Joe Biden is desperate to try to pump up his numbers and look like he’s doing something when it comes to gas prices and inflation. He’s at his lowest numbers ever, at 32 percent approval now in a new Civiqs poll, and it looks like the Democrats are heading for a massive trouncing come November.
So now Biden has decided that he’s going to ask Congress to suspend federal gas taxes for three months, according to a senior administration official. Federal gas taxes are now at 18 cents per gallon, and diesel is 24 cents.
If Congress gets on board with the idea, gas prices then might drop a little bit but prices are rising so much, that an 18-cent “drop” might just get absorbed. But of course, that doesn’t address the continuing problem — producing more, to be energy independent. Biden is still not dealing with the underlying issue because he doesn’t seem to want to — he’s already said repeatedly he sees this crisis as an opportunity to phase-out fossil fuels and reach their radical green energy goals.
Barack Obama called suspending the gas tax a “gimmick” back in 2008 to save half a tank of gas so lawmakers could say that they did something. “The easiest thing in the world for a politician to do,” Obama said in April 2008, “is tell you exactly what you want to hear.” That’s exactly what’s going on here. It’s Biden’s attempt to help himself in the polls and the Democrats in the midterms. It’s a temporary thing to get votes. What happens when it goes back up and the problem still hasn’t been solved? He’s not talking about that.
The tax holiday could make matters worse.
There is also concern about a gas tax holiday’s impact on already record-high inflation. A non-partisan organization, The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget advocates for reducing government spending. It has previously argued against a gas tax holiday for a 10 month period. This would increase the demand for gasoline, other goods, and services in an economy already facing high consumer demand and supply disruptions from pandemics.
“While the gas tax holiday may reduce prices at the pump, it will further increase demand for gasoline and other goods and services at a time when the economy has little capacity to absorb it,” the blog post said. “The result could be even higher rates of inflation in 2023.”
Instead of expanding the supply, Biden would actually increase the demand which will ultimately lead to more problems. Biden may be hoping that Republicans question this move and it doesn’t go through, so then he can attack them.
Biden accuses oil companies of not producing enough and threatens to take legal action. But the folly of all of this is that gas has been going up ever since Biden came into office — in part because he attacked the energy industry. After demonizing and trying to get them in, he now wants them to produce even more. But they can’t turn on a dime and come up with more.
The American Petroleum Institute and American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers sent a joint letter to Biden about a week ago explaining that their refineries are already operating close to their maximum capacity, but that nearly half of the capacity was taken off-line because of the facilities converting to renewable energy production. You can’t forget all of the government restrictions which are also restricting your capacity. Biden has decried the inability of refiners to produce more refined products because of the green energy policies they have pushed.
Chevron CEO Michael Wirth also leveled Biden for the instability his approach has caused and said that has to stop if the problems are going to be solved, “[Y]Our industry has been criticized and vilified by the Administration. These actions are not beneficial to meeting the challenges we face and are not what the American people deserve.”
Biden’s response to that letter? “I didn’t know that they’d get their feelings hurt so quickly.” What a nasty, snippy reply. Each challenge is taken as personal insults by him. But what they’re saying to him that he’s blowing off is right not just for them but for the American people and American national security. You have to have a stable energy policy and Biden’s approach has been anything but that.
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