Today’s strong PCE report shows continued progress under the Biden-Harris administration to bring down inflation and make life more affordable for hardworking Americans. From taking on credit card companies and Big Pharma to slashing junk fees, President Biden and Vice President Harris are fighting to lower costs, bring down inflation, and build an economy that gives everybody a fair shot. A right-wing polling firm even shows Harris leading Trump on the economy and more and more economic experts are speaking out against Trump’s Project 2025 plans that would send inflation skyrocketing and trigger a recession, raise taxes on everyone but the richest Americans, and increase costs for typical middle-class families by nearly $4,000 a year by slapping a Trump sales tax on everyday goods including gas, food, and clothing. 

This election, voters have a clear choice: the Harris-Walz administration would chart a New Way Forward by creating an opportunity economy with lower costs, tax cuts for the middle class and small businesses, increased support for caregivers, a permanent expansion of the Child Tax Credit, and historic action giving Americans a shot to compete, succeed, and build generational wealth. In stark contrast, the Trump-Vance ticket’s disastrous Project 2025 agenda would gut Social Security and Medicare, increase health care costs for hardworking families, and rig the economy to benefit billionaires and big corporations at working families’ expense.

NEW: The latest PCE report shows inflation continues to tick down under the Biden-Harris administration.

Heather Long, Washington Post: “JUST IN: The PCE inflation gauge came in at 2.2% (y/y) in August –> the lowest since February 2021 and very close to the Fed’s 2% target.”

MarketWatch: “Inflation seen slowing into early 2025. Latest PCE just another step in that direction.”

CNN: “Americans and Federal Reserve officials have news to celebrate: Inflation cooled significantly last month, likely giving central bankers more confidence to continue cutting interest rates.

“The Fed’s favorite inflation gauge, the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, showed consumers paid 2.2% more for goods and services for the year ended in August, versus 2.5% in July. This marks another step closer toward the Fed’s 2% inflation target.”

New York Times: “The Fed’s Preferred Inflation Gauge Cooled in August”

This week, the Harris-Walz campaign laid out their plan to chart “A New Way Forward for the Middle Class,” lowering costs for hardworking American families on everything from health care to household goods, and building up the middle class to give everyone the opportunity to succeed. 

Forbes: “Harris has typically referred to the inflation of food product prices when talking about her plan to end price gouging, with her campaign previously saying its ban aims to combat excessive prices in the grocery industry, while also keeping a close eye on mergers and acquisitions in the industry to maintain competition among companies.”

Axios: “The paper, titled ‘A New Way Forward for the Middle Class,’ says that Harris will ‘call on Congress to pass the first-ever federal ban on price gouging.’

“‘The bill will set rules of the road to make clear that big corporations can’t unfairly exploit consumers during times of crisis to run up excessive corporate profits on food and groceries.’”

Politico: “In her speech, Harris reiterated her support for several other major economic efforts, including a federal ban on corporate price-gouging, expanding tax credits for new small businesses, extending the child tax credit and pledging to build 3 million new homes to address the housing shortage.”

Washington Post: “Harris proposed increasing the tax deduction for start-up businesses from $5,000 to $50,000, and she recapped specifics of her previous policy plans, including $25,000 in down payment assistance for first-time home buyers and a $6,000 tax benefit for parents with newborns.

“‘I intend to chart a new way forward and grow America’s middle class. Donald Trump intends to take America backward to the failed policies of the past,” she said, adding that Trump had cut taxes for wealthy Americans and big corporations. ‘You see, for Donald Trump, our economy works best if it works for those who own the big skyscrapers. Not those who actually build them. Not those who wire them. Not those who mop the floor.’”

CBS: “Her three-pillar plan would expand or restore tax cuts enacted during the Biden administration, such as the earned income tax credit or child tax credit. She also said she’d work to expand Medicaid, lower prescription drug costs and prioritize union contracts for government projects. 

“Harris also spoke about spurring domestic manufacturing and innovation through a set of tax incentives. She said the U.S. must ‘recommit to global leadership in the sectors that will define the next century’ such as bio-manufacturing, artificial intelligence and Blockchain, the technology that enables cryptocurrency. As part of an existing push to improve infrastructure, Harris also said she would work to reform permitting.”

Vice President Harris: “We will lower the costs of groceries and everyday essentials.”

The Biden-Harris administration is delivering for hardworking families – from falling inflation to the creation of nearly 16 million jobs. And the Biden-Harris administration is taking on Big Pharma and price gougers so that every American can have a fair shot.

CNN: “Medicare’s new power to negotiate drug prices will lead to an estimated $6 billion in savings for the federal government and a $1.5 billion reduction in out-of-pocket costs for seniors when the lower prices take effect in 2026, the Biden administration announced Thursday.”

White House Fact Sheet: “President Biden is taking on corporate price gouging by banning hidden junk fees and calling on corporations to pass the savings from their reduced costs onto consumers. Instead of supporting efforts to lower costs for consumers, Republicans are defending junk fees and seeking to eliminate and defund federal consumer watchdogs and the antitrust enforcement agencies.”

MSNBC: “The Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are targeting several industries for abusive practices, says CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. Chopra told guest host Melissa Murray that the administration’s ‘all-of-government’ approach is aimed at combating ‘Wall Street abuses,’ noting that any pushback is mainly coming from ‘lobbyists and their lawyers.’”

The Guardian: “In a statement issued by the White House. ‘Biden says: Today’s report showed unemployment fell to 4.2% and another 142,000 jobs were created last month. Thanks to our work to rescue the economy, nearly 16 million new jobs have been created, wages and incomes are rising faster than prices, businesses are investing in America, and millions of entrepreneurs are opening small businesses—acts of hope and confidence in our economy.’”

The contrast couldn’t be clearer – Trump and Vance’s Project 2025 agenda would line the pockets of the ultra-wealthy, send inflation soaring, and raise costs for low and middle-income families. 

Center for American Progress: “Former President Trump Proposes an Up to $3,900 Tax Increase for a Typical Family”

Center for American Progress: “Project 2025’s tax plan includes an ‘intermediate tax reform’ that includes changes to tax brackets and corporate tax cuts that would shift the tax burden toward middle-income households. And the ‘fundamental tax reform’ it proposes would replace all individual income and corporate taxes with consumption taxes.”

Axios: “Trump’s inflation bomb: How his second-term plans could make it worse”

Center for American Progress: “Not only does Project 2025 ensure drug companies are put back in control of access to medication; it calls for a complete repeal of the IRA, which would put an estimated 18.5 million Medicare Part D enrollees at risk of losing out on $7.4 billion in direct savings from the IRA’s drug-related provisions, including its out-of-pocket cost caps.”

Center for American Progress: “In [Project 2025], far-right extremist plans are outlined that raise taxes on low- and middle-income households to finance tax cuts for the wealthy and large corporations. Project 2025’s tax plan includes an ‘intermediate tax reform’ that includes changes to tax brackets and corporate tax cuts that would shift the tax burden toward middle-income households…

“The shift toward a flat consumption tax while eliminating income taxes would lead to an average $5,900 tax increase for the middle 20 percent of households and an average $2 million tax cut for the top 0.1 percent.”