Biden on inflation report: ‘Reversing this trend is a top priority for me’

By Betsy Klein, CNN

President Joe Biden said Wednesday that inflation statistics showing America’s prices are surging more than they have in 30 years are proof that there is “more work to do before our economy is back to normal.”

“Inflation hurts Americans (sic) pocketbooks, and reversing this trend is a top priority for me,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House.

US consumer price inflation surged higher again in October, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday. Over the past 12 months, prices climbed 6.2% — the biggest increase since November 1990.

Stripping out food and energy prices, which tend to be more volatile, the index rose 4.6% over the same period, the biggest jump since August 1991. The overall price index rose 0.9% in October alone, adjusted for seasonal swings, significantly more than the 0.6% economists had predicted and overshadowing the somewhat more tepid 0.4% increase from September.

Excluding food and energy, prices climbed 0.6% last month — more than in September.

“The largest share of the increase in prices in this report is due to rising energy costs — and in the few days since the data for this report were collected, the price of natural gas has fallen,” Biden said in the statement. “I have directed my National Economic Council to pursue means to try to further reduce these costs, and have asked the Federal Trade Commission to strike back at any market manipulation or price gouging in this sector.”

In his statement, Biden reiterated his calls on Congress to pass his sweeping economic and climate agenda and touted six consecutive weeks of decline in new unemployment claims.

“We are making progress on our recovery. Jobs are up, wages are up, home values are up, personal debt is down, and unemployment is down,” Biden said. “We have more work to do, but there is no question that the economy continues to recover and is in much better shape today than it was a year ago.”

This is a breaking story and will be updated.

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