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Jen Psaki Schools Fox News Reporter Who Blames 'Good' Unemployment Benefits For People Not Returning To Work

Jen Psaki Schools Fox News Reporter Who Blames 'Good' Unemployment Benefits For People Not Returning To Work
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Biden administration Press Secretary Jen Psaki has not lost her polite way of schooling people who try to ask unsubstantiated or gotcha questions in her press conferences.

Every time she does, people love to see it after four years of little accurate information coming from the White House.


When Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy asked Psaki a question suggesting people were refusing to return to work simply because unemployment benefits were "so good," Psaki pushed back as calmly as she possibly could.

You can see the moment here:

youtu.be

Psaki said:

"We have looked at the data...we don't see much evidence that the extra unemployment insurance is a major driver in people not rejoining the work force."
"We actually see the data and our analysis shows that the lack of vaccinations, the lower rate, which is why I refer to the data and the week that it was taken—it has an impact."
"Childcare has an impact. Schools reopening has an impact."





Still, Doocy pressed on.

"Anybody who is making $32,000 a year is better off financially just taking the unemployment benefits. So is the White House creating an incentive just to stay home?"

But Psaki did not waiver.

President Joe Biden's choice as press liaison replied:

"Well, again, the majority of economists internally and externally at the White House don't feel that unemployment insurance—something that was done at a time to help unemployed people get through a very difficult economic downturn during a pandemic—is a major driver in our unemployment data.
"There are other factors, bigger factors that were contributing, have been contributing to the [jobs] numbers we saw on Friday. That's what we're working to address."





Doocy and Psaki have had several exchanges in the press room, such as when Doocy angrily demanded to know why Fox News was not on Biden's "list" of networks to make contact with.

Jen Psaki gave an extremely polite shutdown at the time.

"I would say that I'm always happy to have this conversation with you, even about the awesome socks you are wearing today, and have a conversation with you even when we disagree."
"The President's taken your questions, and I'm looking forward to doing 'Fox News Sunday' this Sunday for the third time in the last few months. I think we've got to move on because we've got limited time."



Fox News and Newsmax are frequent thorns in Psaki's side. Yet her demeanor remains as calm and patient as always.

The difference between the former administration's approach and this one's are obvious including the return of regular press briefings.

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