His comments come as gasoline prices have hit an all-time high.
President Joe Biden on Tuesday continued his sharp attack on what he now calls the GOP’s “ultra-MAGA” agenda by laying out his plan to tackle inflation.
His comments came as the national average price of a gallon of gasoline hit a record high of $4.37 a gallon, AAA said.
“I want all Americans to know that I am taking inflation very seriously,” Biden said from the podium in the South Court Auditorium. “It’s my top national priority.”
Inflation is one of the Democratic Party’s biggest problems heading into the 2022 midterm elections. Republicans have seized on higher costs to criticize Biden’s domestic agenda, while the White House attributes the problem to supply chain problems. of supply, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Biden used his speech Tuesday to tout what he said were recent achievements aimed at easing the mounting financial burdens on Americans, including a historic release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to offset rising gasoline prices and reduce the deficit. national. He also reiterated calls for Congress to pass other parts of his agenda that would reduce the price of prescription drugs and other health care costs.
Biden also used the occasion to continue his intensified rhetoric against the GOP, accusing Republicans of not having a concrete plan to address higher costs.
“They don’t have any plans to lower energy prices today,” Biden said. “There is no plan to take us tomorrow to a cleaner energy independent future.”
“My plan is to lower everyday costs for working Americans and reduce the deficit by asking big corporations and the wealthiest Americans to stay out of price gouging and pay their fair share in taxes,” Biden added. “The Republican plan is to raise taxes on middle-class families, let billionaires and big business get away while raising prices and making record profits. And it really is that simple.”
Biden has used one proposal in particular as a target: Republican Senator Rick Scott’s argument to make all Americans pay some income tax to “get some skin in the game, even if it’s a small amount.” That would mean a tax increase for Americans whose income is currently too low to owe federal income taxes.
On Tuesday, Biden said Scott’s plan will hurt frontline workers like firefighters and teachers.
Despite Biden’s focus on the plan, Republican leaders have not accepted Scott’s proposal. Instead, Senator Mitch McConnell distanced himself shortly after it was announced.
“If we are lucky enough to have a majority next year, I will be the majority leader, deciding in consultation with my members, what to put on the floor,” McConnell said. “Let me tell you what will not be on our agenda. We will not have on our agenda, a bill that raises taxes on half the American people, ends Social Security and Medicare within 5 years. That will not be part of the agenda of the Republican majority in the Senate”.
Before Biden spoke, Scott tweeted that Biden was “unfit for office” and should resign. Asked about that after he finished his remarks, Biden said, “I think the man has a problem.”
Biden’s comments on inflation come ahead of the release of the April consumer price index. The Bureau of Labor Statistics will announce those numbers on Wednesday morning. In March, the consumer price index rose 8.5% from a year earlier, the largest 12-month increase in 40 years.
A recent ABC News/Washington Post poll found that 68% of Americans disapprove of Biden’s handling of inflation. His approval rating on the subject was underwater at 40 percentage points. Americans trusted Republicans more than Democrats to handle rising prices, according to the survey.
ABC News’ Ben Gittleson contributed to this report.
Reference-abcnews.go.com