Frantic Democrats, desperate to avoid electoral catastrophe in November, are now trying to blame almost any and everything that breathes for the country’s woes.
Earlier this week, Cedric Richmond, an adviser to the Democratic National Committee, made the laughable assertion that by opposing President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better boondoggle, they are responsible for sky-high inflation.
And as the national average for a gallon of gas hovers around $5, some Democrats are ditching Russian Vladimir Putin as their scapegoat and switching to blaming Republicans.
On Thursday morning, Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) tweeted, “If you just paid a fortune at the pump, we recently acted to crack down on gas price gouging and every single republican voted no.”
He shared a picture of a gas pump with the words, “Republicans voted to let oil companies rob you blind!” superimposed on it.
Additionally, there was a sticker of President Joe Biden pointing at the price with the words “Republicans Voted For That!” written. Biden’s head was covered by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) head.
If you just paid a fortune at the pump, we recently acted to crack down on gas price gouging and every single republican voted no. pic.twitter.com/ts8xnl1ss4
— Bill Pascrell, Jr. ???? (@BillPascrell) June 16, 2022
Pascrell appears to be referring to a bill that the House passed last month that would give the Federal Trade Commission the authority to investigate allegations of price gouging.
It would also give the president the authority to issue an “energy emergency declaration” that would make it illegal for companies to raise prices at a rate that is “unconscionably excessive.”
However, even some members of Pascrell’s own party had concerns about the bill and the impact it would have.
Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.) said in a statement, “At best, this bill is a distraction that won’t actually address the problem.”
“At worst, it could make the problem more severe,” the Congresswoman added as she argued it could actually “further reduce supply.”
The reason the U.S., and other countries, are seeing higher gas prices is in part due to the tightening oil supply due to bans on Russian oil in response to its invasion of Ukraine. Additionally, while the U.S. still produces a lot of oil, its refining capabilities are sharply down from pre-pandemic levels, by roughly 900,000 barrels per day.
That decrease is due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to refineries being shut down as demand plummeted. The Associated Press notes that some refineries are expected to boost their abilities.
However, the AP also notes that it appears Biden administration officials’ talk about a transition away from fossil fuel is influencing some companies’ decisions on whether to invest in new facilities due to concerns that electric vehicles will reduce the demand for gas in the future. And one of the country’s largest refiners is planning to close its facility by the end of next year.
Republicans argue that more oil drilling in the U.S. would help reduce gas prices, to which the AP points out that it could take months for the additional supply to alleviate prices.
That last line is one that has been trotted out for months. Biden has been in office for a year and a half, and yet instead of trying to use his influence to promote domestic drilling, he’s traveling to Saudi Arabia to ask them to drill more.
If Biden had decided to put the effort, of traveling halfway across the world to a country not known for its great human rights record to beg them for more oil, into getting domestic producers to pump more oil months ago, we might be now or soon seeing that benefit. But he didn’t.
Democrats can try all they want to blame Republicans, who are not in the majority, for inflation and gas prices, but ultimately they are in control, and nothing they have done or are doing is helping to reduce costs. Most Americans can probably see through their desperate blame-shifting.
