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American families pay big at the pump
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TRANSCRIPT
Dramatically rising energy prices are center stage — a critical factor in nearly every family's budget as well as a key component in the Russia–Ukraine conflict. Church Militant's Kristine Christlieb drills down to examine Biden's latest energy decision.
President Joe Biden: "I know how much it hurts. As you've heard me say, I grew up in a family like many of you where when the price of a gallon of gasoline went up it was discussion at the kitchen table."
The Biden administration announced yesterday it would be tapping the nation's strategic oil reserve in an effort to reduce gasoline prices.
It's not clear the president truly understands how much rising prices hurt American families and how little this new effort will help. When Trump left office in January 2021, gas was $2.69 a gallon. Today, it is $4.33 a gallon, an increase of 81% in just over a year. Biden wants to blame the problem on Putin. But Republicans aren't buying it.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas: "It's the increase in gas prices is all Putin's fault. And it's just a flat-out lie. Listen, gas prices had increased nearly 50% under Joe Biden before Putin had invaded Ukraine."
Many believe the strategic oil reserve should be a last resort and that using the reserve will have little effect on prices.
The New York Times reported, "The reserve has mostly been used to increase the supply of oil during wars, foreign threats to energy supplies or natural disasters. Smaller reserve releases by the Biden administration starting late last year have had little impact on the prices that drivers and businesses pay for fuel."
The energy crisis may be just what the doctor ordered for the Biden administration.
Professor Brian Brenberg, department of business and economics, King's College:
One gets the impression — and you can see this in the polls that Americans think this — one gets the impression that the president likes these higher prices, because he doesn't want to let this crisis go to waste, and he's willing to put it on the backs of American families.
Even if we all followed Biden's advice and bought electric cars, the demand for electricity would just create a different energy crisis, making clear the Biden administration needs a more coherent approach to energy and the environment.
It should not be forgotten that on Biden's first day in office, Jan. 20, 2021, he signed an executive order canceling the Keystone XL pipeline.
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