President Joe Biden banned Russian oil and gas imports Tuesday — which he acknowledged will cause already skyrocketing prices at the...
President Joe Biden banned Russian oil and gas imports Tuesday — which he acknowledged will cause already skyrocketing prices at the pump to spike even more.
The Washington Examiner reported that the national average price for a gallon of gasoline is $4.17 — which represents an increase of 10 cents in just 24 hours and a full dollar jump in just one year.
But the historic gas price surge that's hurting every American didn't seem to dampen the enthusiasm of Vice President Kamala Harris and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who were all smiles Monday at an “Accelerating Clean Transportation” event.
What did Harris and Buttigieg have to say?
“Clean transportation can bring significant cost savings for the American people as well,” Buttigieg said. “Last month, we announced a $5 billion investment to build out a nationwide electric vehicle charging network so the people from rural to suburban to urban communities can all benefit from the gas savings of driving an EV.”
Not incidentally, the average cost of a new electric vehicle was $56,437 in November 2021, Kelley Blue Book said — an increase of 6.2% from November 2020.
Harris — offering her lilting vocal tone as if she was reading us a nursery rhyme — borrowed from John Lennon on the subject.
“Imagine a future: the freight trucks that deliver bread and milk to our grocery store shelves and the buses that take children to school and parents to work. Imagine all the heavy-duty vehicles that keep our supply lines strong and allow our economy to grow. Imagine that they produced zero emissions. Well, you all imagined it,” she said.
Harris added that "we have the ability to see what can be, unburdened by what has been, and then to make the possible actually happen."
The New York Post said neither Harris nor Buttigieg specifically mentioned skyrocketing gas prices during their addresses.
Any other dreamers out there?
Also on Monday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki seemed to signal all is well as she deftly parried questions about reviving the Keystone XL pipeline and increasing domestic oil production amid the rapid rise in costs burdening the American consumer.
For some reason Psaki said U.S. oil production in the past year was higher than in former President Donald Trump's first year in office — it isn't clear what that's supposed to prove. Secondly she said U.S. oil production next year will be the highest in history.
“But if we are looking to the future and what we can do to prevent this from being a challenge in future crises, the best thing we can do is reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and foreign oil because that will help us have a reliable source of energy so that we’re not worrying about gas prices going up because of the whims of a foreign dictator,” Psaki added.
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