U.S. surging inflation exacerbates partisan dispute: report

WASHINGTON, July 15 (Xinhua) -- The surging and higher-than-expected inflation in the United States has exacerbated the division between Democrats and Republicans in the Congress, a U.S. media outlet reported on Thursday.

The Labor Department said Thursday that the country's producer price index, which measures inflation before it hit consumers, climbed 11.3 percent in June compared with a year earlier. Meanwhile, the consumer inflation in June surged 9.1 percent from a year ago, hitting a fresh four-decade high.

Republicans are blaming the out-of-control inflation on overspending by President Biden and congressional Democrats, the Washington Times said in an article.

The rising prices for producers are a result of last year's nearly 2 trillion U.S. dollars pandemic-related relief bill, which passed Congress with no Republican support, it cited Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel as saying.