President Joe Biden met with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell Tuesday as soaring inflation takes a bite out of Americans' pocketbooks.

The meeting Tuesday was the first since Biden renominated Powell to lead the central bank and comes weeks after his confirmation for a second term by the Senate. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who preceded Powell as chair, also joined the meeting at the White House.

The White House said the pair were discussing the state of the U.S. and global economy and especially inflation.

"The most important thing we can do now to transition from rapid recovery to stable, steady growth is to bring inflation down," Biden said in an op-ed posted Monday by The Wall Street Journal. "That is why I have made tackling inflation my top economic priority."

In that op-ed, the president laid out his three-part plan to combat inflation, which includes a conscious effort not to interfere with the Fed's work.

"My plan is address inflation starts with the simple proposition: Respect the Fed. Respect the Fed's independence. Which I have done and will continue to do," he said. "Chair Powell and other leaders of the Fed have noted, at this moment, they have a laser focus on addressing inflation, just like I am."

Inflation in the U.S. hit a 40-year high earlier this year, amid supply chain constraints caused by the global economy's recovery from the pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

But the economy saw a welcome bit of data Friday, as the Commerce Department said inflation rose 6.3% in April from a year earlier, the first slowdown since November 2020 and a sign that high prices may finally be moderating, at least for now.

The inflation figure was below the four-decade high of 6.6% set in March. While high inflation is still causing hardships for millions of households, any slowing of price increases, if sustained, would provide some modest relief.

Powell has pledged to keep ratcheting up the Fed's key short-term interest rate to cool the economy until inflation is "coming down in a clear and convincing way." Those rate hikes have spurred fears that the Fed, in its drive to slow borrowing and spending, may push the economy into a recession. That concern has caused sharp drops in stock prices in the past two months, though markets rallied last week.

Powell has signaled that the Fed will likely raise its benchmark rate by a half-point in both June and July — twice the size of the usual rate increase.

Biden, in his op-ed, signaled that the record-setting pace of job creation in the aftermath of the pandemic would slow dramatically, suggesting more moderate levels of 150,000 jobs per month from 500,000. He said "it will be a sign that we are successfully moving into the next phase of recovery—as this kind of job growth is consistent with a low unemployment rate and a healthy economy."

The president called for Congress to pass his proposals aimed at helping families financially, including creating clean energy tax credits and investments, building more affordable housing, reducing the price of prescription drugs and lower child and elder care costs.

“I’ve done what I can on my own to help working families during this challenging time—and will keep acting to lower costs where I can—but now Congress needs to act too,” Biden wrote.

Ahead of the meeting, Biden pledged in his written piece not to interfere in the Fed's decision-making, but suggested that he and Powell are aligned on addressing inflation.

"My predecessor demeaned the Fed, and past presidents have sought to influence its decisions inappropriately during periods of elevated inflation," Biden wrote. "I won't do this. I have appointed highly qualified people from both parties to lead that institution. I agree with their assessment that fighting inflation is our top economic challenge right now."