Biden: Inflation is "top domestic priority"
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President Biden speaks in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on May 10. Photo: Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images
President Biden said Tuesday that addressing inflation is his "top domestic priority" as midterm elections loom.
Driving the news: "I want everyone to know that I'm taking inflation very seriously and it's my top domestic priority," Biden said in remarks, where he also blasted Republicans' plans to combat inflation.
- Biden slammed GOP plans, including those from Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), which Biden said would raise taxes on 75 million American families.
- "The bottom line is this: Americans have a choice right now between two paths, reflecting two very different sets of values," Biden said.
- Biden also said that the administration is discussing "right now" potentially lowering some of former President Trump's tariffs against China as a way to slow inflation.
What he's saying: "I plan to tax inflation and grow the economy by lowering costs for working families, giving workers well-deserved raises, reducing the deficit by historic levels, making big corporations and the very wealthiest Americans pay their fair share," Biden said.
- He added that a "once-in-a-century pandemic" and "Mr. Putin's war in Ukraine" are the leading causes of inflation.
- "The bottom line is easing these bottlenecks and making our supply chain more secure, is a major focus of my economic strategy," he said.
The other side: "Biden might be living in an alternate reality, but voters are not, which is why they solely blame Biden and Democrats for the rising prices they see for everyday goods, gas, and groceries," the Republican National Committee said in preemptive statement.
- "The economy is on the ballot in November, and voters know Biden and Democrats are only making it worse," said RNC chair Ronna McDaniel.
The big picture: Biden's remarks come as gas prices hit a new all-time high on Tuesday and rising food prices are slowly changing Americans' grocery store shopping habits.
- Biden, who once insisted inflation was "transitory," is now talking about rising prices at nearly every opportunity, Axios' Hans Nichols reports.
Go deeper: Biden targets GOP on inflation as prices skyrocket
Editor's note: This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
