President Biden insisted Thursday that passage of his nearly $2 trillion spending plan would ease the pain of four-decade-high inflation figures — despite a key Democrat repeatedly insisting the measure has no hope of passing.
“Inflation is up. It’s up,” the president acknowledged during an event in Culpeper, Va. “And coming from a family when if the price of gas went up, you felt it … it matters.
“But the fact is,” Biden added, “that if we were able to do the things I’m talking about here, it will bring down the cost for average families.”
Hours earlier, however, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), a must-have vote on any future spending bill, had issued a blistering statement after new figures showed consumer prices surging 7.5 percent in January over January 2021.
“Congress and the Administration must proceed with caution before adding more fuel to an economy already on fire,” warned Manchin, who had cited fears about inflation in December when he announced he would not support Biden’s Build Back Better bill — and described the measure as “dead” earlier this month.