Skyrocketing inflation and consumer costs are hurting President Joe Biden’s and Congressional Democrats’ hopes to pass another major spending bill through the reconciliation process.
The Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics this week reported an 8.6% increase in wholesale prices over the past 12 months, the highest increase in years. The federal agency also said this week that the consumer price index, another key tracker of inflation, is rising at the fastest rate in decades.
These economic woes have serious political implications for Democrats.
West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin pointed to the latest inflation data this week, saying, “D.C. can no longer ignore” the problem.
“By all accounts, the threat posed by record inflation to the American people is not ‘transitory’ and is instead getting worse,” said Manchin. “From the grocery store to the gas pump, Americans know the inflation tax is real and D.C. can no longer ignore the economic pain Americans feel every day.”
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