Republicans Won’t Blame Putin For Higher Gas Prices
At the end of 2021, the expectation among most health and economic experts was that the pandemic was finally going to ease and that as a result, inflation was expected to decline. It was widely forecast that gas prices would be less than $3 per gallon in 2021. As a matter of fact, on December 8, 2021, the U.S. Energy and Information Administration predicted that the annual, national average would be $2.88 per gallon of gas in 2022.
These predictions were made before Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine and plunged Europe into its biggest land war since 1945. Putin’s naked aggression caused oil prices to soar due to economic instability and oil being taken off the market. The gas price increases in 2022 are entirely Putin’s fault.
In what should come as no surprise, the GOP has settled on the false narrative that President Biden controls gas prices and he is at fault for the big spike in prices. If you believe the right wing media, Biden has stopped all oil drilling and the U.S. isn’t producing any oil. I’m not making this up. When there is a Democratic president, the Republican always blame America first.
Here are the facts:
The U.S. is still energy independent.
The Keystone pipeline won’t reduce gas costs one nickel. Approximately two-thirds of the oil was designated for export.
Domestic oil production has been rising under Biden, after a big drop in 2020 during the pandemic. Under Biden, oil production has increased from 9.7 million barrels a day to 11.6 million barrels.
Biden approved 34% more drilling permits than Trump in his first year as president.
The number of oil rigs operating was at 172 in the U.S. in July 2020. At the present time, 519 rigs are in operation. U.S. oil production is expected to set a record in 2023.
There are 9,000 approved oil leases that the oil companies are not tapping into currently.
“U.S. production of natural gas and oil is rising and approaching record levels: More natural gas than ever this year, more oil than ever next year, and, even with a global pandemic, more oil production this past year than during the previous administration’s first year.
In fact, the U.S. was a net exporter of petroleum + petroleum products in each of the last two years, and will be a net exporter of natural gas for years to come.
We also know that producers have no shortage of opportunity, nor — after the high profits experienced last year — do they have any shortage of capital.
And on public lands and waters (and let’s not forget that nearly 90% of onshore oil production in the U.S. takes place on non-federal land): The industry holds more than 9,000 unused, approved permits to drill onshore.” Jen Psaki, Biden press secretary.
The oil companies don’t lack the capital necessary to drill for more oil — they are all grabbing record profits. For example, Chevron made $15 billion in profit in 2021. Chevon’s profit is larger than the entire federal budget of over 50% of the world’s countries. Oil companies are slow to invest more capital in drilling because they prefer the current high prices. Instead, oil companies are using this spare cash for stock buybacks.
The increase in gas prices began back in April 2020 when most of the country came out of the pandemic lockdowns. What the Republicans won’t tell you is that gas prices increased a whopping 33% during Trump’s last eight months in office. If the president controls gas prices, why didn’t Trump reduce them?
The price of gas continued to increase in 2021 as millions of people around the globe got vaccinated and resumed normal activities like traveling and dining out. The biggest increases have occurred since Russian dictator Vladimir Putin began saber-rattling and invaded Ukraine. Since he began his military buildup, gas prices have increased 75 cents per gallon.
The Republicans have responded to Russia’s aggression by blaming the U.S. and giving Putin a free pass. “These aren’t Putin prices. They’re President Biden’s prices,” House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy asserted. The GOP members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee tweeted: “Russia isn’t responsible.”
“Republican officials …are sowing division at home and giving a rhetorical boost to the enemy at a perilous moment when national unity and sacrifice will be needed to prevail against Russia. Blaming Biden for the spike in prices around Russia’s Ukraine invasion isn’t just false — it’s an assist to Putin that damages national security.” Dana Milbank of the Washington Post. Why are Republicans having such a hard time blaming Putin?
Patriots will correctly blame Putin for gas prices. Bitter partisans will blame President Joe Biden. In 2022, it will be America or Trump.