Republicans Falsely Blame Biden for Rising Gas Prices

WASHINGTON – as gas prices skyrocket This week, top Republican lawmakers took to the airwaves and floors of Congress with misleading claims tying the blame to President Biden and his energy policies.

Mr Biden himself Ban on imports of Russian oil, gas and coalAnnounced Tuesday in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, gas prices will rise further. High costs expected to continue as long as there is confrontation.

While Republican lawmakers supported the ban, they argued that the pain at the pump came long before the war in Ukraine. They said the gas price hikes were the result of Mr. Biden canceling the Keystone XL pipeline, temporarily halting new drilling leases on public lands, and giving up “energy independence” – all false claims.

Here’s a fact check of their claims.

what was said

“This administration wants to increase energy imports from Iran and Venezuela. This is the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism and a rogue South American dictator, respectively. They would rather buy from these people than buy from Texas, Alaska and Pennsylvania.”
— Senator Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican and minority leader, In his speech on Tuesday

“The Democrats want to put the rising prices on Russia. But the truth is, their no-contact policies are the reason we’re here in the first place. Remember what happened on Day 1 with the one-party rule? The president canceled the Keystone pipeline and subsequently stopped new oil and gas leases on federal land and waters.”
— Representative Kevin McCarthy, California Republican and minority leader, In his speech on Tuesday

“In the four years of the Trump-Pence administration, we achieved energy independence for the first time in 70 years. We were a net energy exporter. But from the very beginning, with the Keystone pipeline killed, the delisting of federal land for exploration, the postponement of leases for oil and gas – once again, we saw gasoline prices soar before Ukraine materialized.”
– Former Vice President Mike Pence In an interview with Fox Business on Tuesday

These claims are misleading. primary cause Gas prices increased last year The coronavirus pandemic and its disruptions to global supply and demand.

“Covid changed the game, not President Biden,” said Patrick De Haan, head of oil analysis at GasBuddy, which monitors gasoline prices. “U.S. oil production has fallen in the last eight months of President Trump’s term. Is this his fault? Number.”

“The epidemic has brought us to our knees,” Mr. De Haan added.

In the first months of 2020, as the virus hit, oil demand dried up and prices fell, the benchmark price for crude oil in the United States fell. minus $37.63 that April. In response, manufacturers in the United States and around the world began to reduce production.

Demand has outstripped supply as pandemic restraints ease around the world and economies recover. This was “mostly attributable” to the decision of OPEC Plus, an alliance of oil-producing countries that controls about half of the world’s supply, to limit production increases. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Domestic Production also remains below pre-pandemic levels, because capital expenditure decreased and investors were reluctant provide financing to the oil industry.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine further complicated matters.

“Once you start a war over it, it’s probably the worst escalation you can go through,” said Abhiram Rajendran, head of oil market research at Energy Intelligence, an energy information company. “You are literally pouring gasoline on the general inflationary pressure.”

Experts agreed that these factors were largely outside of Mr.

Mr. De Haan said the Biden administration was “clearly less friendly” to the industry, and this may have indirectly affected investor attitudes. But overall, he said, this stance played a “very, very minor role in pushing gas prices up.”

Mr Rajendran said the Biden administration has emphasized climate change issues while supposedly serving energy security.

“There’s been a pretty big miscalculation about the amount of supply we’re going to need to keep energy prices reasonable,” he said. “Received as important. There was a lot of focus on the energy transition.”

But the presidents, Mr Rajendran, said they had “little impact on short-term supply”.

“The key relationship to watch is between companies and investors,” he said.

It is true that the Biden administration is in talks with Venezuela and Iran over oil resources. But management He also insists American companies will increase production – To the dismay of climate change activists and contrary to suggestions from Republican lawmakers that the White House intends to handcuff domestic producers.

Speaking before the National Petroleum Council in December, energy secretary Jennifer M. Granholm said: told the oil companies “please take advantage of the leases you have, hire workers, increase the number of your equipment.”

The idea that the United States gained “energy independence” under Mr Trump and reversed course under Mr Biden is also misleading.

Even before Mr Trump took office, the United States it was designed To become a net energy exporter by the 2020s, “as favorable geology and technological advances result in lower costs to produce oil and gas,” according to the Energy Information Administration.

became the country net oil exporter In 2020, for the first time since at least 1949. The situation remained the same in 2021.. became one net natural gas exporter In 2018 and it remains so today, exports reaching record levels in 2021.

The term “energy independence” may also indicate that the United States has no reliance on imports. This is not true either. In 2020 the United States is still Imported 7.9 million barrels daily crude oil and other petroleum products.

Also, certain policies cited by Republican lawmakers as evidence of Mr. Biden’s so-called “war on American energy” have had little effect on rising gas prices.

The Keystone XL pipeline, which will expand an existing system that carries oil from Canada to the Gulf Coast, has become a political and environmental battleground. Since its concept in 2008. Obama administration denied the company behindTransCanada, a building permit in 2015. Trump administration Approved the license in 2017but the project stood before the lawsuit. Until the time of Mr. Biden revoked his leave on his first day in office, only 8 percent had been built.

Even if Mr Biden gave the project the green light and won the TransCanada lawsuits, now known as TC Energy, the pipeline is unlikely to be operational today, given the company estimates it will do so in March 2020. It was put into service in 2023. And “even if it is completed overnight, there is no capacity to put oil in this pipeline,” said Mr. De Haan. supply chain issues and labor shortage It continues to influence American and Canadian oil and gas producers.

Lack of Keystone XL pipeline, crude oil imports from Canada still increased by 70% It has been transported by other pipelines and rail since 2008. The Trump administration itself told PolitiFact He said in 2017 the pipeline’s impact on pump prices would be “minimal”.

The claims about oil and gas leasing are even more false.

Although Mr. Biden temporarily suspended new drilling leases on federal soil a federal judge in January 2021 blocked this move last June. In its first year, the Biden administration approved 34 percent of those permits, 34 percent more than it did in the Trump administration’s first year. According to federal data compiled by the Center for Biodiversityan environmental group.

“None of these permits are currently related to production,” Mr. Rajendran said. “These permits are for production three or four years after the production line. If they had approved 10x more permits, we would have had the same production issues.”