You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch us live weekdays at noon Eastern on Apple CarPlay and then Brounoo with the Bloomberg Business App. Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts, or watch us live on YouTube.
Welcome to the Friday edition of Bloomberg's Balance of Power. I'm Joe Matthew in Washington with another good round of headlines on the economy today.
Just look at the terminal.
This is the kind of stuff the White House was hoping for and in many cases planning for over the past months. FET's preferred Corp price gauge, Yeah PCE cools amid robust spending, recalling yesterday's GDP report that was off the charts spot phone numbers here. We talked about it with Gene Spurling on Balance of Power last evening. We talk about it now with Heather Bouchet, who has the ear of the President of course on all things economic, joining us from a son North lawn. It's like seventy
degrees outside today in Washington, which is quite remarkable. Member of the Council of Economic Advisors, Heather, it's good to see you. Thank you so much for joining when you start to put the data together here. I don't know how you're feeling right now, but have we softly landed well?
I like to think of this economy as the little engine that could. It is just chugging along.
It is.
You can see the strength in the reports from today and yesterday. Of course, we saw that growth was three point one percent last year. And you know, over a year ago, forecasters were predicting that twenty twenty three would be a recession, that we would see growth the negative
zero point one percent, and that's not what happened. We have seen this strength in the US economy and alongside the ongoing strength and the labor market and so and of course all of this paired with the softening of prices, so that price increases are not going as fast. So we have a new low below three percent in the annual rate of the core piece. But again, when you look over the last six months, both headline and core PCE are hovering at about two percent. So this is
really good news. We're seeing this growth, we're seeing this investment. It's delivering for the American people in a way that is strong, shared and across the country. And we're also seeing that inflation has been cooling.
Where are we going to be six months from now, Heather? Is it possible to answer that question? Based on the trajectory that we are on. Many forecasts would suggest that you might in fact be at that two percent target that the soft landing will essentially be confirmed.
How does your crystal ball look?
Well?
I do not have a crystal ball, but here's what
I can tell you. When you put all the pieces together of what we're seeing, and you pair that with the investments that the President is making all across the country, game changing investments and infrastructure, in advancing new technology geez, in advancing clean energy, what you see in as an economy that is delivering now having recovered from the pandemic, but one where we're making those game changing investments that are going to drive productivity, growth and jobs for years
to come. And so given just how strong these reports are, this all looks very good. One statistic that really jumped out to us as we were looking at the data is that the new investment in the construction of private manufacturing facilities something that we've been watching closely because those are the kinds of investments that we're trying the President is trying to induce through is investing in American agenda.
You are seeing that the contribution of that to growth is higher than it's been going back to nineteen fifty nine, so that that investment continues to fan out across the country. And of course that's leading to an upticking construction jobs now, but that'll lead to a shift in other kinds of jobs in years to come.
I know part of your job is to bring calm and balance to the conversation, Heather Bouchet, and you're awfully good at that. But as I look at this stock market, as I consider the data here, you're not a member of the political apparatus at the White House, But is it not time to start jumping up and down a little bit more to get this message across to the American people.
Well, we hear at the White House are working hard every day to communicate the strength of this economy, how the President has been building an economy from the middle out. So you know, so many of my colleagues, myself traveling the country talking to folks like you. You know, this
has been a tough, a tough road, right. The President came into office in the middle of a pandemic recession, and then of course we had Putin's unprovoked war in the Ukraine that up ended global energy prices, and there was a lot of uncertainty how fast could we recover, you know, would supply chains renormalize, would we see you know, the up ending of energy prices last for a long time.
And now we really see over the past year that all of those things have come back together, they've gotten under control, and the strength of the economy, the underlying strength is really starting to shine.
We're talking with Heather Bouchet live from the White House on Balance of Power Today. Important news from the administration, Heather, is the President halting the approval of new licenses to export LNG, the liquefied natural gas. While it scrutinizes the impact that this would have these shipments would have on climate change. What level of concern do you have here to potentially disrupt already fragile energy markets in Europe.
Well, this is a very important issue, you know. Let me start by noting that the President from day one has had a whole of government approach to addressing climate change, and core to that has been making the investments we need to make to put the United States on the leading edge of investing in clean energy technologies and the capacity to produce those here in the United States and
to shore up that global process there. Now, what we see in these exports is that right now the United States is the world number one exporter of LNG, and we know that over the next decade that's actually predicted to double. And we've been working very closely and feel confident that we have enough to be able to assure our allies that we'll be able to continue to play
this really important role. But at the same time, we need to make sure that we, like other countries, are doing what we can do to address the climate change challenges. You started this segment by noting that, you know, it's over seventy degrees here in DC in the middle of January, you know, and we are all sort of struggling with the increasing physical damages of climate change and the need to make these investments as the President is doing in spurring those clean energy investments.
Okay, are you able to tell our allies how long this pause might last?
I am not able to say that now.
Weeks, not months. There's no sense of how long a review like that would take. And I'm not trying to push this too Farheather. I don't know if there's a presumption of how long something like that might need to take.
This is being carefully considered and conversations are ongoing.
I have to ask you as well about what's been happening in the Red Sea. This is of course a major issue for the administration, and we've certainly seen the Pentagon get involved here in trying to secure shipments through the Red Sea following a series of attacks from Houthi rebels in Yemen. At what point do you grow concerned about the impact on supply chain and prices.
Well, this is something we have been tracking since the beginning. We've also been of course looking at you know, how El Nino and droughts have been affecting the Panama Canal. So we of course in this administration have been very concerned about supply chains and global shipping as we have looked at this, given what shippers have been doing being able to move their transportation to other ways of getting around the world. That does take a little bit more
time and it does cost a little bit more. But our assessment is is that when it comes to the US consumer, we do not expect to see a large price shock. And I also just want to note that we don't expect to see anything like what we saw during the pandemic with those global supply chain challenges. That's not to underestimate this, but at this point it looks like the effects for the consumer will be will be limited. Well, that's will continue to monitor They will continue to monitor it.
Yeah, sure, and I realized this is a fluid situation, Heather. What does the CEA look at? How does the council deal with something like this in your tracking?
What indicators are you watching?
Well, we're looking at the geopolitical situation. We're looking at you know what, what kinds of goods are transported around the world and where they get to the American consumer, and what it would mean to take longer routes and you know what the estimated impact would be of those costs of doing so, and how long and how how much additional time that would take to get goods to the consumer.
Yeah, well, with energy prices in mind, I'll ask you lastly if that's the wild card for you right now. We've seen crude oil pop up a bit over the past couple of weeks based on what we're watching in the Middle East, and no real disruption here, it seems in terms of supply shock, but everyone's kind of on edge waiting for something to happen.
Is that your wild cards? Is that what keeps you up at night? Right now?
There are so many wild cards that keep me up at night because it is literally my job to worry about these things for the President with my colleagues. Yeah, so certainly this is something that we are always watching closely. I mean, let me just note that this is one of the core reasons that I think that the President's
investments in clean energy are so economically important. Once we can make those investments, we will be able to extricate ourselves from this very volatile global energy prices and provide consumers with more stable access with more stable prices. For now, we continue to monitor the situation closely.
Speaking from her perch on the Council of Economic Advisors at the White House, Heather Bouchet, it's good to have you back on Bloomberg.
We appreciate the time.
You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Kens just Live weekdays at noon Eastern on Applecarplay and Enroid Otto with the Bloomberg Business App. You can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our flagship New York station. Just say Alexa play Bloomberg eleven thirty.
Joe.
I'm sure you saw earlier today the dear colleague letter from the Speaker of the House, My deal with dear colleague Mike Johnson. Never good news, dear colleague. Comma goes on to say, if rumors of the draft proposal are true, and this is alluding to the deal that sent and negotiators are working on with the White House to try to secure an agreement that ties Ukraine funding to border security, it would have been dead on arrival in the House anyway.
That's exhibit. If the rumors are true, it would be dead on arrival in the House. So how do you get Ukraine funding through the House when so many members don't seem to want it. If you're not going to do it in a border deal, it's a problem. It is especially perhaps for Ukraine as it is continuing to fight a war against Russia.
Yeah, this is the great fear of the administration. By the way, we're right about the time they're supposed to be running out of money, correct, wasn't that supposed to be January into February with the last cash from America.
Yes, with the two year anniversary of the war quickly approaching next month. So let's turned out to Nick Wadams, who covers US National Security for US here at Bloomberg and of course has been laser focused over the last two years of this conflict on what's happening between Ukraine and Russia. Nick, do we actually have an understanding of what the US is able to provide if this is supplemental funding doesn't come through, or is it cold Turkey cut off?
Well, I mean the big that's the question whether an agency like the Pentagon that gets, you know, eight hundred and fifty billion dollars a year can find a little loose change between the couch cushions. But right now they are saying unequivocally no. I mean, we had a Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting a few days ago where Secretary Austin was there with about fifty other defense ministers from around the world, and he urged other countries to quote
unquote dig deep to help Ukraine. But this was basically the first and I think it was the eighteenth of the nineteenth meeting of this group, or the US had nothing to offer. I mean, they are absolutely frozen in place right now, and there is really no prospect for that to come unbudged anytime soon absent action from Congress.
What do our European allies think of this idea, because we've clearly been leading the charge on us.
Well, I mean you've had the UK come around with what it says is, you know, it's trying to help more so adding I think another two point five billion dollars to the fight. But I mean when you're looking what Jobe and is asking for, I mean sixty sixty billion dollars for this year. I mean it's just the magnitude is just completely different. So you know, what we're starting to see, interestingly, is a focus in Ukraine to
shifting much more to defense. So there's really no expectation right now that Ukraine would be able to have the capacity to take back any more of the land that Russia seesed during the invasion. And the result is that, really I think what they're really trying to do is hunker down and just try to withstand the Russian assault.
So then it becomes a QUESTIONNK of even if this aid comes through, whether or not Ukraine can actually win this war, and perhaps the way they'd want to in recuperating all of that land, getting it out once again of Russia's hands. So what's the endgame? Is the endgame changing the longer this goes on, You know.
That is very much a live debate within the administration because there is a broad recognition I think within the administration that Mark Milly, the former Airman and the Joint Chiefs, was right when he said last year, listen, we are headed towards salemate. Russia. It's unlikely they're going to be able to take a lot more land, but it's very unlikely that Ukraine is going to be able to pry them lose from that land. That was even when the
US was contributing a ton of money. I think what you're seeing as a broad recognition that this thing, yes, we are not going to see a significant change in the lines in twenty twenty four. Who knows what twenty twenty five will bring, but there needs to be at least some sort of discussion about what an endgame looks like. So far, it's really not much more further along in terms of their thinking than that.
Lastlynk, your team is up with the story that Vladimir Putin is sending signals that he might be ready to sit down and have peace talks. Is that emboldened by the idea of money running out? Does that strengthen his hand?
I think there are a few things going on there. So it's very unclear why Putin would be sending these signals. We know he is sending the signals that hey, I'm ready to play ball here, but there are a lot of reasons that could be. One is he may want and out. Another is he's looking to take advantage or perhaps insert himself in the conversations in Congress, because you could have some people say, hey, look, Vladimir Putin wants a way out, we don't need to send Ukraine more money.
The other issue is Putin himself has an election coming up. He needs to shore up a popularity within Russia, and the idea that he's looking for peace, looking for an end of this conflict plays very well. So to be honest, one of the least likely ideas is that he's actually willing to make any major concessions. I don't think you're going to see that anytime soon.
Thanks for being here.
As always, Nick Bottoms, he's one of the best here. His whole team is. Our national security team has had quite a time covering this, Kayley, and great information that you can find on the terminal and at Bloomberg dot com.
As we had the voice of Melinda Herring. We very specifically called Melinda.
To talk today about this because she actually has a very good sense of what this means. Of course, with the Atlantic Council's spent more time in Kiev than just about anyone you're going to hear from on this program since the start of the war.
Melinda, it's great to see you.
What is the White House telling Republican leadership behind closed doors in these briefings with Jake Sullivan about what will happen to Ukraine when the money runs out. Let's let's look out, say three to six months. What would be the chain reaction that followed the end of the money trail?
Hey, Joe, thanks for having me back. So the White House is telling Republicans get real that the situation in Ukraine is not just going to stay in Ukraine, that it has real security implications for Europe and for the United States. And they are showing classified information, and they're talking about what happens if the sixty one billion dollars does not go through. So make no mistake about it,
there is no short term alternative. If this money doesn't come through, it's going to make it even more difficult on the front lines. We already soldiers are rationing shells. There's not enough one hundred and fifty five millimeters shells. Europe is not going to meet the one million shells that they promised this year, while the North Koreans have already delivered those to Moscow. So it's really a dire situation.
We also see Ukrainian commanders saying we can't do the kinds of operations we want because we don't have the kit that we need now. And this is only a couple months after the US has run out of funds.
So if we could just elaborate on that europe point, Melinda, because obviously the US is not the only ally that's in the game here that has been providing the support. Europe has as well. I think even a greater chunk of their share of GDP has been spent relative to the US. Are they too starting to pull back?
No, Actually, the opposite is happening. So the Europeans are starting to wake up. Schultz in Germany has said it's time to start doing more, but it's not clear how far they're going to go. So Schultz has a conference the first week of February. He's bringing everyone together in Europe and he's saying, this situation is serious. We have to get real, and he's going to point fingers, and he's likely going to point fingers at France, Italy and
Spain who have not done enough. When you look at the figures, but just to zoom back out for a minute, there's different categories of aid, and the US is the biggest donor of military aid. Europe has done a lot, but they've been more active on the humanitarian and economic assistance front. That's why this is such a big deal.
So how did the dominoes fall here? If American money comes to an end, Melinda, Is this, as Nick mentioned, mark Milly's vision of a stalemate, a war of attrition that essentially grinds Ukraine down to nothing. Or is Vladimir Putin emboldened to the extent that a NATO country could be involved Poland or one of Poland's neighbors, and we have a major problem that entangles the US.
Joe.
I'm going to quote my friend General Philip Breeblove, who ran NATO, and he just gave a wonderful briefing, and he said everything depends on us and on the choices that our leaders make. Now, there's different scenarios that we could run through, but if Ukraine does not get the weapons it needs to defend itself, it will lose. Eventually. Ukrainians are not going to give up even if the sixty one billion dollars does not come, but more Ukrainians
are going to die. They when I go to Kiev and talk to them about these sort of dire scenarios, they tell me we will fight with forks, we will fight with AK forty seven's. We've lost too much. We know what Russian we know what Russian occupation is, and we're not going to live that way. So it's going to get much messier and more people are going to die.
I think the concern though, is that if Putin is able to take a big chunk of Ukraine, you know, through attrition and through our bad policy choices, and again we are if we do not provide this assistance. Ukraine is going to lose, and it is going to be our fault and it is going to threaten Western security for the next fifty years. Could NATO get drawn in? Absolutely? Putin's plan is to reconstitute his forces and he may go after a NATO member next. Does that automatically pull
the US in? It does not automatically pull it in. But under the Article five guarantee, if a NATO member were hit, they would have to have a discussion and they would likely defend that territory, so it would involve the United States.
So then let's talk about Russia's capacity specifically, as you talk about how Ukraine's capacity, their munitions are waning, They're obviously losing a great deal of Ukrainian soldiers. What about Russia? Do they really have the resources to continue the fight this long?
So far they do so. They just got a million shells from North Korea and they are getting more rockets and drones from Iran as well. The Russian side has good talented financial managers and they have been able to make things to keep the economy afloat and to keep things going in spite of losing a lot of very talented folks. So you know, it's a question of how long can they hold out? But that's actually the wrong question.
I think in Putin's mind, he's wondering if he thinks he can hold out longer than the West can, And that's sort of We're in a pivotal point right now with the US election.
What happens to our reputation internationally, our allies or beyond Melinda, if this goes down the way it appears, it might, no border deal, no money for Ukraine, and they're left alone.
Joe, that's the money question. I think it means that America is not much of a superpower anymore, that we don't keep our promises. I mean, even in the language of Joe Biden, we've seen him change from we will be there as long as it takes to will be there as long as we can, and that is not a mistake in rhetoric. You know, the sands are changing politically right now, but that's not where the American people are. If you look at where the American people are, they
overwhelmingly support Ukraine and they don't like bullies. They view Vladimir Putin as a bully. So I think it's time for Americans to pick up their phones and call their congressmen and call the White House and demand that we keep standing with the people of Ukraine until they are able to push the Russians back.
Well, as we talk about Vladimir Putin, and we were just discussing this with our own Nick Waddams, this idea that he's starting to signal that perhaps he would be open to conversations about how to bring this to an end. Can he be viewed as a trustworthy actor in any conversation.
No, he cannot. And honestly, we've seen this movie many times before. So if you look at Putin's narratives, these two for the Study of War has looked at when does Vladimir Putin talk negotiations And the answer to this is he talks about negotiations when the West has to make a hard decision about weapons, or when the West has to make a hard decision. He's trying to distract us.
He is not interested in negotiations whatsoever. Look at Dmitri Midvittev's rhetoric two days ago, he says that he's going to use nuclear weapons. He's talked about over and over again about how Ukrainians are not real people. They reject Ukrainian territorial claims. The Russians are not serious about negotiations, and they're trying to keep the United States from passing this assistants bill. That's all it is.
I'm out of time here, Melinda, and really I hate having to cut anyone off.
I just have to mention quickly.
Russia now accusing Ukraine of shooting down a large military plane, a cargo style plane that was carrying sixty five Ukrainian prisoners for an exchange.
You don't believe this report. Why would Ukraine do something like.
That, Joe. I think we're still waiting for the investigation. I don't think we know enough, and I'm not willing to put my faith on the Russian side of the story. So on that one, I would ask your viewers, let's wait and see until the investigation comes out.
Well.
Your restraint is always well received here, Melinda Herring from the Atlantic Council, We thank you, as always for the insights. It was an IL seventy six aircraft, like a big cargo plane that went down, Kayley. A terrible story emerging here from Russia. More straight ahead, this is Bloomberg.
You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch us live weekdays at noon Eastern on Apple car Play, and then Proudoro with the Bloomberg Business App. Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts, or watch us live on YouTube.
We're only two states in to the Republican primary.
You notice that just too A lot of people think it's over.
Forty eight states still have not voted on anything or anyone, and yet apparently the R and C was considering adopting a resolution to declare Donald Trump the party's presumptive nominee after two states Iowa and New Hampshire, which.
I guess shouldn't be a shock after Ronald McDaniel went on TV to urge Nikki Haley to drop out of the race the day after New Hampshire, saying that she didn't see a map a path for her on the map. And you've got Mitch McConnell calling him the nominee behind closed doors on Capitol Hill.
What's going on around here?
Well, Donald Trump actually has an opinion about it. He posted on True Social last night. I feel for the sake of party unity that they should not go forward with this plan, but that I should do it the old fashion way and finish the process off at the ballot box.
Well, if anyone likes to do it the old fashioned way, it's Donald Trump.
He earned it.
Well, sorry, that was an old commercial. Should we bring in the PA, Yes?
We shul Rick Davis and Genie Shanzo joined Bloomberg Politics contributors.
You know what I'm talking about, right, Jeannie, the old fashioned way.
Are you surprised Donald Trump doesn't want to just shut it down?
Now?
Who's talking to him?
Yeah? I mean it's so fascinating because yes, I do remember that commercial, by the way, Joe Matthew. But it is so fascinating because you're looking at this thing and you're saying, this guy one to Kaylee's point, two hundred and thirty thousand votes in two very small, non representative states.
We have until late July for the convention to start, and you have Roni McDaniel and the RNC pushing to declare hid In the winner, and him swooping back in on truth social and saying, hey, guys, I will do it the old fashioned way, as you say. You know, the odd thing is, I'm struggling to figure out how the party could benefit from this save a few million dollars,
I don't know, but strategically it doesn't make sense. And of course this is sort of I think party members trying to bow to the feed of Donald Trump and saying you are the presumptive nominee. Forget about the delegates at twelve fifteen or whatever it is you need to win, We will just make you the presumptive nominee right now.
But Rick, isn't he the presumptive nominee? I mean, it's one thing to officially declare it in this in this very lower sense for the RNC, But this was the conversation we were all having on Tuesday night after New Hampshire he won. Nikki Hailey lost by eleven points. Very difficult to see her path forward, how she has any credible path to the nomination, And doesn't that get us too presumptive?
Yeah, I mean presumptive is actually a technical term.
You know.
It means that you've assembled the twelve hundred and fifteen votes that you need to win a convention. And so there's there are those like me who think until you've crossed that threshold, you can't be called a presumptive nominee. You can be called the guy who's gonna win. You can be called the guy who's crushed the opposition. You can be called a lot of things, but you can't
be called presumptive nominee. And there are some technical reasons too, when you start looking at sort of joint fundraising committees with the RNC. There are things you can do before you're the presumptive nominee, and there are things that get charged against your cap once you're the presumptive nominee for the general election. So there, my guess is the Trump campaign, which is being run very professionally, looked at these things and said, why in the world do we need that
moniker that'll just put pressure on our fundraising operation. And then there's the practical political reason. The last thing you want to tell voters three weeks before a primary in South Carolina.
Is guys, I got this.
It's over. Don't worry about turning out. I'm the presumptive nominee. So there's a reason why the guys down in mar A Lago are going no, no, no, no, no, We're not there yet. So until Nicky Haley is dispatched, nobody wants to call him that.
That's pretty Genie.
You know, it is possible, as we discussed earlier on the broadcast, that he gets that number, he gets more than halfway to twelve fifteen around Super Tuesday. But if we're already calling for restraint here, why was he calling on Nicky Haley to drop out of the race the other night? He was essentially calling himself the nominee, wasn't he?
He was?
But you know, he was angry about the things that Nicki Haley said about him, and he, you know, obviously wants to wrap this thing up as quickly as possible because he's got to be in court and fight these court battles. But you know, the reality is if she does get out, that's not necessarily a good thing for Donald Trump either, because people voting in primaries for him, in his best case scenario, is a way to increase
turnout in the general election. We know that if you vote in the primary for somebody, you more likely to get out in the general. In an election this type, the last thing he should want, if he's looking at these voting numbers in these tight states is to wrap this thing up so early that people feel there's not much of a race and they don't get out. So you know, it doesn't make a lot of practical legal sense for them to do this at this point. And
yet this has been the trajectory of Rona McDaniel. And if we look at the twenty twenty two election, you know this is a person who simply is not able to appeal beyond his base, and so they face that danger once again. We're talking about Republicans and he's appealing, but in the general he is going to face an uphill battle. He needs the turnout to be broad. And that's why this can be a mistake and they know that when they look at these numbers.
Well, and Rick doesn't he also need the votes of people who otherwise would have voted for Nicki Haley. House should be How should he be approaching her as an opponent here when she's now starting to call him out on what she said was a temper tantrum on that evening in New Hampshire.
Yeah, there's no question they'd must rather be talking about Joe Biden than Nicki Haley. And he wants to move toward consolidating all those voters. Right. Look at how quickly they move to get Ron DeSantis and his small band of Mary voters back into the fold with Donald Trump, and they want to do the same thing with Nicky Haley. He's all about consolidation. He doesn't want to look weak within his own party. You know, these are very important symbols of his power is that nobody disputes him as
the otherwise leader of the Republican Party. But he wants to go against Biden. I mean like he is aching for that rematch, and he's like the aging boxer. You know, I'm going to get read my title back. I'm going to go back in the ring with this guy.
And yet he's distracted.
He's distracted by Nicki Haley. He's distracted by these court cases, neither of which have him talking about Biden. And so by the time he gets around to you know, the end of the day, he hasn't really spent much time putting any let on the tar with Biden. And that's a real problem for him because Biden is not slowing down. He is taking this campaign to Donald Trump. He doesn't have a legitimate primary contender, and he has the advantage
right now if he'll take it up. Until this point in time, the Biden campaign has been pretty quiet, but I see that they might be starting to merge in a more of a contrast with Trump.
How do you feel about that, Genie, because they're both heading for South Carolina this weekend. Obviously Nicki Haley is already there, but Joe Biden's acting like this is the general election right now.
They are, I mean, they have revamped the team and they have put some old stalwarts back into the campaign fold. You know, he did very very well in New Hampshire, not being on the ballot. He did better than Barack Obama did in twenty twelve. And here he is. He's got people talking about a very good economy, good numbers right now, infrastructure, abortion anniversary, gun control. These are the things he wants to be talking about. So they are
feeling good. And let's not forget the endorsement by the United Daughter Workers, another feather in his cap, particularly as.
You look in the Midwest.
So they are feeling pretty good this week and probably why Trump wants to consolidate his vote. But you can't do that by trying to kick out somebody, particularly if you are the chair of the Republican National Committee and you are the chair.
Of that Murdy just on President Biden, Genie, we're about to discuss in our next segment the fact that the Biden administration has now put a halt on new licenses for LNG exports, something that obviously has ramifications for energy markets, potentially the American economy overall. Should we be looking at this as anything other than trying to pacify environmentalists in the left who is hoping to turn out for him in November.
Well, you know, I think that is an important constituency of his. But I think it also reflects what the Biden administration has been trying to do for some time. They obviously are working number one towards a strong economy, but they recognize the fact that the environment matters enormously to all of our futures, and they have long said that you can do both. You can have a healthy environment and a healthy economy, and they are trying to lead the way on that with some of these new investments.
So I do think it is in keeping with what they have been trying to do during a very difficult time as they move us out of this pandemic.
We talked to.
Heather Bouchet earlier in the broadcast about this, Kayley, and she seemed to indicate that the administration is not terribly worried about what happens to energy markets snatch gas markets in Europe, specifically, that we have enough to bridge the gap for now, but this could become a much bigger deal the longer it takes.
Yeah, we'll talk more about that ahead.
As you mentioned, Rick Davis, Geni Shanzano, many thanks as always for the conversation our signature panel.
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