President Joe Biden is set to sit down with a small group of top CEOs on Thursday to discuss the US economy after the release of a report that intensified debate over whether a recession has already begun.
Biden is scheduled to speak twice on economic issues, first at 12:30 p.m. Eastern on a newly released $739 billion Democratic anti-inflation package and again at 2:15 p.m. Eastern. The latter meeting is for Biden to meet with CEOs and “get an update on economic conditions in key sectors and industries,” the White House said.
Corning GLW, +0.93% CEO Wendell Weeks and Marriott International MAR, -0.81% Chief Anthony Capuano will meet Biden in person at the White House, while Bank of America BAC, -0.89% CEO Brian Moynihan, TIAA CEO Thasunda Brown Duckett and Deloitte boss Punit Renjen will attend remotely.
On Thursday morning, the government reported that the US economy contracted 0.9% annually in the second quarter, marking the second straight contraction. The Biden administration has argued that the US is not in a recession, but with the November midterm elections approaching, Republicans are blaming Democrats for slowing growth.
Read: US economy shrinks in second quarter, GDP shows, raising talks of recession
“After last year’s historic economic growth — and the recovery of all the private sector jobs lost during the pandemic crisis — it comes as no surprise that the economy is slowing as the Federal Reserve acts to bring down inflation,” Biden said in a statement according to the GDP report. The Fed on Wednesday raised a US interest rate for the fourth time this year to aggressively cool the hottest inflation in four decades, signaling more rate hikes to come even as the economy weakens.
In his statement, Biden called on Congress to pass both a bill providing billions of dollars in subsidies for the semiconductor SMH industry and the new Democrats’ package, dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act. This action includes strategies on health care, climate change and deficit reduction.
Now read: What’s in and out of the Democrats’ $739 billion health and climate package?
The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on Thursday on the $280 billion bill, which focuses on domestic semiconductor manufacturing and scientific research — but the measure could be a narrower than expected vote after Republicans objected to the surprise deal on Wednesday between Senate Democrats had raised a $739 billion package.
See also: House of Representatives to vote on chips and science bill Thursday, but measure faces some problems after Manchin bomb
US stocks SPX (+0.64%) traded higher late Thursday morning on the back of Wednesday’s GDP data and interest rate decision.
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