(Bloomberg) — President Joe Biden will discuss ways to tackle inflation and shore up the economy at the White House Friday with the CEOs of Ford Motor Co., Carrier Global Corp. and Kaiser Permanente, as well as labor officials.
Biden plans to listen to input from the business and union leaders during a meeting on how to bring down rising prices and discuss how provisions of his economic agenda will kick in next year, a White House official said.
Ford’s Jim Farley, Carrier’s David Gitlin and Kaiser’s Greg Adams will attend, along with United Auto Workers President Ray Curry, Service Employees International Union President Mary Kay Henry and Marc Perrone, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers, according to the White House.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and National Economic Council Director Brian Deese will also participate.
The president is refocusing on the economy, an issue that is central to his expected bid for a second term, following the midterm elections. Biden is still grappling with the hottest inflation in four decades, and expectations of a recession sometime next year.
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Democrats performed better than expected and kept their Senate majority in the Nov. 8 elections, but Republicans took control of the House — setting up a new reality for Biden and his economic team in 2023.
Under a divided Congress, there is little prospect for Biden to advance the kind of sweeping economic measures he did during his first two years in office. House Republicans have shown virtually no willingness to work with Biden on major legislation, and routine actions like funding the government and raising the debt limit could prove challenging.
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Biden may instead rely on executive actions, regulations, and implementing laws like the Inflation Reduction Act — a tax, health and climate package — to advance his agenda on the economy. Those efforts, however, could come under scrutiny from Republicans in the House.
The president will discuss provisions of the IRA taking effect on Jan. 1, including insulin price caps for seniors on Medicare and extended subsidies for Obamacare insurance plans, the official said.
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