Senate Republicans on Tuesday sought to trace the origins of a spike in gas prices to President Joe Biden rather than Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Biden initially balked at banning imports of Russian energy products to deter Putin’s aggression, arguing Americans were already facing high fuel prices. But in the face of bipartisan support for the measure in Congress, the White House reconsidered.
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Republican lawmakers, who hope to win back the majorities they lost in 2018, argued gas prices have risen since the first day of the Biden administration. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters at the Capitol that an increase in prices at the pump predated Putin’s attack on Ukraine, and Biden should ease environmental regulations to ramp up domestic energy production.
“I think it’s perfectly clear that Vladimir Putin is not the cause of this rampant inflation that began at the beginning of the year,” said McConnell, arguing a 40-year high increase in inflation occurred before the invasion. “Let there be no confusion about the reason we are in this inflationary spiral with regard to the ongoing war in Ukraine.”
Senate Minority Whip John Thune, the No. 2 Republican in the upper chamber, accused the Biden administration of “shamelessly trying to say these are Putin’s price hikes or this is corporate greed.”
“Let’s be clear about this. This is a direct result of policies that this administration has put in place that have demonstrated a hostility toward energy in this country,” Thune said. “The president campaigned on, ran against oil and gas companies in this country, putting them out of business. And we are seeing today a direct consequence and the results of those policies.”
Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst said Biden is “literally gaslighting the American people” on fuel prices.
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Last week, Biden argued in a tweet that easing environmental regulations won’t lower costs but moving the economy toward alternative forms of energy to fossil fuels would.
Loosening environmental regulations won’t lower prices.
But transforming our economy to run on electric vehicles, powered by clean energy, will mean that no one will have to worry about gas prices.
It will mean tyrants like Putin won’t be able to use fossil fuels as a weapon.
— President Biden (@POTUS) March 9, 2022
“But transforming our economy to run on electric vehicles, powered by clean energy, will mean that no one will have to worry about gas prices,” he wrote. “It will mean tyrants like Putin won’t be able to use fossil fuels as a weapon.”
