Biden admin seeing 'political blowback' over gas prices: Market expert
Fox News contributor and Price Futures Group senior analyst Phil Flynn says the Biden administration is using the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as a 'political capital account.'
This weekend America will observe Memorial Day. People across the country will visit cemeteries and pay their respects to those who gave the last full measure of devotion for our freedom.
For much of our history Memorial Day has also been a time to get together with friends and family. Yet this year, many Americans will be forced to stay home alone because it will be the most expensive Memorial Day ever.
Gas prices have broken record after record. Gas prices have gone up 15 out of the 16 months since Biden took office. There is no end in sight. In total, gas prices are up by more than $2 a gallon since Inauguration Day.
THIS IS HOW MUCH YOUR MEMORIAL DAY ROAD TRIP WILL COST WITH RECORD HIGH GAS PRICES
Why are gas prices up? With the end of the lockdowns, demand went up, yet supply stayed down. America is producing 1 million fewer barrels of oil per day than before the pandemic. We are producing energy as if we were still in lockdown.
Democrats have run Washington for 16 months, yet they have done nothing to increase the supply of American energy. In fact, they’ve done just about everything they can to reduce it.
On Biden’s first day in office, he cancelled the Keystone pipeline, which would have lowered energy prices in this country. Days later, he stopped holding oil and gas lease sales on federal lands.
FILE – Workers remove a large clamp from a section of pipe during construction of the Gulf Coast Project pipeline in Prague, Oklahoma, U.S., on Monday, March 11, 2013. (Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The Democrat energy policy seems to be: anything but American energy. Biden has begged countries like Venezuela, Iran, and Saudi Arabia to sell us more oil, even as he restricted our own energy production. At one point Democrats even turned to Vladimir Putin, rather than to American energy workers.
HIGHER GAS PRICES ARE ‘ACCEPTED’ BY AMERICANS AMID TRAVEL DEMAND, ENERGY ECONOMIST SAYS
Now Biden is spending down America’s emergency supply by releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Biden already released more oil from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve than any president in American history.
Yet all this stunt has accomplished is making us more vulnerable in case of a true emergency. Last week, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve dropped to its lowest level since 1987. Meanwhile, gas prices continue to break records.
Now Biden is spending down America’s emergency supply by releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Last week, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve dropped to its lowest level since 1987. Meanwhile, gas prices continue to break records.
Working families are being pushed to the breaking point. The average American family can afford less today than they could the day Biden took office.
Two-thirds of households are living paycheck to paycheck. Household debt is near an all-time high. Credit card debt is near an all-time high, and interest rates are rising. Mortgage applications are plummeting as more and more people give up on the dream of owning their own homes.
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Despite the worst economy in a generation, Biden continues his efforts to strangle American energy production even today. Earlier this month he cancelled three major offshore oil and gas lease sales in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico. He still has 4,300 drilling permit applications sitting on his desk, waiting for approval.
Democrats seem utterly oblivious to the pain and suffering that high gas prices are causing to families across the country. Last week I asked the Secretary of the Interior if she thought that gas prices were too high. She talked for nearly a full minute, yet never answered yes or no.
FILE - In this July 14, 2021, file photo, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland meets with young people from the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
President Biden says we’re in "an incredible transition" away from oil and gas. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says to just buy an electric vehicle (average price: more than $50,000). Democrats are out of touch with America’s reality.
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Democrats have no plan to increase the energy supply, and now they are threatening to make the problem even worse. Democrats in the Senate are contemplating raising taxes on American energy. Nancy Pelosi and the House Democrats just voted to impose nationwide socialist price mandates. Both ideas would drive up prices even higher.
The way to bring down energy prices is simple. Instead of cancelling lease sales, Joe Biden needs to open up our available federal lands to American energy production.
Last week I introduced two pieces of legislation to do just that. The first is called the Lease Now Act, which would require the Interior Department to resume regular federal onshore and offshore oil and gas lease sales.
The second is called the ONSHORE Act, which would give states responsibility over federal oil and gas permitting within their borders. States know what’s best for the land within their borders. They certainly know better than bureaucrats in Washington.
Instead of playing the blame game and making excuses, Joe Biden should also approve the 4,300 drilling permits that he’s left sitting in limbo. Those permits mean jobs and more American energy.
Instead of cancelling pipelines, Joe Biden should speed up the pipeline permitting process. Pipelines are the safest, fastest way to move energy to where we need it.
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Finally, Biden needs to stop appointing climate extremists to his administration. These extremists are doing all they can to block private capital from investing in energy projects.
Hold lease sales, approve drilling permits, approve energy infrastructure, and stop blocking private energy investments. That’s the plan that will unleash American energy.