This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Inflation in January surged again, to 5.4%, according to a key gauge that is watched by the Federal Reserve.

"America is firmly stuck in an ongoing inflation crisis caused by Washington Democrats' reckless spending. Reports show families, farmers, and small businesses continue to suffer as a result of President Biden’s radical partisan agenda, yet he insists he will not abandon it," explained Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

A report from the Washington Examiner said the increase to 5.4% annually in the personal consumption expenditures price index, as reported by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, was unexpected.

The report noted it was "another sign that inflationary pressures are not abating in the face of the Federal Reserve’s campaign to slow price gains by hiking interest rates. Inflation is still running much hotter than the central bank’s target and damaging household purchasing power."

A different gauge, the Consumer Price Index, hit 9.1% last summer as a result of Biden's economic and political agenda pursuits. Prices of food and energy have exploded, with eggs in some places costing nearly a dollar apiece, and gasoline for cars charging past $6 a gallon in some cities.

The result is an extreme pain for middle- and lower-income Americans who must eliminate other items from their purchasing in order to pay the higher cost of necessities under Biden.

The Examiner said, "The headline number is bad news for the economy and for President Joe Biden, who had been counting on a continuation of the recent trend of disinflation. January's new reading is nearly a half percentage point higher than the 5% PCE inflation that was registered in December."

The report noted that core PCE inflation, which excludes those necessary costs for energy and food, was at 4.7% for the year.

"Net, net, despite all the heavy-lifting on interest rates by Fed officials for almost a year, they are no closer to bringing inflation down to target, in fact, there is evidence inflation is spreading like wildfire," Chris Rupkey, chief economist at FWDBONDS, told the Examiner. "Heck, it isn’t spreading, it is exploding. The risk now is whether the Fed shifts back into full attack mode."

Other inflation reports recent have been equally bad for Biden.

The latest producer price index showed in just one month, from December to January, it was up 0.7% -- the largest hike in months. Annually that would be about 9%.

The Examiner reported, "Additionally, the 6.4% registered by the consumer price index in January was only down a tenth of a percentage point from December’s annual rate of inflation, further raising fears that the Fed’s aggressive crusade against rising prices isn’t working as quickly as it should."

The Federal Reserve's likely response will be to hike interest rates even more, thus putting a bigger burden, through bigger interest payments, on any American with any sort of financing. The result could be a recession for the nation.