Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley grilled Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm during a Thursday hearing for attempting to blame Russian President Vladimir Putin for rising gas prices.
Hawley pointed to AAA’s prediction that the national average gas price will potentially cost $6 per gallon, as the average prices of regular and diesel gasoline currently stand at $4.58 and $5.57 per gallon.
“Is this acceptable to you?” Hawley asked.
“No, it is not and you can thank the activity of Vladimir Putin for invading Ukraine and those barrels—”
“Oh nonsense,” Hawley interjected. “All due respect, Madame Secretary, that is utter nonsense. In January 2021, the average gas price of my state was $2.07, eight months later, long before Vladimir Putin had invaded Ukraine, that price was up over 30% and has been going up consistently ever since. What are you doing to reverse this administration’s policies that are drawing down our own supply of energy in this country, that are throttling oil and gas production in the United States of America. What are you doing about it?”
Granholm denied that it is the policies of President Joe Biden’s administration that are impacting supply and demand.
“How can you say that when the price of gas was up over 30% from January—you can answer my questions and it is my time Madame Secretary, so why don’t you answer my question. From January to August, the price of gasoline was up over 30% and in my state alone, it has been a continuous upward tick since then.”
Watch:
Sen-Hawley-Blasts-Sec-Granholm-for-Claiming-Biden-Policies-Had-No-Effect-on-Gas-Prices
The senator then listed the Biden administration’s revoking of the Keystone XL Pipeline, re-entering the Paris Climate Accord, halting oil and gas leases on federal lands and directing federal agencies to shift support away from all fossil fuels in the first few days of the presidency. Granholm said 94% of oil executives surveyed by the Dallas Fed said the administration’s policies had no impact on the current costs of oil and gas.
“I’m not interested in the opinions of those people, I’m interested in the facts,” Hawley said. “Are you telling me that these policies had no effect, is that your testimony? Madame Secretary, are you telling me, under oath, that these policies had no effect?”
“They did not ask Vladimir Putin about the increase in demand and the decrease in supply from pulling Russian barrels of oil off the market thanks to rightly, the United States saying ‘we’re not going to take Russian oil’ coming out of COVID,” she said.
“So what explains the increase between January and August 2021?” the senator pressed.
“Coming out of COVID, there was an increase in demand because people were driving again, when there was no demand, the prices dropped,” she said. “That is a basic law of economics.”
“I have to say, Madame Secretary, with all due respect, your answers are insulting,” Hawley said. “And they are insulting to the people of Missouri who are looking for action.”
This is an excerpt from the Daily Caller.
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