On Tuesday, President Joe Biden blamed Republicans and the war in Ukraine for soaring US inflation, in an attempt to deflect voter rage over his inability to keep prices low.
 
On the eve of the Federal Reserve's likely decision to raise interest rates again, Biden told trade unions in Philadelphia that inflation is "sapping the strength of a lot of families."
 
Biden said he understands Americans' anguish because he grew up in a family where news of rising gasoline prices "was a conversation at the dinner table. It mattered."

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However, he dismissed claims that his government's massive stimulus spending at the tail end of the Covid-19 pandemic was to blame, instead citing shockwaves from Ukraine and Republican obstruction.

"Under my plan for the economy we made extraordinary progress and put America in a position to tackle a worldwide problem," Biden said of inflationary pressure on economies around the globe. 
  
He claimed that "Russia's bloody attack on Ukraine", a major wheat supplier, had caused fuel and food prices to rise. But he also said, "Republicans in Congress are doing everything they can to stop my plans to bring down costs on ordinary families. That's why my plan is not finished and why the results aren't finished either." 
 
Inflation, according to Biden, is overshadowing the United States' successful exit from the pandemic economy, which includes wage increases, record numbers of applications for small businesses, and "the greatest jobs recovery in American history. People don't want to talk about it these days, but it's true." 
  
"Jobs are back but prices are still too high. Covid is down, but gas prices are up. Our work isn't done," Biden said. 
  
"But here's the deal: America still has a choice to make, a choice between a government by the few for the few, or government for all of us, democracy for all of us, an economy for all of us." 

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The Fed is battling to keep inflation under control by raising interest rates, while also avoiding going too far and tipping the economy into recession. A new hike is scheduled for Wednesday. With approval ratings falling below 40% for the first time and his Democratic Party potentially losing its control of Congress in the November elections, Biden faces an increasing political risk.
  
Biden "couldn't care less about" inflation and other economic strains, and "voters will hold him accountable for his failures in November," according to Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.