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"We're gonna live with this inflation for a while," Biden said
at a Democratic fundraising event in Beverly Hills. "It's gonna
come down gradually, but we're going to live with it for a
while."
The wary comments at an event hosted by billionaire media
magnate Haim Saban came as the administration faces increasing
pressure ahead of Nov. 8 midterm elections, where Biden's fellow
Democrats' control of Congress is on the line.
The administration and many professional economists initially
thought that inflation pressures would be "transitory," easing
as the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic continued.
But price pressures have only expanded to additional goods and
services globally as the Russian invasion of Ukraine took oil
and food supplies off an already stretched global market.
U.S. consumer inflation hitting a 40-year high 8.6% in the 12
months through May, with gasoline marking a record high and the
cost of food soaring, Labor Department data showed.
The surging costs have become a political headache for the Biden
administration, which has tried several measures to lower prices
but said much of the responsibility to control inflation falls
to the Federal Reserve.
Biden on Friday visited the Port of Los Angeles, where he has
sought to clear a backlog of goods and accused the U.S. oil
industry of capitalizing on a supply shortage to fatten profits.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt in Beverly Hills, Calif.; Editing
by William Mallard)
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