Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA), Chairman of the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee (JEC), released the following statement after the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation held steady at 0.4% on a seasonally adjusted basis and annual inflation slowed to 7.7% in October, down from 8.2% in September. Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, decelerated to 0.3%, down from 0.6% in September.
“Cooling price pressures over the last month are a welcome sign for workers and families around the country. Although it remains far too high, annual inflation fell to 7.7% and reflects the smallest 12-month increase since January 2022. The larger-than-expected slowdown is putting more money back in peoples’ pockets and bolstering our economic resilience.
“Inflated prices are stretching household budgets, but there are signs of progress. Housing affordability remains a challenge, but real-time cost measures of new rental listings and new home prices have fallen continuously in recent months, another signal that price pressures are starting to ease. Growth in food prices was the slowest since December and used car prices are down 5% from their peak in January.
“With nearly 10.3 million jobs added since President Biden came into office, unemployment hovering near 50-year lows and inflation slowing, our recovery is on the right track. Democrats have been laser-focused on creating better-paying jobs, lowering costs and growing the middle class—now and for the long term—and the Inflation Reduction Act was a first step.
“Republicans have promised to do everything they can to derail these gains. They’ve vowed to repeal prescription cost-cutting provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act and have threatened debt default to gut Social Security and Medicare. They’re siding with Big Oil and Big Pharma to increase household energy and healthcare costs, and they’ve made clear their intentions to slow down the investments in clean energy jobs included in the Inflation Reduction Act.”
