Posted on 03/08/2022 2:52:55 PM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
WASHINGTON — Congressional Republicans are championing President Joe Biden’s decision to ban Russian oil imports to the U.S., a highly anticipated move that could continue to push gas prices to record highs.
But in the same breath, GOP leaders — eager to win back the House and Senate this fall — are trying to capitalize by blaming Biden and his energy policies for Americans paying more at the pump.
Republicans argue Biden could have it both ways — sanction Russian oil but also keep American prices down by allowing a rampant increase in domestic production, which they argue Biden isn't doing in furtherance of liberal environment goals.
But oil production isn't a spigot that can just be flipped on, and the domestic market has been be suppressed not just by federal rules, but also due to an international market that depressed the price and made drilling unprofitable. Democrats point to the thousands of wells that have been approved but aren't being drilled.
The attacks highlight the precarious political situation facing Democrats in power as they try to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin for his war in Ukraine, contend with rising inflation and gas prices, and protect their fragile majorities in Congress.
In interviews, Democratic lawmakers said they’re bracing for bad faith finger-pointing about gas prices ahead of the 2022 election.
“I have no doubt that Republicans will cheerlead this ban and then spend the rest of the year castigating the Biden White House for an increase in gas prices,” said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. “I just think we have to be eyes wide open as to how Republicans are not going to get the administration’s back on the consequences of Ukraine and Russia energy policy.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
You know how bad the republicans are when they are like putty in biden’s hands. We’re f*ed.
Energy independence now. It’s easy.
Brandon cartel is against it, though, I’m sure.
They want high prices for gasoline.
Hey Bare Shelves Biden, you think these “make the US energy dependent again” policies are a good idea, tell the truth about them. Tells the truth to the US people for one time in your 50 years in DC.
Stop blaming everyone else for your actions
Yup
Hypocrisy of the highest order.
This translates to: “Don’t vote for Republicans. They are happy Democrats are burning down the country. Pick up a match and vote for the Democrats.” What crap from Commiecast.
Face palm 🤦♀️ The Washington Generals antics surprise even me.
.
The Republicans are excited over War money.
You still don’t see one of them calling Biden the names the Dems still call Trump.
Name an Elected Republican that calls Biden a Criminal.
.
BS. Check the source. NBC is all lies all the time.
Cutting off Russian oil only makes sense if you are increasing our production or at least have a source from someone who doesn’t want to kill us. We can be more energy independent — and we were under President Donald Trump.
Now we see how vital that independence is. We never should have increased the reliance on Russia, to begin with — which happened under Biden. But if you cut it off and then go buy from Iran, who wishes us dead, or prop up the government of Venezuela, what kind of sense does that make?
But the Biden team is indeed considering getting oil from places like Venezuela and Iran — just not doing anything at all to increase our production.
Biden and his team have a new line that they’ve been using to suggest that it’s not them who are cutting back on energy — that companies have 9,000 federal drilling leases so somehow it’s the companies’ fault.
This is unhinged, like his claim that cars are more expensive and that’s 1/3 of the reason for inflation.
Just because you have a lease doesn’t mean there’s actually oil and gas in that lease, and there has to be a lot of development that occurs between the leasing and then ultimately permitting for that acreage to be productive They’re purposefully misusing the facts here to advantage their position.
Look. If you just cut buying Russian oil without increasing our production, you drive up the market price and you make everything here more expensive.
Biden isn’t even talking with American energy producers while trying to use them as scapegoats. If he truly thought they could be producing oil, wouldn’t his first thought be to talk with them rather than Iran?
Had he not taken the anti-energy position he had and increased the buying of Russian oil, we wouldn’t be in this position now. But even now, he still refuses to do what needs to be done for our independence because he’s so owned by the left and their anti-energy aims that are now endangering national security. This is going to be incredibly harmful and hurt so many Americans.
The MSM narrative. Bad things happen to the Democrats and it is never their fault.
‘Rats TOTALLY p0wn the Green New Deal off the bottom of the deck.
This statement falls flat on its face and here's why: Gas prices and oil prices have been rising since Biden took office, and upon which one of his first acts was to BAN drilling and fracking on public land.
Whoever wrote this article is so full of sh*t they can quite literally fertilize 40 acres.
“Name an Elected Republican that calls Biden a Criminal.”
We need a Conservative party with guts.
“ Face palm 🤦♀️ The Washington Generals antics surprise even me.”
So you believe NBC News now?
“Now we see how vital that independence is. We never should have increased the reliance on Russia, to begin with — which happened under Biden. But if you cut it off and then go buy from Iran, who wishes us dead, or prop up the government of Venezuela, what kind of sense does that make?”
That makes very good Republican/MAGA ad material right then and there. A very good example of one great way to get rid of myopic enviro whacko based policy is to show how the Dems are strictly enforcing it.
Oil prices are not simply determined by current supply and demand. Like any market prices, they are based more on the market’s expectation of future supply and demand. This should be obvious to anyone, particularly democrats who are blaming the skyrocketing oil and gas prices on the Russian-Ukraine war. Since we are still buying oil from Russia, the war has not yet had any effect on our current supply.
Similarly, Biden’s war on the oil and gas industry may not yet have affected our current production, but it has had a huge effect on the market’s expectation of future production.
@LeaderMcConnell on Ukraine aid: “Where we’ve ended up is at $14 billion...It needs to be passed and it needs to be passed quickly.”
2:31 PM · Mar 8, 2022
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.