Joe Biden defends his strategy amid rising gas prices
The average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States is now at a record $5, up from around $3 a year ago.
Joe Biden’s popularity is being hampered by rising prices and especially gas prices.
AFP
Joe Biden on Wednesday tried to defend his strategy amid record gas prices, promising a small tax gesture for the summer and calling for a necessary sacrifice to respond to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“By suspending the 18 cents (per gallon) state gasoline tax for 90 days, we can bring the price down and give families some relief,” Trump said Wednesday in the House of Representatives. Blanche called on Congress to adopt the fiscal gesture, demonstrating its effectiveness is already controversial. “I know that this tax suspension alone will not solve the problem, but it will give households (…) some breathing room,” he added.
The 79-year-old Democrat, whose popularity is being weighed down by the rise in all prices and especially gasoline, a very important budget item for Americans, urged dealers to pass on “every penny” of that tax cut. “Now is not the time to take advantage of that,” he warned of large video walls.
pressure on states
Joe Biden wants the American states to introduce and also abolish their gasoline taxes, which average 30 cents per gallon, or else find compensation mechanisms. The average price of gasoline per gallon in the United States is now at a record high of $5 ($4,968 on Wednesday), up from around $3 a year ago.
The Democratic president also called on the hydrocarbon giants, with whom he has strained ties, to increase their refining capacity but also to follow black gold’s price swings down, not just up. The combined effort of Congress, states and refiners “could bring down the price at the pump by a dollar a gallon or more,” estimated Joe Biden.
The suspension of the federal tax of 18 cents and the 24 cent per gallon diesel tax is expected to cost the Highway Infrastructure Fund, which is normally funded by these taxes, about $10 billion. The administration claims to be able to compensate for the shortfall.
Gadget Measure
This tax suspension was criticized even before it was announced, including in the President’s political family. The influential leader of the Democratic camp in the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, rejected such an idea last week, which she described as “showbiz”. In 2008, the media dug up statements by Barack Obama: Against the background of rising gas prices, the future president publicly spoke out against a tax suspension and spoke of a “gadget” measure.
Some experts have also expressed their skepticism about an announcement that does nothing to solve the fundamental problem: that of very strong demand in the face of limited supply. In the face of such criticism, Joe Biden attempted to dramatize the problems on Wednesday, recalling that the price of gasoline has risen by $2 a gallon since Russia invaded Ukraine.
Referring to Western sanctions on Russian hydrocarbons, he said: “We could have turned a blind eye to[Vladimir]Putin’s murderous actions. Gasoline prices would not have risen so much. I think that would have been a mistake.” Calling out elected Republicans who constantly point out his responsibility, Joe Biden asked, “So you’re saying we’d rather have lower gas prices in the United States and Europe in the grip of Vladimir Putin? “
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