Betsey Stevenson countered arguments against President Biden’s Build Back Better legislation as the bill passed the House and moved into the Senate.
“There is just absolute historic investment in childcare that is really going to benefit so many families that have really struggled over the last year-and-half,” Stevenson told CNN. “Americans need to get back to work. They can’t get back to work without childcare. So if we want to slow inflation, what we have to do is get more workers back into the workforce and a great way to do that is to make sure they can afford childcare.”
Inflation is on Americans' minds right now, with prices skyrocketing across the country, but Stevenson says that should slow down in the next year.
"I think that inflation in 2022 will be at a lower rate than inflation in 2021. I think sometimes when people think about inflation, you know, they think that the problem is the price is getting higher," she told Marketplace. "But the problem is really demand outstripping supply, and inflation is a way to bring that into balance. There are other ways to bring that into balance. And I think that how long, you know, higher-than-normal rates of inflation last depend on what we do to bring that into balance."
At the end of the day, Stevenson's biggest concern is steady employment.
"I do think it’s very rocky waters right now, but if I was going to say what I think the number one problem facing the globe is right now it’s how to get everybody back to work and to a place where they’re going to be stable in a post pandemic world, being able to be employed and we don’t see people trapped outside the labor force for a long period of time," she said on Bloomberg.
Read and watch the news items featuring Stevenson below:
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Economist: Build Back Better will help fight inflation, CNN, November 19, 2021
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Balance of Power, Bloomberg, November 22, 2021
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Are we headed toward a wage-price inflation cycle in 2022?, Marketplace, November 26, 2021
