President Joe Biden may be willing to resort to desperate measures to provide relief from spiking oil prices in a midterm election year. He has already sent a delegation to Venezuela, raising the prospect of easing sanctions on the autocratic regime to pursue an alternate energy source.
The talks came the weekend before Biden relented and ordered a ban on Russian oil imports, as Congress was on the precipice of passing legislation without him, the latest shock to U.S. supply in a climate of high inflation. Two Americans being held in Venezuela were subsequently released.
“Two Americans who were wrongfully detained in Venezuela will be able to hug their families once more,” Biden said in a statement. “We are bringing Gustavo Cardenas and Jorge Fernandez home.”
But any thawing of relations with Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro comes at significant political risk to the Biden administration amid signs Hispanic voters are cooling to the Democratic Party under its leadership.
“We import about 200,000 barrels of Russian oil a day, and we can easily replace that by just producing 200,000 barrels a day more of our own oil,” Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican running for reelection this year in a state that’s home to some 200,000 Venezuelan immigrants, said in a
statement
. “We can easily do that, very quickly. We don’t need oil from Iran, we don’t need oil from Venezuela.”
More tellingly, Rubio’s Democratic challenger also distanced herself from the overtures to the Maduro regime.
“I am deeply skeptical of the new talks in Venezuela,” Val Demings, a onetime member of Biden’s vice presidential short list, said in a
statement
of her own. “Maduro and his corrupt cronies must not personally profit from any deal.”
That was a mild rebuke compared to the comments from the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, usually a top Biden ally.
“Nicolas Maduro is a cancer to our hemisphere, and we should not breathe new life into his reign of torture and murder,” said Sen. Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat. “As such, I would strongly oppose any action that fills the pockets of regime oligarchs with oil profits while Maduro continues to deprive Venezuelans of basic human rights, freedoms, and even food.”
Maduro hasn’t been shy about dangling vast Venezuelan oil reserves in front of countries in need. “Here lies the oil of Venezuela, which is available for whomever wants to produce and buy it, be it an investor from Asia, Europe, or the United States,” he
said
in a speech.
The U.S. has been estranged from Venezuela since the days of Hugo Chavez. Still, economic sanctions intensified in 2019 after Maduro declared himself the winner of an election that outside observers deemed fraudulent. As a result, former President Donald Trump recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as president instead.
But with prices at the pump rising and, by some estimates, 300 billion proven oil reserves in Venezuela, the White House is exploring its options. Supporters of the move also argue it could loosen Venezuela’s ties to Russia. The Biden administration reached out to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates about tapping their oil. Neither government is enamored of the Iran nuclear talks, and the Wall Street Journal reported Biden’s team couldn’t get either on the phone.
Since the Russian oil import ban, the White House has increasingly tried to lay all the blame for high energy prices on Russian President Vladimir Putin. “I would say that since President Putin began his military buildup on Ukrainian borders, the price of gas at the pump in America has gone up 75 cents, which is significant, of course,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters. Biden aides and allies began showcasing the “Putin Price Hike” social media hashtag.
A subsequent exchange at the White House press briefing illustrated Biden’s dilemma. Fox News’s Peter Doocy said that “we have heard the president warn for months the gas prices were rising because of the supply chain and because of post-pandemic demand” but is now settling on Putin and domestic price-gouging as the culprits. The same reporter also asked Psaki, “You guys think that asking Saudi Arabia or Venezuela or Iran is reducing our dependence on foreign oil?”
“Gas prices have risen month over month every month since the president has been in office, so is the feeling then … that the American people just have to wait until 2030 when he set his goal for … half cars being sold with zero emissions?” Fox Business’s Edward Lawrence asked. “No,” Psaki replied, adding that she and the president have defended the Biden record on domestic energy production.
The administration is taking hits for rising prices and can anticipate blowback for reaching out to unsavory foreign regimes. Congressional Republicans are pushing bills with titles such as the “No Oil From Terrorists Act,” while the White House bashes Big Oil.
“This is a step that we’re taking to inflict further pain on Putin,” Biden said in his oil ban announcement. “But there will be costs as well here in the United States.”
And for the president’s party.
