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WASHINGTON — President Biden is sticking to his assertions that passing his Build Back Better agenda will help alleviate rising inflation.

“If you are a working-class family it hurts,” said Biden on Wednesday. “That’s why my Build Back Better Plan, what’s it all about? Look, families are getting clobbered by the cost of everyday things.”

The measure is in limbo in the Senate after passage by the House. In spite of the inflation concerns, Biden said in a meeting with county executives from all over the U.S. that the U.S’s economic recovery is leading the world.

“We had the strongest economic growth in nearly 40 years,” Biden said. “A 5.7-percent increase in the GDP and unemployment drop more than any time in American history.”

Republicans are not as optimistic as they continue to blame the Biden administration’s leadership for causing the highest inflation rate the country has seen in over four decades. They are certain that the higher costs are not a product of the natural ebb and flow of the economy.

“40 and 276, those are the numbers you really need to know,” said Sen. Todd Young of Indiana. “It’s a 40 year high in price inflation and 276 (dollars) in additional expenditure for regular working families each month. That’s the average amount that Hoosier families and American families are having to pay on account of policy decisions.”

Young is urging the White House to back off plans to increase spending through plans like Build Back Better and to “lean into free trade.”

All signs point to worsening inflation. The Labor Department says wholesale prices jumped a full percent in January. That’s double what economists expected. The Producer Price Index, which measures the average selling prices of products from producers, rose by a near-record 9.7-percent in January.