Biden pushes back on ‘doomsayers’ while touting latest economic growth numbers

President Biden on Thursday took a victory lap after federal data showed the U.S. economy grew by 2.6 percent during the third quarter of the year and accused congressional Republicans of “rooting for a downturn.”

“For months, doomsayers have been arguing that the US economy is in a recession and Congressional Republicans have been rooting for a downturn,” Biden said in a statement. “But today we got further evidence that our economic recovery is continuing to power forward. This is a testament to the resilience of the American people.”

Commerce Department data showed U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an annualized rate of 2.6 percent between July and September, up from declines of 1.6 percent in the second quarter and 0.6 percent in the third quarter of the year.

The back-to-back quarters of negative growth in the first half of the year spurred debate over whether it meant the economy was technically in a recession. Biden and his team have repeatedly pointed to strong employment numbers and growth in manufacturing to reject talk of a recession, and Thursday’s data provides the White House with another talking point to bolster their case. 

“Now, we need to make more progress on our top economic challenge: bringing down high prices for American families,” Biden said in a statement.

The president will travel Thursday afternoon to Syracuse, N.Y., to highlight a $100 billion investment over the next 20 years to manufacture semiconductor chips. While there, Biden is expected to lay out how Republican economic proposals if they retake the House would threaten to tank the economy by cutting taxes for the rich, raising prescription drug costs and threatening social welfare programs.