President Joe Biden has faced criticism for falsely claiming on two occasions in the past week that the inflation rate was 9% when he took office in January 2021. In fact, the consumer price index (CPI) was at 1.4% at the time of his inauguration.

In an interview last Wednesday, Biden told CNN’s Erin Burnett, “No president has had the run we’ve had in creating jobs and bringing down inflation. It was 9% when I came to office – 9%.” He made a similar claim in an interview with Yahoo Finance on Tuesday.

Biden Caught Repeating False Claim About Inflation #news https://t.co/2VyFxoUHA3

— Filtered News (@filterednews) May 15, 2024

However, under Biden’s watch, the inflation rate ballooned from 1.4% to a peak of 9.1% in June 2022. While it has since declined to 3.5% as of March 2024, it remains well above the Federal Reserve’s target rate of 2%.

Biden repeats false claim that inflation was at 9% when he took office after being called out last week https://t.co/Xuzv5GtNfW #FoxNews

— MARR (@RoglesM) May 15, 2024

Biden’s claims appear to be an attempt to make the case that the economy is better under his “Bidenomics” agenda than it was under his predecessor and current presidential rival Donald Trump. However, voters are not happy with Biden’s handling of the economy, with only 38% approving, according to a March Fox News poll.

The jig is up for President .@JoeBiden.
The average American has seen through the lies.
Biden continues to wrongly claim inflation was 9% when he took office.
Americans are wise to .@JoeBiden’s lies. Biden’s only hope is to register as many illegals as possible.

— James Marcello (@JamesMarcello6) May 15, 2024

Despite the decline from its peak, U.S. households are still feeling the pain from rising prices during Biden’s term, with overall inflation up 18.9%, food costs up 21%, shelter costs up 20.5% and energy costs up 36.9% since January 2021.