Energy Secretary Steven Chu Tuesday said that he thinks his grade for managing gas prices should jump from an A-minus to A, a claim Republican critics mocked. But Chu fought back, calling the GOP “obsessed” with grades during a hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
In a day of low drama over gas prices, even Chu’s choice of a government-issued SUV limo was used by critics to charge that the administration is out of touch with Americans choking on high gas prices.
“For American consumers who choose to transport their families in SUVs, they’re now paying $4 a gallon, about $100 per tank in a Chu-comparable SUV–double its price since President Obama took office,” said one critic who provided a picture of the SUV.
Chu spokesman Damien LaVera shot back: “Just like they did in their three hour hearing, congressional critics are distorting the facts to drive a false and misleading agenda. This photo shows the secretary getting into a single, flex fuel vehicle which…is used for security.”
With surging gas prices a key element of the presidential campaign, the one-ups-manship on the issue has been a daily battle between the Democrats and Republicans. On Tuesday, it unfolded in Chairman Darrell Issa’s committee room.
At the hearing, Issa asked Chu if he deserved a higher grade for managing gas prices than the A-minus he took at a similar hearing earlier this month.
Sure, said Chu. “The tools we have at our disposal are limited, but saying that, I’d give myself a little higher [grade], in that since I became secretary of Energy, I’ve been doing everything I can to get long-term solutions,” said Chu.
Sean Spicer, Republican Party spokesman emailed, “I would have loved to have Secretary Chu as a professor in college if he thinks $4-plus a gallon and over a 100 percent increase gets an A. It would probably take $10 a gallon gas for him to get to a B under this curve.”
