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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden has weighed in on the Department of Labor report out Friday that shows the consumer price index, which measures the prices consumers pay for a market basket of everyday goods and services, climbed at its fastest rate in nearly 40 years.

“It matters to people when you’re paying more for gas, although in some states we’ve got the price down below three bucks a gallon. But the point is, it’s not gone down quickly enough, but I think it will,” Biden said at the end of his remarks closing out the Summit for Democracy.

The White House — trying to walk a fine line — acknowledged that Americans’ wallets are taking a hit but that the increased prices will not last forever. The Biden administration also used the new numbers as an opportunity to tout the “Build Back Better” social spending plan, which it says will ease the financial squeeze many are facing despite good signs from other economic indicators.

“Every other aspect of the economy is racing ahead. It’s doing incredibly well. We’ve never had this kind of growth in 60 years,” Biden said.

The president pointed to his social spending agenda as a way bring down the costs of child care and other expenses addressed in the bill.

“Economists think is going to, in fact, diminish the impact on inflation… because it’s reducing costs for ordinary people,” Biden said, noting that the plan does not have bipartisan support.

Asked how he planned to get holdout Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., on board given his concerns over inflation, Biden said he would be speaking with the senator early next week, but once again stressed his plan would help combat rising prices, not add to it.

“The reason for the inflation is that we have a supply chain problem that is really severe, and it’s causing a significant increase in prices and things that, in fact, are hard to get access to. Because at the bottom, the bottom of it all, is COVID. COVID has had a serious impact on the ability to produce a whole lot of necessary products, particularly those imported from the Pacific and other places,” he said.

While Biden painted an optimistic view that inflation will soon be waning, White House press secretary Jen Psaki clarified that the White House is still deferring to the Federal Reserve about official predictions.

The new inflation numbers came the same day The Congressional Budget Office released a modified estimate of the cost of Biden’s “Build Back Better” bill that finds that if all proposed programs were made permanent rather than temporary, the bill would add $3 trillion to the deficit over 10 years.

That, however, is not what Democrats are proposing in the bill. The House-passed version of the “Build Back Better” bill, which is expected to be modified by the Senate, sunsets many programs well before the 10-year period. The Child Tax Credit, for example, would only be extended for one additional year. As currently drafted, the CBO found the House-passed version of the bill adds $0.2 trillion to the deficit.

This modified score comes in response to a request from Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo.

Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer dismissed the new estimate in a statement, slamming Republicans for “requesting fake scores based on mistruths”.

“Republican-requested fake CBO score does not take into account the fact that President Biden and Democrats have committed that any extensions of the Build Back Better Act in the future will be fully offset, therefore ensuring BBBA will not increase the deficit,” Schumer said. “The GOP’s fake CBO score request is nothing more than a partisan attempt to mislead the public.”

Still, the modified score could prove a huge hurdle for Senate Democrats working to win over Manchin.

Graham said in a press conference that Manchin was “stunned” when the two discussed the new report this morning.

“I talked to him this morning, he was stunned,” Graham said. “I think he felt vindicated in that his concerns were legitimate.”

For its part, The White House brushed off concerns over the new score. Still, Psaki acknowledged there was still work to be done to earn the support of Manchin, whose vote is pivotal to passing the bill. She added that the president would make his case to the senator that now is the time to act.

“You know, you saw every single Republican in the house vote against Build Back Better. What were they voting against? Yes they were voting against the president’s agenda. They were also voting against lowering costs. They were voting against lowering costs for child care, lowering costs for elder care, lowering costs for health care,” Psaki said.

“I think the case he will make is that this is exactly the time to pass this bill and move it forward so that we can lower costs for the American people on all of those topics, including insulin in areas that really pinch — force American families to pinch pennies,” she added.

ABC News’ Catherine Thronbecke contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — Former Sen. Bob Dole — decorated World War II veteran, longtime lawmaker and former presidential candidate — was honored Friday at Washington National Cathedral before being brought back to his home state of Kansas and eventually laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.

Dole died Sunday in his sleep at the age of 98.

President Joe Biden delivered a eulogy at the funeral service, which aired on ABC News and ABC News Live, as well as on video screens at the World War II Memorial on the National Mall in Washington for public viewing.

He spoke of how Dole was gravely wounded in Anzio in Italy when hit by enemy fire in World War II, at the age of 21.

“Nearly eight decades on, we’ve gathered here in a world far different from the mountainous battlefield in 1945. But there’s something that connects that past and present, wartime and peace, then and now,” Biden said. “The courage, the grit, the goodness, and the grace of a 2nd lieutenant named Bob Dole, who became congressman Dole, senator Dole, statesman, husband, father, friend, colleague, and a word that’s often overused but not here, a genuine hero.”

Biden also addressed partisan divisions and infighting in the United States — and how Dole sought to bridge that divide.

“In his final days, Bob made it clear that he’s deeply concerned about the threat to American democracy,” he said. “Not from foreign nations but from the division tearing us apart from within. And this soldier reminded us, and I quote, ‘too many of us have sacrificed too much in defending freedom from foreign adversaries to allow our democracy to crumble under a state of infighting that goes more unacceptable day by day.'”

“We’re bidding this great American farewell. But we know that as long as we keep his spirit alive, as long as we see each other not as enemies but as neighbors and colleagues, as long as we remember that we’re here not to tear down but to build up; as long as we remember that, then taps will never sound for Bob Dole. For Bob will be with us always; cracking a joke, moving a bill, finding common ground,” he said.

Biden, who served with Dole in the Senate for 25 years and has praised the late Kansas lawmaker for wit that crossed party lines, gave formal remarks on Dole’s service to the nation on Thursday at a Capitol ceremony as Dole lay in state — an honor reserved for the most revered American officials.

“My fellow Americans, America has lost one of our greatest patriots,” Biden said, looking to Dole’s wife of 46 years, Elizabeth, who also served in the Senate, and his daughter, Robin, who was expected to speak Friday. “We may follow his wisdom, I hope, and his timeless truth — that the truth of the matter is, as divided as we are, the only way forward for democracy is unity, consensus. The only way.”

Also delivering remarks were former Sen. Pat Roberts, a fellow Kansas Republican, and former Sen. Tom Daschle of South Dakota, whose time serving as the Democratic leader overlapped with Dole’s leadership role.

After the funeral, Dole’s motorcade is scheduled to pause at the World War II Memorial for a ceremony paying tribute to his military service. There, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley and actor Tom Hanks are expected to speak about Dole’s life.

His casket will then be flown to Kansas where Dole will be honored at funeral services in his hometown of Russell and at the Capitol in Topeka, where he served in the state legislature for two years before beginning a 36-year career in Congress.

Dole, who nearly died in WWII and was later awarded two Purple Hearts, served as the Senate Republican leader for more than a decade and was instrumental in the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. He sought the presidency three times, winning the Republican nomination in 1996 before losing to incumbent President Bill Clinton, who later awarded Dole the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Dole announced in February that he had been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and was starting treatment.

In a USA Today op-ed Dole finished on pen and paper less than two weeks before his death, he pushed lawmakers to find common ground in difficult times, writing, “Those who suggest that compromise is a sign of weakness misunderstand the fundamental strength of our democracy.”

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(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court on Friday allowed Texas’ near-total ban on abortions to stay in effect more than three months after a majority of justices allowed the law, SB8, to be implemented, denying women across the nation’s second most populous state a constitutionally-protected right.

But the court said abortion providers could continue with their challenge to the law.

The mixed decision, written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, was at least a temporary victory for abortion providers and civil rights groups that had been challenging the law.

The court said, “the ultimate merits question — whether S.B. 8 is consistent with the Federal Constitution — is not before the Court. Nor is the wisdom of S.B. 8 as a matter of public policy.”

It dismissed a Biden administration request to stay enforcement of the Texas law.

During fast-tracked oral arguments heard earlier, many justices were openly skeptical about the Texas law’s unprecedented enforcement mechanism and what it could mean for other state attempts to limit constitutional rights.

SB8 bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy and delegates enforcement to everyday citizens — rather than state officials — who can file civil lawsuits against anyone who “aids or abets” an unlawful procedure. Its state sponsors deliberately intended to circumvent federal court review, knowing that such a ban on its face violates constitutionally-protected abortion rights.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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