Biden defends ‘Bide­nomics’ stance amid ris­ing infla­tion

A hot infla­tion report put Pres­i­dent Joe Biden in the hot seat on Wednes­day after­noon as he defend­ed his “Bide­nomics” record.
Biden held a joint press con­fer­ence with the prime min­is­ter of Japan and was asked by a reporter if he still pre­dict­ed the Fed­er­al Reserve would cut inter­est rates despite infla­tion ris­ing more than expect­ed for three straight months.
“I do stand by my pre­dic­tion that before the year is out, there will be a rate cut,” Biden said. “This may delay it a month or so. I’m not sure of that. We don’t know what the Fed is going to do for cer­tain. But look, we have dra­mat­i­cal­ly reduced infla­tion from 9% down to close to 3%.”
But infla­tion rose to 3.5% for the year end­ing in March, the Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics report­ed Wednes­day in an update to the con­sumer price index.
That com­pli­cates the sit­u­a­tion for the Fed, which is look­ing to cut rates from a two-decade high of 5.25% to 5.5%. It also com­pli­cates things for Biden, who is push­ing the Bide­no …