Noted CNBC host Joe Kernen refused to let a noted Democrat off the hook for his excuses as to why inflation continues to rise to historic levels amid high gas prices.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) appeared on Kernen’s program Tuesday ahead of a new report the following day showing that inflation is getting worse instead of improving. For his part, Jeffries attempted to use established Democratic talking points as excuses for the inflation, but Kernen blasted right past them while pressuring him and his party to take responsibility like they would expect a Republican administration and Congress to do so if they were in the majority.

“In this country, we’re still down front from peak production. You don’t you think there’s anything that you can do in Congress or to convince a Biden administration, you don’t think there’s any regulations that need to be eased? You don’t think there’s any offshore activity?” asked Kernen.

“You don’t take any responsibility? It’s just all a ‘Putin price hike’?” he added.

“Yeah, part of the challenge domestically in terms of production is that the oil and gas companies have refused to actually act on the permits to drill that they currently …” Jeffries began before Kernen cut him off and blasted the excuse as a “red herring” before explaining further.

“So there’s leases. There’s, you know, there’s also just the overall pressure from ESG and the green lobby about whether an oil company is going to make plans five or 10 years down the road when, you know, a large part of the population wants to put them out of business completely,” Kernen said.

At that, Jeffries then turned to blame corporations by accusing them of price-gouging to increase their profits, but that argument didn’t work for Kernen, either.

WATCH:

Inflation continues to skyrocket under the Biden administration, and it hit a scary new high last month.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, inflation rose 9.1 percent in June, the highest level in more than four decades.

Just the News reports:

The number marks the biggest yearly increase since December 1981, according to the Associated Press. 

Financial analysts predicted an 8.8% increase.

The CPI increased 1.3% from May.

The year-over-year increase for May was 8.6%. 

“The new, 40-year high in June, is largely attributed to increases in the cost of gas costs, food rent, automobiles and hotel rooms,” the report continued.

Worse for Americans, according to Fox Business, there is “no end in sight” to the massive inflationary increases.

“So-called core prices, which exclude more volatile measurements of food and energy, climbed 5.9% from the previous year. Core prices also rose 0.7% on a monthly basis – higher than in April and May – suggesting that underlying inflationary pressures remain strong and widespread,” the outlet reported.

“Price increases were extensive, suggesting that inflation may not be near its peak: Energy prices rose 7.5% in June from the previous month, and are up 41.6% from last year,” the network continued.

“Gasoline, on average, costs 59.9% more than it did one year ago and 11.2% more than it did in May. The food index, meanwhile, climbed 1% in June, as consumers paid more for items like cereal, chicken, milk and fresh vegetables,” Fox Business adds.

In addition, rent costs are surging, jumping 0.8 percent month-over-month, which is the largest monthly increase since April 1986.

Rising rent costs are concerning because higher overall housing costs mean household budgets shrink even further, the outlet added.