Joe Biden on Friday blamed COVID-19, oil companies, and Russian President Vladimir Putin for the skyrocketing inflation the country has been experiencing since he came into office—instead of his own radical, big spending agenda.
“From the moment he put his over one hundred and fifty thousand troops on the Ukrainian border, the price of gasoline in January went up 75 cents and Putin began amassing troops along the border,” Biden told House Democrats at their member retreat in Philadelphia. Gas prices in the U.S. have reached an average of $4.33 per gallon, an all time high, according to data from AAA.
“Make no mistake, inflation is largely the fault of Putin,” Biden insisted. “It wasn’t anything we did.”
"Make no mistake, inflation is largely the fault of Putin," Biden says.
Except inflation has been soaring above 5% since last May. pic.twitter.com/DfU1969ZT5
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 11, 2022
In truth, gas prices were rising well before Putin invaded Ukraine. While, it’s true that fuel prices went up further after Putin invaded, most economists consider the Democrats’ mammoth $1.9 trillion spending bill last year to be the biggest driver of the inflation surge in America—including left-of-center economists such as Lawrence Summers, Steven Rattner, Jason Furman, and Mark Zandi.
By the end of last year, it was clear that the bill was the main driver of soaring inflation, and Biden’s approval numbers began to tank, bringing his entire party down with him.
During his address, Biden insisted that the economists are wrong and his political advisors are right.
“I’m sick of this stuff!” he exclaimed. “The American people think the reason for inflation is government spending more money. Simply not true!”
Biden: "I'm sick of this stuff … the American people think the reason for inflation is government spending more money. Simply not true!"
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 11, 2022
Steven Rattner, a former Treasury Department official under the Obama administration, called the massive spending bill the “original sin” that caused inflation.
“The original sin was the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, passed in March. The bill – almost completely unfunded – sought to counter the effects of the COVID pandemic by focusing on demand-side stimulus rather than on investment,” Rattner said in November 2021. “That has contributed materially to today’s inflation levels.”
Liberal economists Lawrence Summers, Jason Furman, and Mark Zandi also warned last year that the American Rescue Plan was too expensive, too inflationary, too unnecessary, and too wasteful, the New York Post reported.
Nonetheless, Biden on Friday celebrated the one year anniversary of the passing of the American Rescue Plan, bragging to Democrats: “We—did—it—alone. Without one—single—solitary—Republican vote!”
He blamed the COVID pandemic for causing the supply chain issues that led to rising prices of goods and services.
“The American economy was flat on its back. It was Democrats, it was YOU that brought us back!” Biden told Democrats.
According to data released Thursday by the Labor Department, consumer prices increased 7.9 percent in the past year, driven largely by increases in the cost of gasoline, housing and consumer goods.
Biden also defended his decision to halt the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have delivered up to 700,000 barrels of oil per day into the U.S. from Canada.
Republicans and Canadian officials in recent days have urged Biden to restart construction on the stalled project to boost our oil supply.
But Biden mocked the idea there was a link between shutting down the Keystone XL Pipeline and rising gas prices.
“Folks, let’s get something straight here, the Keystone Pipeline was two years away. It had been 2 percent finished,” Biden said. “Give me a break.”
Biden DEFENDS shutting down the Keystone XL pipeline on his first day in office: "give me a break!"
Why is Biden so anti-American energy? pic.twitter.com/ofZrAJ1c90
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 11, 2022
He instead blamed the oil companies for rising gas prices, arguing that they have thousands of new leases but refuse to drill, but are slowing drilling to increase profits.
Reading from his notes, Biden said, “there are now—um, uh, five—there are 172 gas and oil rigs running,” he stammered. “Now there are 519 in operation before this all began.”
He continued: “But guess what? They have over 7,000 permits to dig oil if they want. Why aren’t they out pumping oil?”
Mike Sommers, the chief executive officer of the American Petroleum Institute, accused the Biden regime of “misusing the facts” in an interview earlier this week.
“There’s a fundamental misunderstanding of the administration as to how the process actually works,” Sommers said. “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,” he said. “I think that they’re purposefully misusing the facts here to advantage their position.”
According to a Department of Interior report, the U.S. had more than 37,000 oil and gas leases just last year, and the oil company has to jump through some regulatory hoops before it can start drilling.
“They must organize and safely manage their reservoir and satisfy several regulatory requirements, such as an onsite inspection, environmental review and permit approval. This process can actually take up to 10 years,” KATV reported. Reversing Trump’s deregulatory policies, Biden has added red tape, making it more difficult and expensive to drill.
Just last month, Biden froze new drilling permits and stopped leases on federal lands because a federal judge ruled that they couldn’t use an elevated “social cost of carbon” to make it more difficult to drill.
Oil prices went up as soon as Biden was “elected” because oil producers understood that they would be operating on a more hostile playing field than when Trump was president.
Biden's language about his war on fossil fuels was clear. He ran his whole campaign on destroying the energy industry, and oil traders knew this. If you look at this chart, it's actually after Biden was ELECTED in November when gas prices started to increase. pic.twitter.com/eNf2dtkccH
— Kangmin Lee | 이강민 (@kangminjlee) March 9, 2022
Since he has been in office, Biden has blamed many others for the sorry condition of the country, including former President Trump, the unvaccinated, big businesses, Republicans, meat conglomerates, white supremacists, the weather, guns, and the American people themselves.