Durbin says it’s wrong to blame Biden for inflation

Sen. Richard J. Durbin said Sunday it is “completely wrong” for Republicans to blame President Biden for rising inflation.

The Illinois Democrat said that it is hard to deny that the sanctions against Russian oil have added to the price at the pump and that Mr. Biden and his supporters “are trying to find a way to reduce the impact of that.”

“I think It is completely wrong to blame President Biden and his efforts to stop Putin and say that these are the reasons we are having inflation in this country,” Mr. Durbin said on ABC’s “This Week.” “There are many other factors. Other countries are going through the same inflation.”

He said governors are slashing the gas tax and the federal government is exploring other ways to reduce the pain at the pump.

Sen. John Barrasso, Wyoming Republican, said last week that Mr. Biden’s far-left vision on energy is hurting the nation.

Mr. Barrasso said Mr. Biden “would rather turn to dictators like those in Iran and Venezuela rather than turn against the climate elitists who dictate the energy policy of that Democratic Party.”

Mr. Durbin pushed back Sunday, saying Democrats are focused on relieving inflationary pressures and also on climate change.

“We have to make sure that we are sensible — not only about [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, the war and his Russia oil supplies, but also sensible in what my friend John Barrasso calls these climate elitists,” he said. “We are fighting and waging a war against climate change,” he said. “It is war that decides what the world looks like for the next generation. Let’s take both of these seriously.”