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Happy Thursday morning. It’s Cinco de Mayo.

The Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates by a half point yesterday – with more increases to come if necessary – is a sign of how serious the central bank takes inflation. It’s the biggest interest-rate boost since 2000, and follows a quarter-point increase in March. Fed Chair Jay Powell promised more rate hikes in coming months until inflation is under control.

The Fed’s move will cost Americans in a lot of ways. Cars, homes, student loans and other types of lending will become more expensive for consumers. For instance, rates for 30-year fixed mortgages averaged 5.1% in April, after being under 3% last fall. That means tens of thousands of dollars in additional interest over the life of the loan.

But let’s talk about the politics of inflation and interest rates. Senators in both parties – especially Republicans – hailed the Fed’s move on Wednesday. They’ve been hammered by voters back home who are seeing the price of food and groceries soar during the last year.

Republicans blame “runaway” government spending, particularly the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan – President Joe Biden’s biggest legislative win – for triggering the worst inflation since the early 1980s. They’ve been urging Powell for months to raise interest rates to counter the price surge.

Democrats and the White House counter that the inflationary pressure is the result of other factors, including a historically tight job market and the Covid-related disruption to global supply chains. They also point to the Russian invasion of Ukraine for causing a spike in oil prices, a major contributor to U.S. inflation rates.

What’s clear for Biden and Democrats, though, is something has to change on inflation – and soon. A CNN poll released on Wednesday showed Biden’s “economic approval numbers continue to tick downward, with 34% now approving and 66% disapproving, compared with 37% approval and 62% disapproval earlier this year.” That’s a disaster for the party as it tries to hang onto control of the House and Senate in November.

Yet the dilemma for the Fed, White House and Democratic congressional leaders is that raising interest rates could tip the U.S. economy into a recession. Powell believes the Fed can avoid that, but he admitted that raising rates is a “famously blunt tool” for curing the problem.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), whose concerns over rising prices led him to derail the $1.7 trillion Build Back Better Act in December, said the only way to “kill inflation” is to raise rates. “There’s no easy fix to inflation,” Manchin told us in an interview Wednesday.

Manchin admitted he’s worried about a recession. Here’s what he told us:

So we wondered how lawmakers balance those two tricky dynamics – the necessity to raise rates to slow inflation, yet the likelihood that could trigger a recession.

Almost every senator we spoke to in both parties acknowledged the need to raise rates. But in the same breath many admitted they’re worried about the prospect of an imminent recession.

Manchin: “Well, inflation is the most dangerous thing we have right now…. The main thing is how do you fix it now? Inflation [can] only be fixed by tamp down and when you tamp down, you will slow things down.”

We’ll close with Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who was one of the first – and loudest voices – over the last year talking about the risks of inflation. He’s been very vocal in his criticism of both Powell and Biden. The president lashed out at Scott yesterday.

Scott pushed back: