Fox Business Network White House Correspondent Edward Lawrence drew a bemused double-take from White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki — and laughter from several colleagues — for citing “free Peloton memberships for House staffers” in a question about President Joe Biden.

On Friday afternoon, Psaki took to the podium for the final time before Karine Jean-Pierre takes over as her successor, and fielded questions on a variety of topics — sometimes all at once.

Such was the case for Lawrence, who crammed so many reference points into the preamble for his question about Biden’s in-or-out-of-touchness that Psaki drew laughs by remarking on it:

MR. LAWRENCE: Yeah. I want to build on Josh’s question here. You know, CPI inflation is 8.3 percent. We know it’s hard to get baby formula. Gas and diesel fuel is now at record prices again today. House staffers are getting free Peloton memberships. A Monmouth poll says —

MS. PSAKI: Wow, there’s a lot packed into that list there you have. (Laughter.)

MR. LAWRENCE: Yeah, I know.

MS. PSAKI: I don’t know how it’s related. It’s a potpourri.

MR. LAWRENCE: Okay, it is potpourri. And — and it’s a wider view. A Monmouth poll shows that 79 percent of Americans believe the country is going in the wrong direction. So my question is: Is the President — as the head of the country, as the head of the Democratic Party — out of touch economically with Americans?

MS. PSAKI: Well, there was a lot packed in there. And I’m not entirely sure the root of your question, but I will do my best.

I would say first: The President’s top priority — and you heard him say this the other day — is addressing costs and addressing inflation for the American people. And he laid out a specific plan to do exactly that.

And he has taken a number of steps that would — to do exactly that, including lowering the cost of the Internet; ensuring we’re taking every step we can to bring down the cost of gas; taking steps to ease the supply chain — something he’s been working on from his first day in office; and he has proposed and advocated for and continue to fight for a reconciliation package that will lower significant costs for the American people.

I would say the contrast here is what the other side is offering, which, as you’ve heard me say many times but it’s worth repeating, is a plan by Chairman Scott that would raise costs on a hundred — on 75 million Americans who make less than $100,000.

So, I would say: For the American people, what they can know and understand is we all agree inflation is an issue; we all agree costs are too high. The question is: Who has a plan to address it?

MR. LAWRENCE: But on gas specifically, the Interior Secretary testified before the House Appropriations Committee that there was no plan to go forward with a five-year plan for oil drilling in the Gulf. They need that plan in order to open up leases down the road for that. We’ve se- — we saw the Department of Interior cancel a lease sale.

So, are there signals, you know, to bring down gas prices? Are there long-term —

MS. PSAKI: Well, we know the Department of Interior made quite clear that they canceled the Cook Inlet project because there was a lack of industry interest. That’s not actually the issue. The issue, if we take a step back, is that leasing and production offshore is a lengthier process, taking up to 10 years. Mo- — second, of the more than 10.9 million offshore acres currently under lease, industry is not producing on 8.26 million acres. That’s 75 percent that is non-producing. Of the 24.9 million onshore acres under lease, industry is not producing 12.3 million. That’s almost 50 percent. And there are almost 9,000 onshore permits.

The issue is not permits. There are plenty of places for oil — for oil companies to drill on. They’re not. That is the issue.

Watch above via The White House and Reuters.

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