White House Official Claims Senator Blaming Biden for Inflation Is 'Fully in Lockstep' with Putin

By Abby Liebing April 12, 2022 at 10:07am

With the country’s inflation showing another steep hike, the White House is trying to deflect blame from President Joe Biden, but some are pushing back.

In March, inflation surged to yet another new 40-year high of 8.5 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Tuesday.

The U.S. inflation rate has been extraordinarily high for the past six months, staying above 6 percent, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The average rate for “healthy” inflation is about 2 percent, or a bit less, according to the Federal Reserve.

This inflation crisis is affecting every American as the prices for food and energy have continued to skyrocket.

But as Americans are hurting from the increased prices for the basic necessities, one White House official claimed that this is all Russian President Vladimir Putin’s fault.

In light of the new consumer price index numbers, Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida called out Biden for the inflation crisis.

“Today’s CPI numbers should be a big wakeup call for Joe Biden, but we know nothing will change. I have been sounding the alarm on Joe Biden’s raging inflation crisis for more than a year, but while inflation skyrockets higher each month, Biden and his incompetent lackeys remain missing in action,” Scott said in a statement.

“As long as Joe Biden is in office, families will continue to suffer, debt will keep climbing and prices will skyrocket even higher.”

In response, Jesse Lee, the senior adviser for communications to the National Economic Council at the White House, accused Scott of being “fully in lockstep” with Putin “in blaming Biden for Putin’s Price Hike.”

Putin and @SenRickScott fully in lockstep in blaming Biden for Putin’s Price Hike. So surprising. pic.twitter.com/ROJ5dWHzW4

— Jesse Lee (@JesseLee46) April 12, 2022

Lee seemed to want to place all the blame for inflation on Putin and his invasion of Ukraine.

However, the invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24. Inflation had already hit 7.5 percent by the end of January, the Bureau of Labor Statistic reported.

Andrew Follett, a senior analyst for the Club for Growth, a conservative organization, tweeted a graph to show how Lee was wrong in his claims about the inflation hike.

Made this handy graph to explain why you’re such a liar @JesseLee46!

Glad to provide this simple educational service. pic.twitter.com/1kp9J2Yapx

— Andrew Follett (@AndrewCFollett) April 12, 2022

The graph shows that inflation began climbing very soon after Biden took office, which was more than a year before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

This is in accordance with the CPI numbers of the past 12 months.

In March of 2021, the inflation rate was just below 3 percent. By September of 2021 it was above 5 percent. In December 2021, it was at 7 percent, until it finally rose to its current 8.5 percent in the past three months.

Biden himself has been trying to shift the blame for inflation to Putin for weeks.

In March, Biden claimed that inflation “is largely the fault” of the Russian president as well as the coronavirus pandemic, Fox News reported.

Do you think Biden's policies are behind the record-setting inflation the U.S. is witnessing?

“A second big reason for inflation is Vladimir Putin,” Biden told a gathering of House Democrats in Philadelphia, according to Fox. “From the moment he put his over 150,000 troops on the Ukrainian border, the price of gasoline in January went up 75 cents and Putin began amassing troops along the border.

“Make no mistake, inflation is largely the fault of Putin,” Biden added.

Some news outlets have also tried to explain that inflation is not all Biden’s fault. A report from National Public Radio’s Planet Money in January was headlined, “Movement To Stick Inflation Blame On Biden.”

“While it’s clear that life has gotten more expensive under President Biden, it’s much less clear whether or how much he is actually to blame for it,” NPR reported.

But many keep hearkening back to the numbers and monthly data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The timeline of the inflation increases is why Scott and others are saying that Biden cannot simply wash his hands of the inflation crisis and blame it on Putin.

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