While America's national average gas price has come down a few cents from its all-time high of $4.331 reached on March 11, Americans are still being socked in the wallet every time they have to fill up. As many Republicans have pointed out, this isn't the way it has to be, nor has it always been this way.
Meanwhile, President Biden and Democrats in Congress have blamed everything but themselves and their policies for the increase in gas prices that have risen along with prices on other consumer goods to four-decade highs since Biden took office. The scapegoat created by the White House and Democrats? Greedy oil barons, systematic price gouging, and Vladimir Putin.
But it's not as simple or as nefarious — at least not on the part of oil and gas companies — as the Biden administration would like you to believe. And now, thanks to Rep. Jim Banks' (R-IN) team at the Republican Study Committee, there are a lot more examples — 81, to be exact — of Biden's actions that led to consistently rising gas prices since he took office.
It wasn't greedy refineries, it wasn't Putin's invasion of Ukraine, and it's not greedy capitalists. It was, as the stickers slapped on gas pumps by disgruntled Americans highlight, Biden who did this. From day one of his administration, Biden was set on keeping his campaign promise to "end fossil fuel."
On January 20, 2021, Biden signed an executive order directing the federal government to review and rescind President Trump's policies that made the United States energy independent. Biden's first actions also included increasing emissions regulations and restricting domestic energy. And, of course, he killed the Keystone XL Pipeline. The average price for a gallon of gas: $2.379.
Through his first months in office, Biden continued taking actions that cut off America's rich fossil fuels and artificially incentivized alternative energy sources. There was another executive order focused on enforcing "environmental justice." A decision to double the amount of wind energy on federal lands. A moratorium on oil and gas leases. And Biden put the United States back into the Paris Climate agreement. By mid-April in Biden's first year, the national average for a gallon of gas had risen to $2.855.
Summer 2021 saw more anti-fossil fuel actions from the Biden administration, including a Department of Justice "Climate Action Plan" and a Department of Energy determination to ramp up regulations that would direct buildings away from using fossil fuel energy sources. By September, the national average for gas had reached $3.176.
The Biden administration continued through the fall to rescind or revoke President Trump's actions and policies that had incentivized American energy and promoted safe, clean drilling and production to make the United States an energy-independent country. More "climate action plans" from federal agencies were released that further regulated and disincentivized reliable American energy. The Biden administration went after financial institutions to urge them not to do business with fossil fuel companies, required federal properties and contractors to move away from oil and gas, and went all-in on falsely-named "green" energy instead.
Biden attempted to install more anti-fossil fuel cronies in his government, as typified by the nomination of Saule Omarova to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in November, while the average price of gas rose past $3.41 per gallon. So too did Biden attempt to codify his alternative energy policies by levying billions in new taxes on oil and gas companies as part of his Build Back Better budget.
In the first months of 2022, Biden kept his foot on the gas by delaying permits for new oil and gas leases, setting stricter standards for vehicle and power generation emissions, and began hiring for his new falsely-named "Clean Energy Corps" as the average price of gas ticked upward past $3.444 per gallon.
By March, gas costs passed $4.00 per gallon to reach their all-time high while Biden continued regulating, disincentivizing, and demonizing fossil fuels and their connected industries. All the while President Biden, his administration, and Democrats elsewhere have pinned the blame on others rather than admitting they're just doing what Biden said he would: "end fossil fuel."
The Biden administration hasn't shown any signs of letting up on their campaign, either. In just the last few weeks, the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed a rule that would force public companies to release information on their emissions and risks posed to them by climate change. Later this week, the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council is slated to meet as Biden's team figures out more actions it can take to embrace "Green" New Deal policies and put oil and gas out of business with an obvious lack of concern for the collateral damage of their plan: the American people and their wallets.
The next time President Biden or his media lapdogs try to pass blame for high gas prices and a continuing energy crisis in the United States on Vladimir Putin or oil and gas companies, remember Biden's actions as laid out in the RSC's full memo — which can be viewed here with a week-by-week breakdown of Biden's actions cross-referenced with the national average gas price.