Biden blames Russia’s war on Ukraine for keeping inflation high
US President Joe Biden reacted to Friday’s Consumer Price Index report showing continued high inflation, promising that tackling inflation is his “top economic priority”, while attributing the persistence of high prices to Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
“Even as we continue our work to defend freedom in Ukraine, we must do more — and quickly — to bring prices down here in the United States,” Biden said in a statement.
After releasing the statement, Biden made remarks at the Port of Los Angeles, where he was taking a break from a regional summit to fight inflation.
“Even as we continue our work to defend freedom in Ukraine, we must do more — and quickly — to bring prices down here in the United States,” Biden said in a statement.
“Today’s inflation report confirms what Americans already know. Putin’s price hike is hitting Americans hard,” he said.
Biden used similar language in a published statement:
“Putin’s price hike hit hard in May here and around the world: high pump prices for gasoline, energy and food accounted for about half of monthly price increases, and prices at the pumps have risen by $2 a gallon in many places since Russian troops began threatening Ukraine,” the statement said.
He also challenged oil and gas companies in the statement and urged them not to take “excessive profits”.
“Prices at the pump are a big part of inflation, and the war in Ukraine is a major cause of that. The United States is on track to produce a record amount of oil next year, and I’m working with industry to expedite this But it is also important that the oil, gas and refining industries in this country do not use the challenge created by the war in Ukraine as a reason to make matters worse for families with excessive profit taking or price hikes,” Biden said in the statement.
And after concluding his speech in Los Angeles, Biden sued major US oil companies for failing to help lower the price of gas.
“We’re going to make sure everyone knows Exxon’s earnings,” he said. “Exxon made more money than God last year,” he said.
He blamed the companies for not using the thousands of acres of land where they already have leases to drill more oil.
“They don’t drill,” he said. “Why aren’t they [they] drilling? Because they make more money without producing more oil. The price goes up, number one. And number two, the reason they’re not drilling is because they’re buying back their own stocks, buying back their own stocks and making no new investments.”
Biden also called on Congress to pass legislation to help Americans struggling with higher prices.
“I call on Congress to pass a bill to reduce shipping costs this month and get it to my office, so we can reduce the price of goods,” Biden said in the statement.