Biden: Lowering Gas Prices
President Biden delivered remarks remotely, at an Economic Briefing.
Biden was Monday’s KVML “Newsmaker of the Day”. Here are his words:
“Let me start by apologizing — my voice. I’m feeling much better than I sound.
You know, we’re meeting today on gas prices, and we have some really good news: Gas prices are coming down.
In fact, gas prices have fallen every day this summer for 38 days in a row. Now, you know, you can — you can find gas for $3.99 or less in more than 30,000 gas stations in more than 35 states. In some cities, it’s down almost a dollar from last month. We’ve been working really hard to bring the price down.
Four months ago, I gave an order to release 1 million barrels of oil per day — a day — for our nation — from our nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve. And I led the world to coordinate the largest release of oil reserves in history, including from other countries. In total, more than 240 million barrels to boost global supply.
During that time, I’ve also been working to increase U.S. production. Today, we’re producing 12 million barrels per day, and we’re on track to hit near-record highs. I’ve been working to make sure that when the price of oil comes down, the price at the pump comes down as well, and comes down in real time. The good news is that’s happening, but it’s not happening fast enough. We’ve made progress, but prices are still too high.
And so, here’s what I’m going to do — talk about today with all of you. We need to work on this.
First, we’re going to look at ways to increase oil production from the existing wells and permits that exist today. The industry has more approved permits for production on federal lands than they can possibly use. That’s a fact. Let me say it again: They have more than they can use.
So my message to these companies is: Use the permits or lose them. Don’t say we can’t — you don’t have access.
Second, I’m telling the industry, “You’re making record profits due to Putin’s war in Ukraine. Use those profits to increase production and refining. Don’t use those profits to buy back your stocks and dividends.”
Look, thirdly, we’ll talk about a global price cap on Russian oil — that I got our partners to agree to last month at the G7 — that will keep supply up and Putin’s revenues down. In the days and weeks ahead, I’m going to keep doing what I can to bring down the price of gas at the pump.
But the real answer is to get to a clean energy economy as soon as possible; turn this into something positive. That means cleaner renewable energy, more affordable electric vehicles, and clean energy manufactured here in the United States. That’s how we’ll protect the climate and create jobs.
I am — well, I’ll have more to say about this in our discussions and more in the coming days.
Thanks.”
The “Newsmaker of the Day” is heard every weekday morning at 6:45, 7:45 and 8:45 on AM 1450 and FM 102.7 KVML.
