During a tense exchange in the White House Press Room this Thursday, Fox News' Peter Doocy peppered White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki with questions regarding rising prices in the U.S. as Russia's invasion of Ukraine carries on.
At one point, Doocy cited past comments from Psaki where she said record inflation levels would "ease over time" despite warnings from experts.
"We just heard you say again that inflation was going to temporary -- we've heard you say it's going to be temporary since last spring, so how long do you guys think 'temporary' is?" Doocy asked Psaki.
"Well again, Peter, what we do is we rely on assessments from the Federal Reserve and of outside economic analysts who give an assessment of how long it will last," Psaki replied. "The expectations and their assessment at this point continues to be that [inflation] will moderate by the end of the year. There's also no question that when a foreign dictator invades a foreign country and when that foreign dictator is the head of a country that is the third-largest supplier of oil in the world ... that is going to have an impact and it is."
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Doocy then pointed out that as inflation continues to rise, President Joe Biden is blaming Putin, calling it the "Putin price hike."
"Are you guys just going to start blaming Putin for everything until the midterms?" Doocy asked.
Psaki fired back, citing the recent hike in gas prices by $0.75, which she claims is a direct result of Putin's invasion of Ukraine. But Doocy pointed out that the administration didn't mention Putin or Ukraine last month when talking about inflation, and instead blamed the pandemic. "Why is that?" Doocy asked.
"Well, Peter ... last two years there was a global pandemic," Psaki replied. "Everyone who's a global economist have all agreed that has been the biggest contributor to date of inflation because of the impact on the supply chain. Obviously, global events impact the global economy as well as global inflation, and the price hikes as a result that have escalated over the course of time, of President Putin's further invasion, of the impact of the global oil markets of are of course having an impact."
While experts agree that Putin's invasion of Ukraine definitely has contributed to higher gas prices, rising prices at the pumps were underway for weeks before the invasion.
"There are two primary causes of increasing gasoline prices," Dr. Charles N. Steele, associate professor and chairman in the Department of Economics, Business, and Accounting at Hillsdale College, told Forbes "First, there is a general inflation caused by the recent expansion of the money supply and the enormous increases in government spending. Second, the Biden administration has reduced U.S. petroleum and natural gas production and investment by reducing drilling and fracking, and also by blocking projects such as the Keystone XL pipeline. The Biden administration has restricted supplies and pursued inflationary policies, and that's the fundamental reason for record high gas prices."
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