President Joe Biden stepped up his anti-inflation messaging on Monday, calling it his “top economic priority” and laying out a three-part program to combat decades-high price rises that the White House said would mark a focus going into the summer.

With inflation running at a 40-year high, Biden said he would back the Federal Reserve’s effort to reduce economic demand, pursue measures to boost the economy’s productive capacity, and lower federal budget deficits.

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“The most important thing we can do now to transition from rapid recovery to stable, steady growth is to bring inflation down,” Biden wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. The pace of job growth may slow as a result, he added.

“Americans are anxious. I know that feeling,” Biden acknowledged. “I grew up in a family where it mattered when the price of gas or groceries rose.”

A White House official said top Biden administration voices, including his secretaries of the treasury and commerce departments, would push the president’s message over the coming weeks to reassure the public.

“Talking about the economy and how we can put more money in the pockets of working families will be the key message being driven by the White House all month,” the official said.

Polling shows that inflation is a top concern for voters as higher prices for gas and consumer goods eat into their paychecks. With elections in November, the problem could prove a political liability for Democrats.

Biden said he would not lean on the Federal Reserve, which lifted interest rates this month by half a percentage point, the largest increase since 2000. Instead, he called on Congress to pass measures to increase clean energy investments and tax credits and lower the cost of prescription drugs, housing, child care, and elder care.

“I’ve done what I can on my own to help working families during this challenging time,” the president said. “Now Congress needs to act too.”

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Republicans have blamed Biden for adding to inflationary pressures by passing the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan and have resisted his proposals to increase social welfare spending.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will meet with Biden at the White House on Tuesday to discuss the state of the economy and the president’s plan to lower inflation, the White House said. The two are meeting for the first time since Biden said in November that he would nominate Powell for a second term, according to a Bloomberg review of the central bank chairman’s schedule.