The terrible jobs report continues to be a hot topic in Washington and around the country. To this point, the Biden administration has steadfastly refused to accept any blame for the current, artificial labor shortage. Jen Psaki continued that theme today, blaming everything but Biden’s garbage policies. Convenient, right?

Here’s Peter Doocy nailing the Press Secretary during the briefing, leaving her to fumble about for nonsensical excuses.

Peter Doocy battles Jen Psaki over whether the Biden administration's massive unemployment benefits is disincentivizing people from wanting to return to work.

Psaki disagrees, citing the lack of "livable, working wage" in jobs, schools being closed, and expensive child care. pic.twitter.com/vOEomgMwC9

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) May 10, 2021

This level of gaslighting is always impressive. We are literally paying up to $40,000 a year for people to remain unemployed, and Psaki wants to pretend that’s had no effect at all on the labor market. All the other factors she lists are not new insofar as they are even true. Schools did not just suddenly become an issue in April 2021, nor did the cost of childcare. Rather, the massive miss of almost 700,000 jobs directly correlated with Biden’s “rescue plan” that extended unemployment until September.

Further, this idea that businesses are out there trying to pay people $7.25/hr to do difficult jobs is nonsense. Go take a walk down any main street in American right now and you’ll see restaurants and service industries offering hiring bonuses, competitive starting pay, and benefits. That’s not to say every job opening is like that, but a lot of them are, and they remain unfilled. According to Psaki’s logic, all of the millions of current job openings don’t pay a “living wage.” That’s just not true, and it’s an insult to business owners who are doing everything they can to fill positions without going bankrupt.

Let’s talk about schools, as well. Who exactly is behind the anti-science push to keep them closed? That would be Joe Biden and the teachers’ unions. Given that, if it’s a factor, then it’s a factor Biden is responsible for. As to the cost of childcare, again, that’s not a new dynamic. Psaki is only mentioning that because government-funded daycare is another thing on the administration’s wish list.

Paski’s excuses should strike any intellectually honest onlooker as an exercise in distraction. Biden wants to point the finger at everything but himself when it is his policies that are the driver of these bad results. If you pay people not to work, they will stay home. The calculation isn’t simply monetary in that case. There are people who will choose less money and not going to work vs. taking a job that may pay more than unemployment but requires them to show up five days a week. We can quibble over whether the root of that is laziness, but regardless, it’s a decision people are making.

In the end, it’s up to the government to stop disincentivizing work. Psaki knows that, but her job is to lie to protect her boss.