Biden claims 'inflation is largely the fault of Putin,' not Democratic spending

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PHILADELPHIA – President Biden on Friday said skyrocketing inflation "is largely the fault of" Russian President Vladimir Putin, despite the fact that inflation began rising well before Putin's invasion of Ukraine. 

Economists have said that Democrats' $1.9 trillion spending bill last year helped fuel the inflation surge.  

Biden addressed the House Democrats at their member retreat in Philadelphia where he touched on the rising inflation across the US, laying the blame of inflation at Putin’s feet amid his war in Ukraine as well as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Biden said Friday that "inflation is largely the fault of Putin."  (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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"A second big reason for inflation is Vladimir Putin," Biden said. "From the moment he put his over one hundred and fifty thousand troops on the Ukrainian border, the price of gasoline in January went up 75 cents and Putin began amassing troops along the border."

"Make no mistake, inflation is largely the fault of Putin," Biden also said.

Putin's war in Ukraine sent rising fuel prices even higher, but inflation was a political problem for Biden well before the Russian invasion. 

Economists from across the political spectrum have pointed to Democratic spending as a driving factor behind inflation. 

Protesters gather outside the Hilton hotel housing the House Democrats' member retreat as President Biden addresses the conference.

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Steven Rattner, a former Treasury Department official under the Obama administration, previously said the spending in President Biden's American Rescue Plan was the "original sin" that caused inflation. 

"The original sin was the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, passed in March. The bill – almost completely unfunded – sought to counter the effects of the COVID pandemic by focusing on demand-side stimulus rather than on investment," Rattner said in November 2021. "That has contributed materially to today’s inflation levels."

Fox News Digital’s Timothy Nerozzi contributed reporting.