The White House defends blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin for record-high gas prices, despite the spike predating Putin waging war on neighboring Ukraine.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki defended President Joe Biden’s stance as the national gas price average reaches more than $4 a gallon and the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 7.9% inflation in the 12 months ending in February. Psaki was asked if they planned to blame Putin for everything throughout the midterm elections.
“There is also no question that inflation may be higher for the next few months than it would have been without Russia, without President Putin’s Russia’s further invasion into Ukraine,” she said Thursday. “We’ve seen the price of gas go up at least 75 cents since President Putin lined up troops on the border of Ukraine.”
BIDEN’S HIGH ENERGY PRICE TRAP
But Psaki contended prices began increasing because of pandemic-created supply chain kinks, but the White House is “dealing now with a new challenge.”
“What we’re looking at is, are different pressures, right? Which is the pressure of the energy sector. That is a direct result of President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine,” she said.
Psaki did not indicate whether Biden was open to using the Defense Production Act to boost U.S. crude oil extraction. She has repeatedly emphasized the existence of 9,000 unused oil leases when asked what the administration was doing to bolster domestic supply.
“It would basically be providing money to oil companies to do something that they already probably have the capacity to do,” she said.
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Psaki also deflected questions about Biden not owning an electric vehicle even as he promotes the technology for the country to achieve energy independence. He has routinely been photographed in his 1967 Chevrolet Corvette.
“Presidents of the United States don’t do a lot of driving,” she quipped.
