The COVID-19 pandemic and Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s invasion of Russia are to blame for inflation and high gas prices, President Joe Biden told a gathering of local Democratic leaders in Washington, D.C., but a surge in federal spending is not.
Biden gave the remarks at the National League of Cities Congressional City Conference in D.C., telling the audience that gas prices had risen $1.05 a gallon since Russian forces first gathered on the Ukrainian border last fall, while pandemic-related restrictions led to a stifled supply chain.
WHITE HOUSE DEFENDS ‘PUTIN’S PRICE HIKE’ SPIN ON GAS AND INFLATION
“Make no mistake. The current spike in gas prices is largely the fault of Vladimir Putin,” Biden said. “It has nothing to do with the American Rescue Plan.”
The plan is a $1.9 trillion spending package passed in March 2021 with no Republican support in Congress. Designed to speed up the economic recovery from COVID-19, the bill included direct payments to individuals, expanded unemployment benefits, an expanded child tax credit, increased food stamp benefits, and $350 billion for state and local governments, among other items.
Biden added that analysts had said the bill contributed only 0.3% to inflation.
“Rescuing our economy didn’t cause this problem, but we’re working to fix it,” he said.
The White House has been criticized for blaming inflation on the war in Ukraine, even though high inflation and high gas prices both precede the invasion.
Biden explained during the speech that the public spent its money on goods rather than services during shutdowns and that the supply chain of goods was also disrupted for the same reasons, leading to higher inflation. He pointed to the price of computer chips and new cars specifically as items that became more expensive over the last two years.
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The points Biden made about inflation being due to factors outside the president’s control echo statements from other White House officials, such as press secretary Jen Psaki.
“There is also no question that inflation may be higher for the next few months than it would have been without Russia, without President Putin’s Russia’s further invasion into Ukraine,” Psaki said last week. “We’ve seen the price of gas go up at least 75 cents since President Putin lined up troops on the border of Ukraine.”
