Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) is blaming President Donald Trump for surging consumer prices, after federal data released Tuesday showed inflation climbing at its fastest pace in three years.
The Labor Department’s consumer price index rose 3.8% from April 2025, up from a 3.3% year-over-year gain in March. On a month-to-month basis, April prices rose 0.6% from March as gasoline prices rose 5.4%.
Beyer, the senior House Democrat on Congress’ Joint Economic Committee, tied the spike directly to the 10-week war with Iran in a statement Tuesday.
“As the American people suffer the ill effects of higher prices inflicted on them through a foolish war they largely oppose, Republicans in Washington — who keep voting to continue that war — are preparing to spend a billion dollars in taxpayer money on a fancy golden ballroom for Donald Trump,” Beyer said.
He went on to call congressional Republicans “deliriously out-of-touch Ancien Régime aristocrats” and said no one is more out of touch than Trump, “who keeps insisting that the affordability crisis is a ‘hoax’ while he does all he can to make life less affordable for American families.”
(“Ancien Régime” refers to the French monarchy and aristocracy overthrown in the 1789 French Revolution — a ruling class that became synonymous with lavish excess and indifference to the suffering of ordinary people.)
“Prices are rising at a catastrophic rate thanks to this disastrous war of choice, and Trump is alternating between bloviating to his lackeys about his ballroom and yelling at clouds in manic late night social media tantrums,” Beyer added.
The United States and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, and Tehran responded by shutting off access to the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passes. That has sent oil prices, and most visibly gasoline, racing higher. Beyer was among Virginia Democrats who denounced the strikes as illegal, and last month demanded the House return to session over Trump’s handling of the conflict.
Labor Department figures showed that gasoline prices are up more than 28% compared with a year ago. However, the AAA motor club listed the average regular gallon of gasoline above $4.50 on Tuesday, about 44% more than it cost last year at this time.
“Inflation is the key drag on the U.S. economy now,” Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, wrote. “There is a real financial squeeze underway. For the first time in three years, inflation is eating up all wage gains.”
In April, average hourly wages fell 0.3% from a year earlier after accounting for inflation — the first year-over-year drop in three years. The Federal Reserve, which had been expected to cut its benchmark interest rate in 2026, has turned cautious as it waits to see how long the conflict lasts. Whirlpool, which makes KitchenAid and Maytag appliances, reported last week that revenue dropped nearly 10% in its most recent quarter, with the company saying the war has caused a “recession-level industry decline.”
Excluding volatile food and energy costs, core consumer prices rose 0.4% from March and 2.8% from April 2025 — relatively modest readings that suggest the energy spike has yet to spill over into prices for other goods.
Beyer concluded his statement by calling the current Congress “among the weakest in our history” and saying its “surrender of power amid economic calamity and blatant presidential corruption is a national embarrassment that will be long remembered.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report
