Biden says fighting high inflation is his ‘top domestic priority’

United States President Joe Biden, under pressure to tame high inflation, told Americans on Tuesday that he understands what they are grappling with and that he and the US Federal Reserve are working to solve the top issue weighing on his administration.

“They’re frustrated,” Biden said of Americans paying more for goods and services across the board. “I don’t blame them.”

With a spike in inflation having pushed annual consumer prices more than eight percent 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. His administration rushed trillions in COVID-19 aid and infrastructure spending into the economy, which Republicans and some economists blame for higher costs.

“We’re in power,” said Biden, asked whether he deserves blame for high prices. “We control all three branches of government. Well, we don’t really,” he added, lamenting Democrats’ inability to get other spending bills passed because of its narrow control of Congress.

Biden said the US Federal Reserve should and will do its job to control inflation. 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 took place a day before new consumer price data is expected to show inflation remained elevated through April.

But he did say he was considering eliminating tariffs on China – tariffs that date from the era of his predecessor, former President Donald Trump – as a way to lower prices for goods in the US. “No decision has been made on it,” he said.

Republican tax plan

Biden sought to direct blame over inflation to Republicans, with six months before the November 8 congressional elections that will determine whether Democrats can retain control of the Senate and House of Representatives.

Biden repeatedly attacked Republicans loyal to Trump for holding up his agenda, lamenting that Democrats’ majority in Congress is not sufficient to gain approval of his priorities.

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 labour 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 after the invasion of Ukraine, an action that Russia calls “a special operation”.

Fewer than half of US adults – 44 percent – 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.

Republicans are working to capitalise on the issue in the congressional elections, promoting steps including loosening regulations on oil and gas producers as well as cutting some taxes and government spending. But the party has not endorsed any policy document outlining the steps they would take on inflation.

Biden has sharpened his attack on Republicans in recent days, including dismissing Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement as extreme.

“Voters know that Republican-led states are leading in economic recovery and job creation, and will vote for Republicans and our proven agenda come November,” said Emma Vaughn, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee.

Biden took aim at a “Rescue America” proposal from Republican Rick Scott, a US senator from Florida, that includes a federal minimum income tax that the White House says would cost middle-class families $1,500 a year.

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

Scott has said the plan is solely his own, despite his role as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the campaign arm of the Senate Republican caucus. Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has rejected Scott’s calls to tax Americans who pay no income tax and to “sunset” Social Security and Medicare entitlements.