WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s Cabinet is spreading across the country this week to promote the ways the administration is working to cut spending, a coordinated effort that targets the issue most important to voters.
As part of the tour, 18 cabinet members and senior White House officials will hold more than two dozen events in 15 states days before the first presidential debate between Biden and former President Donald Trump.
The stops will include presidential battleground states like Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada and Pennsylvania, and will feature local officials in hard-hit areas.
For example, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm will hold events on energy costs in Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will discuss efforts to reduce housing costs in Minnesota. Acting Minister of Labor Julie Su will discuss efforts to increase workers’ wages in Georgia.
Officials will also speak at conferences including the Communications Workers of America conferences, the US Conference of Mayors and the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.
The White House effort complements the Biden campaign’s efforts to convince voters that the incumbent president will help the economy if re-elected, a policy issue that polls show Trump has the upper hand on. Officials will discuss specific steps the administration has taken on issues Republicans oppose, such as food costs, student loans and health care costs.
“We hear a lot from Republicans in Congress. They really like to shine a light on inflation, but they haven’t made any proposals,” National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard said in an interview with MSNBC on Monday.
It comes just days after Biden aired a new direct-to-camera TV ad targeting the price pressures voters are facing. Referring to his middle-class upbringing, the president said he understood that “many American families struggle to make ends meet every day.”
“I know what it’s like to struggle,” he said. “That’s why no one, especially a billionaire like Donald Trump, is going to stop me from fighting to lower rent and food costs.”
The Trump campaign beat Biden on inflation at every turn. Before Biden unveiled a new plan to protect undocumented people married to Americans from deportation, Trump’s campaign turned the focus back to the economy. Trump’s campaign said in a statement that Biden “doesn’t care that inflation-ridden law-abiding taxpayers are forced to pay for free food, housing and healthcare for illegals.”
The Cabinet tour began on Monday and will conclude next Thursday, the day of the first Biden-Trump debate.