The price of gasoline has gone up every day since Russia invaded Ukraine. Sticker shock is caused by high inflation in the United States. President Biden is blaming the Russian president.
There will be costs at home as we impose sanctions in response to Putin's unprovoked war, Mr. Biden said in a statement on Thursday.
The president thinks Americans will be willing to endure the financial pain that comes from a war with Russia. The news that inflation has hit a 40-year high is another reminder of how much he is asking voters to sacrifice in an election year.
The political question for Mr. Biden is whether the American people will go along with blaming the Russians for the rising costs. Over the past year, experts have said that prices have risen due to strong demand and government relief spending. The problem is getting worse because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
It's certainly a challenge, but it's not one that we really have a choice about.
Mr. Biden's approval ratings have been pulled down by Americans because of inflation and the swine flu. According to recent surveys, many Democrats and Republicans support the administration's sanctions on Russia even if they hurt their pocketbooks.
66 percent of Americans said they approved of sanctions against Russia for invading. A majority of voters in a Wall Street Journal survey supported a ban on Russian oil even if it meant higher energy prices.
The findings are good news for Mr. Biden, who has been the subject of Republican attacks for failing to keep inflation in check. Republicans blamed him for the rise in gas prices even though they supported his ban on Russian oil.
The officials said that Mr. Biden had struggled for days to decide whether to cut off Russian oil or not.
The chairwoman of the Republican National Committee accused the Biden administration of not taking responsibility for rising costs.
Ms. McDaniel said in a statement that Biden and the Democrats are to blame for the high prices.
Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, told reporters on Thursday that inflation may be higher for the next few months than it would have been without the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Democratic strategists pointed out that much of the criticism of Mr. Biden was that he had not done enough to confront Russia. The United States declined to station fighter jets from Poland at an American air base for use in Ukraine because the president said he was unwilling to send American troops into the country.
The strategists from Mr. Biden's party argue that each decision he makes is a strategic one.
There was no agreement. The Foreign Ministers of Russia and Ukraine met in Turkey for the first time since the beginning of the war. The cease-fire was never discussed by the Foreign Minister of Russia.
David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to President Barack Obama, said that being in the situation he is in carries a kind of political freedom. For Democrats, the best service that he can give is to be intrepid and honest about the situation we are in.
Biden administration officials have tried to emphasize economic gains, including a streak of strong job growth that persisted even during the latest wave of coronavirus cases. In his State of the Union address last week, Mr. Biden said fighting inflation was his top priority and that the economy has come a long way since the recession.
The unemployment rate in the US fell to 3.8 percent in February, the lowest level since the beginning of the Pandemic, as reported by the Labor Department last week. Despite economic progress in the United States, inflation continues to be a challenge, according to the Treasury Secretary.
I don't want to say that inflation isn't a problem.
Russia's war in Ukraine was driving up oil prices and causing gasoline prices in the United States to rise sharply. She said the Biden administration was working to keep Americans from being hurt by the sanctions, but she didn't say anything about new measures to lower gas prices.
Biden administration policies to reduce the cost of child care and elder care are long-term remedies for rising prices. She said that the Federal Reserve would be responsible for fighting inflation in the near term.
The job of the Federal Reserve is to bring down inflation.
Alan Rappeport and Jeanna Smialek worked on the report.
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