The White House has targeted Putin and the big oil companies for sky-high gas prices as small businesses have dealt with the fallout. Jeff Flock of FOX Business breaks down the myths and facts about the Biden gas price accusation.
House Democrats are stepping up pressure on oil companies as high gasoline prices continue to hurt drivers, with congressional hearings scheduled for April to question oil industry executives.
While the Republicans are trying to blame President Biden for the gas station problems – according to AAA, the country’s gas prices are $4.262 a gallon – the Democrats are trying to divert attention from Biden and put the blame first on Russian President Vladimir Putin, and then on the big oil companies.
UNITED STATES – June 16: Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D.W., attends a press conference at the Capitol to lay out the bipartisan “Stronger Online Economy” agenda on Wednesday, June 16, 2021. (Photo by Bill Clark/CQ) -Roll Call, Inc via Getty I (Photo by Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images/Getty Images)
Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington State told Fox News that oil companies are “clearly cashing in,” pointing out that crude oil prices are falling while gas prices remain high. Democrats want savings to go to consumers, she said.
“We’re targeting corporate America because corporate America is often speculating,” said Jayapal, chairman of the House Progressive Caucus, of which the Squad is a member.
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Rising above $123 a barrel shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the price of crude oil has gradually fallen below $105.
The gas price is still hovering around the previous all-time high of $4.33 per gallon set on March 11.
Andrew Gross, a spokesman for the AAA, said in a statement that the cost of oil is about 50% of what drivers pay at the gas station, but added that “this war has shaken up an already tight global oil market.”
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Consumers are willing to pay a little more for a pump due to Putin’s war in Ukraine and the US ban on Russian oil imports, but Jayapal said it’s time to “hold those oil companies accountable” for profiteering at this “terrible moment of the war.”
Meanwhile, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman, Rep. Raul M. Grijalva, of Arizona, is subpoenaing executives from three fossil fuel companies—EOG Resources, Devon Energy Corporation, and Occidental Petroleum—to testify before Congress. April 5. The hearing will address “the failure of the fossil fuel industry to help stabilize America’s gasoline prices,” the announcement said.
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raul Grijalva, Arizona, makes closing remarks during a House Natural Resources Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., June 29, 2020. (BONNIE CASH/POOL/AFP via Getty Images/ Getty Pictures)
The hearing will look at why oil companies sit on thousands of permits but don’t drill. The committee reports that fossil fuel companies have over 9,000 approved but unused drilling permits on public lands and waters.
Republicans have accused Biden of raising prices, citing domestic oil policies, reliance on foreign oil, and increased government spending, which they say have fueled inflation.
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Texas Republican Party spokesman Pete Sessions, R-Texas, blamed the Biden administration for its policies. “These are the ones who don’t like oil and energy,” Sessions told Fox News. “These are the ones who want to advance their climate change agenda.”
The American Petroleum Institute, a trade group representing energy companies, responded to political criticism by saying that “in the economy, retail prices in many industries are falling more slowly than they are rising – this is not a new phenomenon.”
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“As we have seen in the past, it takes time for changing market conditions to be reflected throughout the supply chain and for the price of crude oil to be widely reflected in the price we pay at local gas stations, over 95 percent of which are independent small businesses and are not run by oil companies. companies,” Frank Macchiarola, senior vice president of the American Petroleum Institute, told FOX Business.
Paul Conner and Ken Martin of Fox Business contributed to this report.