The White House has struggled to hit on an effective price message or policy, causing Democrats anguish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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As Ronald Reagan might have put it: Here we go again. Forty-two years after inflation helped sweep the former California governor into the White House and return the Senate to GOP control, surging prices threaten once again to upend a Democratic administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats in Congress are desperate to avoid the fate of President Jimmy Carter, ousted after one term. But Biden so far has had little success in either figuring out how to douse inflation that\u2019s running at a four-decade high or even convincing voters that it wasn\u2019t his $1,400 stimulus check that acted as kindling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Inside the administration, there\u2019s a sense of frustration, doom, and some say magical thinking about inflation, but no clear path on the best way for the White House to grapple with an economic phenomenon that\u2019s been more severe and lasted longer than officials expected. Unfortunately for Biden and Democrats, the lesson from the 1970s and \u201980s is that US presidents are quite limited in what they can do on their own to tamp down price pressures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the approach to November\u2019s midterm elections, Ron Klain, Biden\u2019s chief of staff, has argued that the president and his allies should talk more about the president\u2019s accomplishments, especially the remarkable rebound in employment, along with laws he signed to provide families with pandemic relief and rebuild US infrastructure. Klain also advocates that Biden contrast his policies with Republican proposals on taxes and the deficit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden appeared to be acting on those recommendations last week, delivering remarks at the White House that were sharply critical of a proposal by a top Republican senator, Rick Scott of Florida, to require all Americans, even those with the lowest earnings, to pay some income tax. Biden will talk about his plans to fight inflation again on Tuesday, when he\u2019s expected to escalate his criticism of Republicans and call out what he sees as their lack of proposals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
People close to the president are optimistic that prices will start to moderate by the summer, which is when many voters will begin engaging with campaigns. The idea is that independent and swing voters, women, and progressives will feel good enough about the economy to turn out for Democrats again. Such expectations, though, are out of sync with those of Wall Street economists. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., for instance, projects annual inflation will still be hovering at around 7% on Election Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At times, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and her team have disapproved of the way top White House aides have downplayed the risks from inflation and dismissed it as short-term when, in fact, it has lasted for months. Last fall into the early winter, in particular, Yellen and key members of her staff tried to distance themselves from this message, unwilling to stake their reputations as economists and policy experts on a political framing they found overly optimistic, according to three sources familiar with the back-and-forth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe all recognize that inflation is a macroeconomic concern and are working around the clock to come up with policy remedies to provide relief to the American people,\u201d said Ben Harris, the assistant secretary for economic policy at the Treasury Department, in a statement. \u201cWhile we face additional price pressures like Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine, the US economy is on strong footing and we expect inflation to abate over the next year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One senior White House official says the president is committed to doing everything he can to lower prices. Already the administration has taken steps to relieve congestion at US ports, released crude oil from the government\u2019s stockpile, and backed legislation that incentivizes makers of semiconductors to build new plants stateside. It\u2019s also looking into using antitrust policy and other tools to fight alleged price gouging by meat processors and other industries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet the supply-side measures the administration has enacted have failed to make a big impact so far. Despite a record drawdown from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, gasoline prices are now approaching $6 a gallon in California. Shipping delays and labor shortages continue to jam supply chains. And while the war in Ukraine isn\u2019t helping matters, Biden\u2019s repeated attempts to blame Russian President Vladimir Putin for price increases don\u2019t ring true when inflation had been ticking up for months before the invasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, Dick Durbin of Illinois, is leaning on the White House to seek out new means to tame inflation. Biden is \u201cdoing a lot, but I want him to do more,\u201d Durbin says. He didn\u2019t elaborate on what other policies he\u2019d like to see from the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n