US inflation is ‘top priority,’ says Biden

WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden on Tuesday acknowledged the pain felt by Americans from the highest inflation in four decades but said it is his “top domestic priority” and being addressed by the Federal Reserve.

“The Fed should do its job and it will do its job,” Biden said in a speech at the White House. “I believe that inflation is our top economic challenge right now and I think they do too.”

With a spike in inflation having pushed annual consumer prices more than 8 per cent higher, the president highlighted his release of oil from strategic petroleum reserves and pressure on companies to return record-high profits to consumers in the form of lower prices.

“I know that families all across America are hurting because of inflation,” Biden said in a speech from the White House.

“I want every American to know that I am taking inflation very seriously and it is my top domestic priority.”

Biden said the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with supply chain issues and Russia’s war on Ukraine, are to blame for the inflation spike, but that the Fed should, and will do its job to control it.

The US central bank raised interest rates by half a percentage point last week and is expected to roll out additional hikes this year.

The president did not announce new policy measures in the speech, which occurred a day before new consumer price data is expected to show inflation remained elevated through April.

Biden also sharpened his atacks on Republicans six months before the Nov.8 congressional elections, where Democrats are hoping to retain control of the senate and house of representatives.

“The Republican plan is to increase taxes on middle class families,” he said.

Biden and top officials said multiple times as prices rose in 2021 that they expected inflation to be temporary, but it has persisted. Demand stimulated by government spending and savings accumulated during the pandemic have been no match for creaky supply chains and labor shortages, prompting higher inflation globally.

That has created a political problem as American consumers stare down higher grocery and gas bills exacerbated by measures blocking Russian oil and gas ater the invasion of Ukraine, an action that Russia calls “a special operation.”

Fewer than half of US adults – 44 per cent approve of Biden’s handling of the presidency and they rate the economy as the country’s most important problem, according to a Reuters/ipsos poll last week.