Democrats are attempting to blame high gas prices on oil companies, potentially signaling an election-year goal to refocus the scrutiny on an issue President Biden has been pursuing
Joe BidenTrump says he has no interest in being speaker if GOP takes back House Biden administration Biden administration ramps up support for antitrust effort
Two separate House committee chairs have asked oil CEOs to testify on differences between falling oil prices and consumer gas prices. While three companies have repudiated House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), several others are due to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday.
“As American families struggle to shoulder the burden of soaring gas prices from Putin’s war on Ukraine, fossil fuel companies are not doing enough to ease gas pump pain, but are filling their pockets with one hand while they are on the other sit,” Energy and Commerce committee chair Frank Pallone Jr. (DN.J.) and investigative subcommittee chair Dianna DeGette (D-Colo.) said in a statement Tuesday.
“It’s time we got to the bottom of why oil companies are content to see Americans suffer so their shareholders and executives can reap huge profits. Our committee looks forward to hearing responses from these companies next week.”
Some oil industry analysts have dismissed the Democrats’ allegations, pointing to the so-called rocket and feather phenomenon, in which gas prices usually rise rapidly in line with oil prices but fall more slowly in response to oil slumps.
The relationship between oil and gas prices is “a very charged, complex issue,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.
Gas stations “are often about three to four days behind when the increases are fully passed on, and prices then come down more slowly because gas stations are trying to recoup margins they lost when prices went up,” De Haan said opposite The Hill.
Additionally, De Haan said, service stations are reluctant to lower prices in response to oil declines that may not last.
“The last thing they want to do is drop their price by 5 or 10 or 15 cents a gallon one day, if they can even afford it… only for prices to shoot up again the next day,” he said he.
But industry trends notwithstanding, both Congressional Democrats and Biden have frequently accused big oil companies of price-gouging, and since the beginning of the Ukraine conflict have accused them of continuing to profit from the conflict while letting American consumers bear the burden of higher costs.
A bicameral law sponsored by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse
Sheldon WhitehouseAlabama AG at Jackson hearing won’t say if Biden is ‘properly elected’ president LIVE AREA: GOP senators grill Jackson on grueling day LIVE AREA: Senate begins hearings to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson MORE (DR .I.) and Rep. Ro Channa
Rohit (Ro) KhannaEnergy & Environment – Biden seeks nearly billions in funding boost for EPA Environmental groups reveal ‘Green New Deal promise’ for 2022 candidates would tax big oil companies on windfall profits and give Americans rebates from the proceeds.
“What we’ve seen as a result of the Russian invasion is a lot of speculation and antitrust behavior that has pushed up oil and gas prices dramatically,” Whitehouse said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon. “Note that the cost hasn’t changed, there hasn’t been a similar cost increase to match the price increase. … This is a price increase that the big oil companies wanted.”
Democrats in Congress have called for answers from oil executives before, most notably in a late 2021 House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing that examined their level of awareness of the link between burning fossil fuels and climate change.
But the latest push differs in one key respect: With the 2022 midterm elections looming, voters will likely blame the party in power for pump pains if they don’t blame the oil companies.
Incumbent parties — and presidents — typically suffer a fall in popularity from gas price hikes, though prices are determined by a confluence of factors largely beyond the president’s control.
The Energy and Trade Committee hearing comes just months after the Oversight and Reform Committee hearing. Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.), a member of both the Oversight and Natural Resources panels, told The Hill that additional Oversight hearings are being discussed, at which CEOs would be asked to testify specifically on gas prices.
“We had her under Rep. Khanna’s leadership to speak out on climate change disinformation, and I think it’s entirely appropriate to have her back,” she said.
MP Dina Titus
Alice (Dina) Costandina Titus14 shot dead in Las Vegas hookah lounge Democrats Press Secretary of Education on plans to resume student loan payments Lieu, Mace urge NIH to end animal testing MORE (D-Nev.), meanwhile Rep. Peter DeFazio introduced legislation earlier this month
Peter Anthony DeFazioLawmakers pay tribute to late GOP Rep. Don Young residing in the state’s Capitol. Don’t hug Saudi Arabia and UAE over Ukraine crisis Lawmakers are urging Biden to ask Congress before it would MORE (D-Ore.) introduce a windfall profits tax for oil companies for the adjusted taxable this year Create income (ATI) that is more than 110 percent higher than the average pre-pandemic ATI.
Asked if voters will be receptive to the idea of oil companies as the source of their woes, Titus told The Hill, “I think so.”
“Big companies aren’t very popular these days,” Titus added. Noting the number of unused drilling permits, she said companies “have taken advantage of the war to raise prices instead of using all the permits they already have to drill that are just lying around unused.”
The White House has also stressed the approval gap, both at Biden and at White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki
Jen PsakiUS National Security Official Heads to India to Discuss Russia Response White House Communications Director Gives Press Conference The Hill’s Morning Report – Biden: ‘No’ policy to regime change in Russia MORE reiterates 9,000 currently unused oil drilling permits.
Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), one of Khanna-Whitehouse’s Senate co-sponsors, expressed confidence that the message would resonate with Americans.
“I think the American people are really outraged,” he told The Hill. “They want these big oil companies to be taxed to put some money back in their pockets.”