President Joe Biden delivered a speech in Chicago touting the virtues of "Bidenomics" and taking shots at his Republican rivals in the process.
The White House has been aggressively promoting the term, led by adviser Anita Dunn and spokeswoman Olivia Dalton, with Biden's Chicago speech another leg in that effort.
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"Bidenomics is about building the economy from the middle out and bottom up, not the top down, by making three fundamental changes," Biden said on a stage flanked with blue "Bidenomics" signs. "First, making smart investments in America. Second, educating and empowering American workers to grow the middle class. And third, promoting competition to lower costs and help small businesses."
The president spent his first two years in office presiding over stubbornly high inflation that Republicans blamed squarely on Democrats' pandemic-era spending.
Voters remain as skeptical as ever about his handling of the economy — just 39% approve of it, according to the RealClearPolitics average — but as inflation eases and employers continue to add jobs, Biden is touting that very government spending as the core of Bidenomics.
Biden's speech sought to reverse the narrative that the economy is weak, and he also criticized GOPers, such as Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), for touting new infrastructure projects after voting against the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
“There's a guy named Tuberville from Alabama, who announced that he strongly opposed this legislation. Now he’s hailing its passage," the president said, drawing laughter by crossing himself afterward.
Biden's GOP rivals were ready with a response.
"Bidenomics is high taxes, crippling regulations, crushing inflation, war on American energy, soaring energy costs, job-killing globalist international agreements like the Paris Climate Accord, and total economic surrender to China," read a blast from former President Donald Trump's 2024 campaign. "America First economics vs. America last."
Despite the bragging, the president told reporters at the White House earlier Wednesday that the term Bidenomics didn't originate within the Biden administration.
"A week ago, you said you didn't know what the hell Bidenomics is," a reporter asked on the White House South Lawn before Biden's departure for the Windy City. "Sir, can you tell us today what it is?"
Biden responded, "The first time I heard it used was by you guys in the press," later naming the Wall Street Journal specifically.
"You guys branded it. I didn't," he said. "I never called it Bidenomics, and so I was asked a question."
In any case, the term is now the centerpiece of Team Biden's efforts to take the mantle of economic growth away from Republicans.
Dunn and fellow adviser Mike Donilon released a memo on Monday touting Bidenomics as part of the messaging push.
The memo prominently mentions the 13 million jobs added to the economy since Biden took office, a figure heavily influenced by the fact that he entered the White House in the middle of pandemic-related restrictions. For the same reason, total job growth was actually negative during the Trump administration.
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Biden, like Trump, has emphasized manufacturing jobs while in office. But he also signed into law the infrastructure bill that is now resulting in new infrastructure projects across the country, including a $42 billion investment in rural broadband Biden promoted to start the week.
“Bidenomics is just another way of saying restore the American dream," Biden said. "Because it has worked before.”