WASHINGTON—The Bureau of Labor Statistics today released the consumer price index (CPI) data for the month of June, showing 3.0% inflation over the last year, while monthly inflation was 0.2%. Core inflation over the last year was 4.8%, more than twice the Federal Reserve’s 2% target rate. Since President Biden took office, the CPI has risen 16%, an annualized rate of 6.2%.

Heritage Foundation public finance economist and EJ Antoni issued the following statement in reaction to the June inflationary numbers:

“Inflation retreating from 40-year highs is a welcome relief for American families, but wage increases are still way behind inflation. In 26 of the last 30 months, annual inflation has outpaced wage growth, and real weekly earnings are down 4.6% over that same time. People are demonstrably poorer because of the hidden tax of inflation.

“More worrisome is the fact that inflation is not trending down to the Fed’s 2.0% target, but has steadily risen at about a 3% annualized rate, compared to the 1.8% average rate from 2009 until 2021. Because government spending, borrowing, and printing of money today is so much greater than in the past, inflation is about 50% higher.

“American families are being forced to eat the rotten fruit from the tree of government overspending, and that will continue until Congress and the White House rein in their bloated budgetary habits. With so many recession indicators flashing red today, it is imperative that we get our financial house in order, and the federal budget is no exception to that mandate.”