad you have all these good things going on in the economy, I’m glad that there are jobs, but people want to see that their own personal pocketbook is better off. And that’s what the President’s delivering, and Trump out there is spreading hate and division that’s not going to make anyone better off. And so, I think it’s a clear choice on the question of democracy, on the question of unifying the country, and on the question of what’s going to make people better off in their daily lives.”

Klain concluded, “I think the President needs to continue what he’s doing to try to get the border under control and use his limited powers if Congress won’t act to try to do that. And I think that’s the right thing to do. I do think, as the campaign proceeds, we’re going to have a discussion about migration in our country and the contributions that migrants make to our economy, and, just generally, the inhumanity in what Trump is saying about migrants, calling them animals. … I think that will be a part of the campaign, but I think that the President needs to do his job, first and foremost, which is to try to use his tools to try to bring more order at the border and to try to clean up the mess that he was left by Donald Trump.”

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