President Joe Biden met with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Tuesday in an attempt to reassure Americans about rising inflation.
The president spoke briefly to reporters at the top of the White House meeting in the Oval Office, reassuring them he was focused on high prices.
“Chair Powell and other leaders of the Fed have noted at this moment they have a laser focus on addressing inflation, just like I am,” he said.
But prices for everyday items, especially food and groceries, remain stubbornly high despite Biden’s repeated assertion that inflation remains his “top economic priority.”
“My plan is to address inflation, and it starts with a simple proposition; respect the Fed. Respect the Fed’s independence,” Biden said.
The White House published an op-ed on inflation with the president’s byline on it in the Wall Street Journal, repeating many of his old talking points on inflation before his meeting with Powell.
“The Federal Reserve has a primary responsibility to control inflation,” he wrote.
Biden has also blamed inflation on the coronavirus pandemic and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin but stubbornly refuses to acknowledge his enormous domestic spending priorities.
The president’s tone has shifted on inflation after it was clear it was not just a temporary problem.
In December, Biden said the United States had reached the “peak of the crisis.”
“I think you’ll see it change sooner than — quicker than — more rapidly than it will take than most people think,” he said at the time.