Both President Joe Biden and White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could lead to even higher gas prices.
Biden, delivering a national update on the current state of the Russia-Ukraine tensions, stated Tuesday afternoon that he “will not pretend this will be painless.”
“There could be an impact on our energy prices, so we are taking active steps to alleviate the pressure on our own energy markets and offset raising prices by coordinating with major energy consumers and producers to prepare to employ all the tools and authority at our disposal to provide relief at the gas pump,” he stated. “I’ll work with Congress on additional measures to protect consumers and adjust the impact of prices at the pump.”
Psaki, asked about the president’s comments during Tuesday’s press briefing, claimed Biden “wasn’t making a market assessment” but was “conveying very clearly to the American public” that a Russian invasion “would have consequences or an impact here at home.”
“In terms of the price of gasoline, what we’ve seen, as we know back in December, went down by about 10 cents, thanks to tapping the strategic petroleum reserves,” she said. “The president also made clear in his remarks that he is open to — all options are on the table to help bring down the price of gasoline, but he wasn’t making a market assessment. He was just making clear to the public that if Russia invades, and we put in place crippling sanctions, that would have an impact on the public.”
Asked if Biden was considering a gas tax holiday as a means of relief, Psaki reiterated that “all options are on the table” to help lower costs for families.
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Watch Psaki’s entire briefing below.
