WH claims credit for ‘lowering’ Thanksgiving prices despite rising costs since 2020

The White House took a victory lap this week for purportedly “lowering costs” to American families preparing to celebrate Thanksgiving this year, while ignoring rising prices that have affected consumers since President Biden’s election in 2020.

“This Thanksgiving, we have a lot to be thankful for. While inflation caused by the pandemic and Russia’s war continues to be a challenge, we have seen important progress,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a Monday press briefing at which she displayed a hypothetical Thanksgiving menu to make her point.

Jean-Pierre highlighted that gas prices have decreased $1.70 from their peak in June 2022, while airline ticket prices have gone down 13% from this time last year, while car rental prices had fallen roughly 10%.

The press secretary also noted inflation in grocery prices has dipped to its lowest level in more than two years, with staples like eggs, milk, bacon and fresh vegetables costing less on average than in 2022.

Jean-Pierre also cited an American Farm Bureau Federation report that found the “classic Thanksgiving feast for 10” in 2023 to be priced at $61.17, “a 4.5% decline from historically high prices last year,” with a decrease in turkey prices accounting for most of that price reduction.

“Lowering costs for Americans continues to be the president’s top economic priority,” Jean-Pierre said.

But AFBF data also shows that Thanksgiving prices have shot up 30% since 2020, with the classic meal priced at $46.90 during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Republican National Committee in a Monday statement calling out the “price shock” also drew attention to AFBF’s finding of a 25% increase in the traditional Thanksgiving meal since 2019.

The RNC also pointed out it was “the second-most expensive Thanksgiving in the survey’s 38-year history.”

The Biden campaign also posted on X a clip of CNBC anchor Sara Eisen reporting that if gas prices reached “$3.25 by Thursday that’s the cheapest Thanksgiving gas price since 2020,” when prices hit $2.11, according to Gas Buddy.

Under former President Donald Trump, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged American families to avoid travel that year for the Thanksgiving holiday.

“The safest way to celebrate Thanksgiving this year is at home with members of your household,” said Erin Sauber-Schatz, who led the agency’s Community Interventions and Critical Populations Task Force at the time.

Jean-Pierre during Monday’s briefing also celebrated rising wages under President Biden that would make Thanksgiving meals “the fourth-cheapest ever as a percentage of average earnings.”

Biden, 81, celebrated inflation having fallen to 3%, “the lowest among the world’s leading economies,” in an August address on health care costs at the White House — despite overseeing a 40-year high in 2022.

However, hourly wages have increased roughly 13% while inflation has shot up 17% since the beginning of Biden’s term, according to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Congressional Republicans have repeatedly noted that real wages have decreased nearly 4% since January 2021 due to inflation caused in large part by trillions in federal spending.

“The average wage of the average American has gone down after inflation,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said in a Nov. 7 speech on the Senate floor.

“[I]f you take all the average wage increases in the United States of America, and you look at the average inflation in the United States of America, workers have actually lost ground,” he said.

“Workers today — in November of 2023 — are actually making less per hour, after inflation, than they were in February 2021.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.