Biden to meet with Fed chief Jerome Powell to examine rising inflation

May 30 (UPI) -- President Joe Biden will meet with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell at the White House on Tuesday to weigh possible measures to control rising inflation in the United States.

The White House said that the president will meet with the Federal Reserve chief to discuss the state of the U.S. and global economies, as well as rising consumer prices.

It will be the first meeting between Biden and Powell since November, when Biden nominated him for a second term. The Senate confirmed Powell this month.

One of the tools used by the Fed to judge inflation, the personal consumption expenditures price index, increased by 6.3% over the 12 months ending in April, which was slightly down from the 6.6% inflation rate in March.

The Fed this month hiked key interest rates by a half-point -- the largest single increase in 22 years -- in a move to control inflation. A key driver of inflation has been the cost of energy, which includes gas prices.

Former President Donald Trump first nominated Powell, a Republican, to head the central bank in 2017. Despite disapproval from progressive Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Biden decided to renominate him for a second term.

"I have made it clear that tackling inflation is my top domestic priority," Biden said last fall. "So I am pleased to see the Senate take a step forward onmy agenda to get inflation under control by confirming my nominees to the Fed."