According to the publication The Hill, the announcement came after data from the Department of Labor revealed the said parameter increased by 8.5 percent in the last 12 months, a record figure.

The Federal Reserve and the Administration did not act quickly enough, and today’s data is proof of the consequences being felt across the country, Manchin said in a statement.

Instead of acting boldly, our elected leaders and the Federal Reserve responded with half measures and rhetorical failures, looking for someone to blame. The American people deserve the truth about the crisis and what must be done to control it, he added.

Manchin called the data a chilling story of how taxes are out of control, as Americans’ pockets are emptied on purchases of basic goods and fuel, and in paying taxes.

Official figures show that food prices increased 8.8 percent in the last 12 months and 1 percent in March alone, while the value of gasoline grew 48 percent.

For The Hill, the numbers are bad news for Democrats and Biden heading into this fall’s midterm elections, as Republicans take advantage of inflation to push for a leadership change.

The White House blames rising costs, especially gas and energy prices, on Russian President Vladimir Putin for the war crisis in Eastern Europe, but some US politicians take the opposite view.

These dramatic increases in inflation have not been caused by Putin, but are the result of poor decisions taken by the president and the Democrats who control Congress, said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R. South Carolina).

If they want prices to go down, Americans will have to change leadership, said the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee.

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