The White House is set to announce strategies to battle the affordability crisis as President Trump slams claims about high prices. CBS News' Aaron Navarro reports.

Washington

The White House has announced a new executive order targeting price issues amid growing concerns over affordability in the United States. Despite previously calling the affordability crisis a 'Democratic hoax,' the president is set to hold an event in Pennsylvania as part of a broader domestic tour to address cost-of-living challenges and communicate ongoing efforts such as lowering drug prices and providing potential financial support to lower and middle income families.

Economic advisers have attributed persistent inflation to the previous administration, while noting a recent 1% increase in real incomes. The administration plans to highlight falling gas prices and promises further positive economic news, positioning these actions as central to regaining ground on economic issues ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

White House tries to tackle affordability crisis

All right, the economy is front and center for the White House this week with the president announcing a new executive order looking at prices And an event tomorrow in Pennsylvania The president has said quote the u.s. Is hotter than ever saying his tariff policy has brought in trillions of dollars But recent CBS News polling says more people feel prices have been headed in the wrong direction CBS News White House reporter Aaron Navarro joins us now to talk about it. So Aaron the president is calling The affordability crisis the fact that people both On people who support the president and people who don't who say things have gotten more expensive He is calling affordability a Democratic hoax, but now he's holding an event tomorrow aimed at lowering prices So if it's a hoax, then why host an event where you're attempting to get those prices down? Good morning, Len That's a good question And this speech tomorrow is actually part of a larger Domestic tour that the president and this White House is doing ahead of the 2026 midterms We're polling shows that the cost of living is a key concern for voters and tomorrow At least there are two things the president is looking to do one get messaging out that he is Currently addressing and will address through further things and actions He takes in the White House those concerns of those costs of the cost of living Through things like lowering the drug prices possible checks to lower and middle income families through revenue from tariffs Which is something he talked about and again floated this past weekend and specific to his speech tomorrow Touting how gas prices have fallen below that $3 nationwide average but the other thing the president is looking to do politically is kind of neutralize this topic of affordability that Democrats used in the 2025 elections to success in states like Virginia and New Jersey and we saw that with Zora Mamdani's campaign in New York City And kind of regain ground on this issue of the economy that he found success with himself And it's 2024 on hmm. All right. So what are the president's economic advisers saying about where prices are right now? Yeah, so far they have put blame on the Biden administration and the inflation rate that they say they have inherited and that Inflation rate has been a number that's been stubborn for President Trump to change Throughout his first year in office. Take a listen to Treasury Secretary Scott Bess and talk about this on face a nation yesterday Now I will tell you that Affordability has two components. There's inflation and then there's real incomes real incomes are up about 1% And what we're not going to do is say that Americans don't know what they're feeling. We've been working on it every day I was on your show on March talking about affordability They we've made a lot of gains But remember we've got this embedded inflation from the Biden years where mainstream media whether it's Greg up at the Wall Street Journal Toxic Paul Krugman of New York Times or former vice-chair Alan Blinder all said it was a vibe session The American people don't know how good they have it National economic advisor chair Kevin Hassett also teased this morning in an interview in an interview that the president will quote announce a lot Of good news about the economy this week. So that seems to be a key topic of focus Going into this week. All right, we'll be watching Aaron Navarro for us. Thank you, Aaron

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