President Joe Biden blasted Republicans in Sunday’s tweet. He was moving beyond the “Putin price hike” nonsense.
Biden tried to place blame on Republicans to gain support for the November midterm elections.
“Republicans do nothing except obstruct our efforts to clamp down on gasoline-price gouging and lower food costs. And hopefully, your prescription drug prices will drop soon,” Biden tweeted. This is wrong. “This is not right.
This is wrong. This is why the election will be so important.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 10, 2022
The Biden Administration has consistently blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for the rise in gas prices, warning seven major U.S. oil companies in a recent letter they would face a new tax on energy if they do not boost domestic output. In the letter, Biden said Putin is “principally responsible” for the “financial pain” Americans are facing at the pump.
But Biden’s accusations of Putin and his shifting blame game afterward ring hollow, as gasoline prices have been rising since before Russia invaded Ukraine. Lawmakers urged Biden to reverse the Keystone Pipeline XL Pipeline revocation. Additionally, the administration canceled an Alaskan oil drilling project and prohibited new oil and gas leases on federal lands.
Biden ordered the release of 50 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in November, 30 million barrels on March 1 and 180 million barrels on March 31, stating the “historic” actions would ease the pressure faced at pumps.
New reports indicate that the millions of barrels oil released in November went to China. It is not clear why Republicans have stopped lowering gas prices. In a May letter, Republicans called on the federal government in an attempt to increase domestic production and call for lowering gasoline costs. In the letter, Republicans demanded that the U.S. remove federal precedents that limit exploration, drilling, and production of fossil fuels in federal lands or waters.
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