White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre dodged a question about former President Barack Obama on the campaign trail during MSNBC's "The Sunday Show."
"They had long hours and sore backs, and bad knees, to get that social security. If Ron Johnson does not understand that, if he understands giving tax breaks for private planes more than he understands that seniors who worked all their lives are able to retire with dignity and respect, he is not the person who is thinking about you and knows you and sees you and he should not be your senator from Wisconsin!" Obama said to a crowd in Milwaukee on Saturday.
"My question is, why is the former president making this case and not the current president?" MSNBC's Jonathan Capehart asked after playing a clip of Obama campaigning in Wisconsin.
Jean-Pierre said she disagreed with Capehart's "characterization."
"The president has been talking about this almost every day for months now," Jean-Pierre said. "He's been talking about the choices that are at stake here."
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"Congressional Republicans are trying to take away our Social Security. They want to chop it off, they want to chop off, they want to put it on the chopping block," she said. "The president has said this. It’s why he has taken every action he can to make sure we strengthen Medicare, right? That is why the Inflation Reduction Act has been very important and critical, which is going to lower costs for Americans."
She said Republicans want to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act and "increase costs" for Americans.
"The things we saw the former president, President Obama so passionately speak about are the things that are at stake, right? But also the work that the president, President Biden and Vice President Harris, have done to get our economy back on its feet for the last 20 months," Jean-Pierre continued.
Capehart also asked about the president's response to voters who believe Republicans are better suited to handle the economy.
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"The president always says this and you hear him say this all the time, that he wants to make sure that we give Americans a little bit more breathing room, which is what his dad used to say when he grew up in Scranton and dealing with these kitchen, kitchen table issues," she said, adding that the economy was in "ruins" when Biden took office.
She also touted lower gas prices and the Inflation Reduction Act.
Obama is set to appear in Pennsylvania, a crucial battleground state, on Nov. 5.
