Blame Joe Biden for Record-Breaking Gas Prices

On March 8, the average price for a gallon of gas reached an all-time high of $4.17 and on March 9, rose another 8¢ to another new record high. These prices, a year in the making, are crushing working and middle-class families across the country.

The Biden-Harris administration is attempting to deflect blame for the high prices, but the price of gas has gone up almost every month since Joe Biden took office — including before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The Hill: During a press conference on Wednesday, [House Republican Leader Kevin] McCarthy said “the main reason Americans are paying so much is bad domestic policies,” while acknowledging that oil is an international market.

“These aren’t Putin prices,” he said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who launched an invasion of Ukraine nearly two weeks ago. “They’re President Biden’s prices.”

To combat rising prices and unleash American energy, Republicans released a five-point plan with specific steps the Biden-Harris administration could immediately take. Additionally, the president of the American Petroleum Institute argued that the Biden-Harris administration has been slowing new domestic production of strategically important American energy.

Fox News: Republicans Tuesday said there are five things Biden could do now that would make boost domestic oil production and hurt Russia: Ending the pause on new oil and gas leases and permits, fast-tracking pending liquefied natural gas (LNG) export permits, expediting approval of all pending pipelines and stopping the “regulatory assault” on American energy development and financing. 

Fox Business: Mike Sommers, the American Petroleum Institute (API) president and CEO, argued on Wednesday that American energy producers “are patriots” and are supplying the world with natural gas and oil “during this time of crisis.”

Sommers told Bartiromo that many industry leaders at the energy conference have been stressing the “strategic importance of American oil and gas.”

“I think there’s a new recognition of how important it is that the United States reclaim its role as the world energy leader during times of crisis like this,” he said. “I think there’s been too much focus over the course of the last many years on down-playing that important role. We need to return to that position.”

Bottom Line: Joe Biden’s war on American energy is responsible, at least in part, for the long-term increase in prices for gas and other fossil fuels.