Biden can't promise reporter when prices will return to 'normal': 'I can't make that prediction'

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Biden hopes prices will return to normal next year but can't predict it

President Biden discussed inflation and stabilizing the economy at the White House on December 12. 

President Biden said he wouldn't take questions Tuesday after remarks at the White House touting a cooling of inflation, but he told one reporter as he left the podium that he couldn't promise prices would return to normal by next year.

Biden took a victory lap of sorts after Tuesday's report found a slight moderation in inflation last month, according to the Consumer Price Index. He said he wouldn't take questions after his remarks as he would see the media again later in the day, but one reporter shouted out, "Can you say when you expect prices to get back to normal, Mr. President?"

"I hope by the end of next year we're much closer, but I can’t make that prediction," Biden said. "I’m convinced they’re not going to go up. I'm convinced they're going to continue to go down."

He ignored another question about whether he would veto the defense spending bill over its removal of the vaccination requirement.

President Biden touted a cooling of inflation but couldn't predict when prices would return to "normal." (Nathan Posner/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

INFLATION EASES MORE THAN EXPECTED IN NOVEMBER TO 7.1&, BUT CONSUMER PRICES REMAIN ELEVATED

Biden admitted during his comments that prices are "still too high" but touted gas prices falling and the slow-down of food inflation as "much-needed relief" for families getting ready for holiday celebrations.

"It will take time to get inflation back to normal levels as we make the transition to a more stable and steady growth. But we could see setbacks along the way as well. We shouldn’t take anything for granted. What is clear is my economic plan is working and we’re just getting started," he said.

The Labor Department said Tuesday that the Consumer Price Index, a broad measure of the price for everyday goods including gasoline, groceries and rents, rose 0.1% in November from the previous month. Prices climbed 7.1% on an annual basis. 

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Those figures were both lower than the 7.3% headline figure and 0.3% monthly increase forecast by Refinitiv economists, a potentially reassuring sign for the Federal Reserve as it tries to tame runaway inflation with a series of aggressive interest rate hikes. It marked the slowest annual inflation rate since December 2021.

Milk prices are displayed in a supermarket in Washington, DC, on May 26, 2022. (NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images)

In another sign that suggests underlying inflationary pressures in the economy are starting to slow, core prices – which strip out the more volatile measurements of food and energy – climbed 0.2% in November from the previous month, down from 0.3% in October. From the same time last year, core prices jumped 6%.

"Today’s news gives me reason to be optimistic," Biden said. "We’re building a better America, an economy from the bottom up and the middle out, not the top down. When the poor have a shot, middle class do well, the wealthy always do very well. We just have to keep going. I know we can get this done."

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Inflation hit a 40-year high in June of 9.1 percent, straining American pocketbooks. Inflation has cooled in the months since, in part due to the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates. However, that's stoked recession fears for Americans and corporations; the country already technically went into recession earlier this year when it had two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth.

Fox Business' Megan Henney contributed to this report.