White House Warns Of ‘Extremely Elevated’ Inflation In March

During Monday’s press briefing, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki warned that the upcoming Consumer Price Index report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics will show especially high inflation numbers and said that the numbers are a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“Because of the actions we’ve taken to address the Putin price hike, we are in a better place than we were last month, but we expect March CPI headline inflation to be extraordinarily elevated due to Putin’s price hike,” Psaki said, referring to an attempt by the Biden administration to blame rising gas prices on the Russian invasion of Ukraine – despite gas prices beginning their rise during Biden’s first month in office over a year ago.

“We expect a large difference between core and headline inflation, reflecting the global disruptions in energy and food markets,” she added, noting that core inflation excludes energy and food prices but headline data does not.

“I will say that anytime there’s heightened monthly data or inflation reporting or numbers, it is a reminder to us, to our allies on the Hill and hopefully to many of the American people that we need to do more to reduce costs for the American people,” Psaki added.

“We have, of course, legislation that could do exactly that — cut the cost of childcare, of healthcare, of eldercare,” she claimed.

"We need to do more to reduce costs for the American people."

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki says the White House expects the Consumer Price Index report on inflation for March “to be extraordinarily elevated due to Putin’s price hike.” pic.twitter.com/MsImm8189U

— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 11, 2022

The upcoming Consumer Price Index report, which is to be released on Tuesday, is expected to show that annual inflation for the year ending in March 2022 exceeded the 7.9% annual inflation rate that was reached the previous month – which was the highest level in 40 years.

The inflation crisis, which began shortly after Biden took office, has been driven by massive government spending. As explained by economist John Cochrane, the inflation crisis is directly attributable to government spending. According to The Wall Street Journal, Cochrane “traces the present inflation to the pandemic and the government’s response. Starting in March 2020, ‘the Treasury issued $3 trillion of new debt, which the Fed quickly bought in return for $3 trillion of new reserves.’ The Treasury then sent checks to people and businesses, later borrowing another $2 trillion and sending more checks. Overall federal debt rose nearly 30%. ‘Is it at all a surprise,’ Mr. Cochrane asks, ‘that a year later inflation breaks out?’”