Biden Admin Reportedly Set to Greenlight Rule Change That Could Spike Gas Prices — But Not Until After the Election

Gas Station

The Biden administration is expected to ease seasonal restrictions on ethanol-gasoline blends but has delayed the change until after the 2024 election to avoid a price spike, according to Reuters.

The rule change stems from a 2022 request from the governors of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin to allow the sale of gasoline with 15% ethanol year-round, known as E15 gasoline, lifting current seasonal restrictions that aim to reduce smog in the summer months, according to Reuters. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had originally set an effective date of April 28, 2024, for the changes when the agency sent the proposal to the White House in December, but that is now expected to be pushed back to 2025.

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Biden Administration Refuses to Refill Strategic Oil Reserve

On Tuesday, the Biden Administration deliberately chose to not refill the strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) after depleting it to combat a surge in gas prices last year.

According to the Daily Caller, the report from Bloomberg said that the administration considered it to be “too expensive” to refill the vital reserve supply, as the current price of a barrel of oil is roughly $80. The SPR is still at a record low level after Biden released at least 180 million barrels in 2022, in an effort to reduce historically high gas prices prior to the 2022 midterm elections.

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Heat Wave Causing Refinery Outages and Contributing to Gas Price Surge, Analyst Says

Last week, gas prices reached an 8-month high in the U.S. at $3.714 per gallon, following a high volume of production cuts from OPEC. That number has since increased, which an analyst pinned directly on the ongoing heat wave taking place throughout the country.

On Monday, gas averaged $3.757 per gallon, up more than 16 cents from a week ago, according to AAA. Patrick De Haan, the lead petroleum analyst at the fuel savings site GasBuddy, explained how the heat wave contributed to this uptick.

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Critics Raise Concerns About Strategic Petroleum Reserves’ Decline

Lawmakers are raising concerns that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which President Joe Biden has relied on heavily since taking office, is getting dangerously low.

Gas prices hit record highs last summer, surpassing $5 per gallon nationally. To curb rising prices, Biden released more than 200 million barrels from the U.S. stockpile, bringing the reserves to the lowest point since 1984.

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White House to Go on Offensive Against GOP as Gas Prices Drop

The average price for a gallon of gas has fallen below what it was one year ago, and the White House is preparing to go on the offense politically as consumers see more money in their pockets ahead of the holidays. The administration argument? Thank President Biden.

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Americans Can Expect Record-Setting Gas Prices over Thanksgiving

The average national gasoline price during Thanksgiving will be at its highest level since 2012, according to estimates from the fuel-saving app GasBuddy.

Thanksgiving gas prices on average will hit $3.68 per gallon, almost 30 cents higher than they were during 2021 and more than 20 cents higher than the previous record of $3.44 a gallon set in 2012, according to a GasBuddy news release. Gas prices have reached record highs in 2022 due to increased post-pandemic demand, fuel-refining constraints and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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Gas Prices Rise for Two Straight Weeks, OPEC Expected to Drive Them Higher

Gas prices have continued to rise over the past two weeks, and now OPEC has announced a major decision that will likely drive those prices higher.

OPEC said Wednesday that it would reduce oil production beginning in November by 2 million barrels per day. OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries largely based in the Mideast, said in a statement it made the decision “in light of the uncertainty that surrounds the global economic and oil market outlooks, and the need to enhance the long-term guidance for the oil market, and in line with the successful approach of being proactive, and preemptive…”

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Gas Prices Rise for First Time Since June

Following nearly 100 days of declines, gas prices rose slightly Wednesday, and are forecasted to change little in the near future.

The national average price rose by about a cent to $3.68, snapping a 98-day streak of declines since prices peaked at $5.02 in mid-June, according to data from the American Automobile Association (AAA). A slight increase was expected to occur soon after prices fell only four cents last week, the smallest decrease in months, which the AAA attributed to the impacts of “war, COVID, economic recession, and hurricane season,” in a statement Monday.

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Gas Prices Continue Decline, Still Much Higher than Last Year

Gas prices have continued a steady decline in recent weeks, coming down from record-high gas prices this summer, but the Congressional Budget Office says natural gas prices may see an increase from the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act.

According to AAA, the current national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline is $3.78, down from $4.08 a month ago and down significantly from earlier this summer when prices surpassed $5 per gallon. Prices have dropped about a nickel in the past week.

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Carrie Sheffield Commentary: Biden’s Dizzying Energy Policy Is Even Making Climate Warriors Scratch Their Heads

You’d think after achieving $5 a gallon nationwide gas prices and gutting domestic oil and gas producers, America’s environmental extremists would be elated and emboldened. But President Joe Biden’s energy policy is so incoherent, even Green New Deal socialists are frustrated, according to reporting by Politico’s Zack Colman.

“The climate advocates who cheered President Joe Biden’s arrival at the White House last year are preparing to give up on Washington,” Colman writes. “Instead, environmentalists and many of their Democratic allies are starting to shift their focus to state capitals as the places to press for action on climate change — going back to a strategy that they employed with some success during the Trump era.”

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Commentary: A Win over Green Tyranny

The left-wing assault on American energy was just dealt a swift defeat by the United States Supreme Court. And President Donald Trump’s confirmations to the bench paved the way for it to happen. 

Never in my life would I think that gas prices would rise so steeply in such a short period of time that stations would run out of space on the pump screen to display the price. But the Biden Administration’s assault on American energy is simply unprecedented. They will try to pass the blame, but the American people know what’s happening. Green New Deal advocates are pushing for a great energy reset in America, and they don’t care how much it hurts you. 

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Average U.S. Gas Price Surges to $4.85 a Gallon

In what has become a seemingly every day occurrence, gas prices rose to a new record high Sunday as the national average approaches $5 a gallon.

Nine states already have surpassed the $5 threshold, and several others are just pennies away.

According to AAA, the average cost of a gallon of regular gasoline reached $4.85 Sunday, up an additional three cents from Saturday and 24 cents from last week.

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Poll: Most Americans Blame Biden for Rampant Inflation

Most Americans believe President Joe Biden’s policies are the leading contributor to inflation in the U.S., a recent poll found.

The poll, conducted by the Trafalgar Group and the Convention of States Action from May 25 – 29, asked respondents to choose whether they believed Biden’s policies and spending or the war between Russia and Ukraine contributed more to inflation. The survey found that 59.9% of respondents blamed Biden’s policies and spending for inflation, compared to 31.6% who blamed the war between Russia and Ukraine and 8.5% who were unsure.

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Gas Prices Hit Record High Every Day for Past Two Weeks

Gas prices have soared to new heights this month with the price of unleaded regular gas hitting a record high every day for the past two weeks. With Memorial Day weekend approaching, motorists face steep costs if they plan to travel.

According to AAA, the national average regular unleaded gas price Tuesday came in at $4.60, a record high. Diesel gasoline is at $5.55 per gallon, just below the record set last week.

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Commentary: Biden Needs to Take the Blame for Inflation

Last week, President Biden gave a speech listing everyone and everything allegedly responsible for record high inflation. His list included corporate greed and price gouging, Vladimir Putin, and “ultra-MAGA” Republicans. The president said that his policies, and the nearly $7 trillion in spending he authorized, have nothing to do with inflation.

None of this holds up under scrutiny. While President Biden claims that corporations are ripping off Americans, the costs of their supplies have been increasing at a record rate. In reality, many companies that Biden claims are stiffing consumers have actually lost money because they don’t want to alienate their customers by raising prices too quickly.

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U.S. Will Soon See Average Gas Prices Above $6 a Gallon, Energy Analyst Says

The average price of gasoline nationwide could reach $6 per gallon this summer, far above historic levels and near California’s current prices, an analyst at JPMorgan said Tuesday.

“U.S. gasoline prices to break above $6,” Natasha Kaneva, JPMorgan’s head of global oil and commodities research, wrote in a note to investors titled “Cruel Summer,” according to Bloomberg. “Typically, refiners produce more gasoline ahead of the summer road-trip season, building up inventories. But this year, since mid-April, U.S. gasoline inventories have fallen counter seasonally.”

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Inflation Is a Great Reason to Get an Abortion, Democrat Lawmaker Says

Democratic California Rep. Katie Porter said inflation and rising prices reinforced the importance of abortion on MSNBC’s “The Last Word” Wednesday.

Porter said inflation and abortion were closely tied together and that, as grocery and gas prices rose, people would realize the importance of controlling their family size through abortion.

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Biden Administration Cancels New Oil Leases as Gas Prices Hit Record Highs

President Joe Biden canceled three pending oil and gas drilling leases in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico this week as gas prices hit record highs.

Biden has taken heavy fire for blocking new leases and pipelines as energy costs have surged but has defended his record. This latest development intensified that criticism.

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Commentary: Biden’s Budget of Taxes, Taxes and More Taxes

Inflation is running rampant, federal spending is out of control, gas prices are at an all-time high and Americans are pessimistic on the future outlook of the economy. So what is President Joe Biden’s solution?

He has released a budget proposal that includes 36 tax increases on families and businesses totaling $2.5 trillion over the next decade. Alarmingly, this includes 11 tax increases on the oil and gas industry, taxes that will put a burden on households.

The budget doesn’t even include all the tax increases being pushed by Democrats because the budget omits the cost of tax increases within their stalled multi-trillion dollar Build Back Better Act. Instead of detailing these tax increases, the Biden budget includes a placeholder asserting that any new spending will be fully offset.

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Analysis: The Biden Admin’s Drastic Gas Price Increases Date Back to His First Day in Office

Person filling up red car with petrol/gasoline

pump prices have climbed throughout his tenure.

While Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has destabilized global energy markets, causing an historic supply crunch, high gasoline prices have been the norm throughout Biden’s first 14 months, federal data showed. Experts have blamed the high prices on the administration’s energy and climate policies disincentivizing domestic fossil fuel production.

Since Russia’s invasion, gasoline prices have increased more than 20%, from $3.53 per gallon to $4.24 per gallon, according to the Energy Information Administration. However, pump prices increased a whopping 48.4% between Biden’s January 2021 inauguration and Feb. 21, three days before Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into Ukraine.

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The Republican National Committee Registering New Voters at Gas Stations as Prices Surge

Mobil gas prices

The Republican National Committee (RNC) launched a voter registration initiative at gas stations across the country, drawing attention to rising gas prices under President Joe Biden’s leadership.

“We are registering voters across the country who are tired of Biden’s Gas Hike!” the RNC said Monday on Twitter. “Coming to a gas station near you!”

The effort began with a Saturday event in Arizona, according to The Hill. “Arizonans are frustrated with paying the record-high gas prices we’ve seen recently, this is an issue that affects almost every single Arizonan,” said the communications director for Arizona’s RNC, Ben Petersen, according to The Hill.

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Commentary: Biden’s Handlers Are Preparing to Eject Him and Kamala

I sense a disturbance in the force. In fact, I’ve been feeling the tremors for a while. Back in January, I wrote a column for American Greatness called “The Coming Dethronement of Joe Biden.” In it, I noted that Biden’s appalling performance as president would sooner or later—and probably sooner, given the ostentatious nature of his multifaceted failure—lead to his removal as president. 

I should have added that it wasn’t Biden’s performance per se that would lead to his downfall. The problem, rather, was the way his performance was undermining his—and therefore his minders’ and puppetmasters’—political power. As Saul Alinsky, community organizer to the stars, noted, the “issue is never the issue.” Accordingly, the people who put Joe Biden in power—I cannot name them, but I know they are the same people who keep him in power—do not care about inflation, rising gas and food prices, COVID lockdowns or mask mandates, the porousness of our Southern border, the threat of war with Russia, or the myriad other issues that worry ordinary voters. I am quite certain, in fact, that the word “voters” brings a vaguely contemptuous smile to their faces.

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Americans’ Spending Slows Dramatically Amid Surging Inflation and Gas Prices

American’s spending slowed in February amid surging inflation and gas prices, the U.S. Census Bureau announced Wednesday.

Retail sales grew 0.3% in February, a significant dip from January’s 4.9% monthly increase, the Census Bureau reported Wednesday. January’s spending increase marked the largest jump since March 2021 after Americans received the final $1,400 government stimulus check.

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Drilling Permits Spiked Under Biden Administration Before Dropping Significantly

After a massive rise in the number of drilling permits approved in 2021, the total number has plunged to some of the lowest levels ever in 2022, all on the watch of the Biden Administration.

Politico reports that after the previous high of 643 permits that were issued by the Department of Interior’s (DOI) Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in April of 2021, just 95 permits were approved in January of this year. The sudden shift reflects the wildly different approaches taken by the Trump Administration and the Biden Administration when it comes to domestic energy production.

While President Donald Trump supported unlimited domestic production in order to establish national energy independence, Biden pledged to reduce the production of fossil fuels in order to combat “global warming,” and instead has tried to promote so-called “green” energy alternatives. But the fallout from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including the impacts on the global energy market, has forced Biden to consider restarting domestic production in order to offset rising gas prices.

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It’s Not Just Inflation: Consumers Are Paying More Through Shrinkflation

inside of grocery store; close up of products in the aisle

Americans are seeing the real costs of inflation in their daily lives as they pay record high gas prices, significantly increased grocery costs, and suffer sticker shock at restaurants, hair salons and other places.

Restaurants are charging more, with some posting notices on their doors. Increased prices, they say, are necessary to stay open simply to cover their increased costs for cooking oil and other goods. Some restaurants post signs accompanying empty containers to show that while they’re not increasing prices, their portion sizes are smaller.

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Commentary: Under President Trump, We Really Had a Wonderful Life

In the film, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” George Bailey is able to see what the world would have been like had he never been born. Everything changes. George wasn’t there to save his younger brother from drowning. And, that in turn, meant that his brother wasn’t there to save the lives of hundreds of men on board a U.S. military troop ship. Everything has a domino effect.

Unfortunately, we get to have a similar experience. We see how one terrible leader imposing his disastrous policies on the American people has negatively impacted every American. We also witness how Joe Biden’s immature foreign policy has produced unrest and war.

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Inflation Expected to Get Worse This Year

Gas prices and inflation hit yet another high this week, raising more concerns about the impact on regular Americans and the future of the U.S. economy.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics Thursday reported that the Consumer Price index, a major marker of inflation, rose 7.9% in the previous 12 months.

“The 12-month increase has been steadily rising and is now the largest since the period ending January 1982,” BLS said. “The all items less food and energy index rose 6.4 percent, the largest 12-month change since the period ending August 1982. The energy index rose 25.6 percent over the last year, and the food index increased 7.9 percent, the largest 12-month increase since the period ending July 1981.”

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Michigan House Approves Cutting 27-Cent Gas Tax for Six Months

Andrew Beeler of Michigan

The Michigan House on Wednesday voted 63-39 on a bill aiming to suspend the state’s 27.2-cent per gallon fuel tax for six months.

For the first time since 2008, gas prices broke $4 per gallon nationwide.

If passed by the Senate and signed into law, House Bill 5570 would suspend the state fuel tax on gas, diesel, and alternative fuels starting April 1, 2022, through September 30, 2022.

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As Gas Prices Reach Record Highs, Biden Bans Russian Oil Imports

President Joe Biden announced a ban on the importation of Russian oil, coal and gas as a response to the nation’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine just as gas prices in the U.S. reached a record high Tuesday.

Biden said Tuesday that the decision was intended to “inflict further pain” on Russian President Vladimir Putin and defund his war in Ukraine. He also acknowledged it would further raise the price of gasoline for Americans.

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Gas Prices Set to Skyrocket After Oil Soars Beyond $100 for the First Time Since 2014

The worldwide price of crude oil skyrocketed to more than $100 per barrel for the first time since 2014 as Russia launched a full-scale offensive against Ukraine.

The Brent crude index, the global oil benchmark, hit $101.66 per barrel Thursday morning, surging more than 4% overnight. The U.S. WTI index skyrocketed nearly 7% to $98.69 per barrel Thursday, its highest level since 2014.

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‘We Need to Be Honest’: Biden Suggests U.S. Gas Prices Will Increase Because of His Russian Sanctions

President Joe Biden suggested that Americans may be negatively impacted at the pump as a result of a sanctions package targeting Russia he unveiled Tuesday.

“As we respond, my administration is using every tool at our disposal to protect American businesses and consumers from rising prices at the pump,” the president remarked at the White House on Tuesday. “As I said last week, defending freedom will have costs for us as well and here at home. We need to be honest about that.”

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Commentary: Gas-Price Change, Not ‘Climate Change,’ Is What Matters to Americans

There are few more easily observable measures of the cost of everyday living than the price of gasoline at the pump. As has been widely reported, gas prices in the United States recently hit a seven-year high. The striking thing, however, is not just how high gas prices have gotten, but how fast and far they have risen.

Based on statistics from the U.S. Energy Information Administration—the statistical arm of the Department of Energy—weekly average retail prices for regular unleaded gasoline in the United States increased 94 percent in less than two years. Average gas prices rose from $1.77 per gallon during the week ending April 27, 2020, to $3.44 per gallon during the week ending February 7, 2022—nearly doubling in the process.

That was the largest percentage increase in gas prices within a two-year window since October of 2005, more than 16 years ago. In the election of 2006, Republicans—then the party in power—lost 30 House and six Senate seats, thereby losing control of both chambers, before losing the presidency two years later.

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Democrat Senators in Georgia, Michigan, Arizona Introduce Bill to Suspend Gas Tax

Mark Kelly, Debbie Stabenow and Raphael Warnock

In an effort led by Senator and Rev. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), several Democrat Senators in battleground states have signed on to a bill that would suspend the gas tax until 2023. 

The Gas Prices Relief Act would lower prices at the pump as gas prices rise to nearly a decade high in a crucial election season. 

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Poll Shows More Americans Worry About Inflation Than COVID

Despite the mainstream media hysteria over the Chinese coronavirus, a new poll shows that a broader swath of Americans continue to care more about inflation and other more direct economic issues.

As reported by the Washington Free Beacon, the poll was conducted by the Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research throughout the month of December, with its findings released on Monday. In the poll, 37 percent of Americans believe that the coronavirus should be the government’s top priority in 2022. Last year, that number was 53 percent.

Conversely, 68 percent believe the economy should be the top focus instead. Of those 68 percent, 14 percent specifically named inflation as a major issue; last year, only one percent of respondents worried about inflation, which has since risen to a 40-year high under Joe Biden’s watch.

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As Gas Costs Soared in 2021, Prices Remained Among Lowest in Oklahoma, Texas

While gas prices have soared nationwide this year, average prices at the pump have remained among the lowest in Oklahoma and Texas, in part because they are significant oil and gas hubs for the nation.

The lowest current average regular gas prices per gallon are $2.822 in Oklahoma and $2.825 in Texas. Oklahomans have had the lowest prices nationwide throughout the surge of gas prices this fall, AAA reports. In the spring, Oklahoma’s average gas prices were the sixth-lowest in the nation.

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Gas Prices Set to Surge Again, Industry Analysis Shows

The price of gasoline is set to increase to $4 per gallon or more within five months, according to an industry analysis released Tuesday.

The gas price surge is forecasted to take place by Memorial Day in late May, according to the report from GasBuddy, an app that tracks pump prices, and shared with CNN. But the analysis said the average cost of gasoline at pumps nationwide would then fall throughout the summer and fall of 2022, declining below current prices.

“We could see a national average that flirts with, or in a worst-case scenario, potentially exceeds $4 a gallon,” Patrick De Haan, the director of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, told CNN.

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Commentary: The Twin Pillars of Biden’s Failure

Everything has gone so terribly wrong for the Biden Administration, and in the ways that were widely predicted, that it is hard to believe Joe Biden could be perceived as a successful or at least potentially successful president if only he had avoided being such a tool of the Democratic extreme Left. On the afternoon of his inauguration, he killed the Keystone XL Pipeline and curtailed fracking and offshore oil and gas exploration, and ordered the end of construction of the southern border wall. The consequences have been over 200,000 illegal migrants entering the United States across the southern border most months and the rise in the price of gasoline from approximately $2 a gallon to $5 a gallon across the country.         

As practically everyone outside his immediate entourage saw and predicted, these were disastrous errors. The excuse regularly given in the case of the wall was that Biden had inherited a “broken” immigration policy. In support of this outrageous falsehood, all that could be offered was the tear-jerking fabrication about children being separated from their parents and confined to cages that reminded that eminent authority on modern European history, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, of “Auschwitz.” 

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More Americans Than Ever Say They Won’t Be Buying Christmas Gifts This Year

A record number of Americans say they won’t be purchasing gifts for the holidays this year amid ongoing inflation concerns and supply chain disruptions, a survey shows.

Roughly 11% of Americans said they expected to spend no money at all on gifts during the holiday season, according to a holiday retail survey by Deloitte. The number is the highest since Deloitte began its holiday retail survey in the 1980s and more than double the share of shoppers in 2020 who said they wouldn’t be buying presents.

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Newt Gingrich Commentary: Biden’s Shameful Blame Game

Joe Biden, suffering from abysmal poll numbers, is trying to blame others for the results of his failed policies, which have most notably resulted in skyrocketing inflation and energy costs. In a White House speech on Tuesday, Biden attempted to regain the confidence of angry Americans.

It didn’t go well.

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Energy Secretary Granholm Says Biden Is ‘All Over’ Gas Prices, But Can’t List Any Policies to Lower Prices

Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said President Joe Biden is “all over” rising gasoline prices but failed to name a single administration policy aimed at lowering energy costs.

“The president is all over this,” Granholm said during a CNN interview Monday. “He really is very concerned about, you know, inflation, obviously, and the price of gasoline because that’s the most obvious manifestation of it. As you know, no president controls the price of gas, oil is sold on a global market.”

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Oil Supply Losses from Hurricane Ida Reach 30 Million Barrels, Impacting Gas Prices

Hurricane Ida has already caused oil supply losses of 30 million barrels, the International Energy Agency (IEA) reports, resulting in the first decline in global oil supply in five months.

Hurricane Ida shut in 1.7 million barrels per day of oil production in the Gulf at the end of August, “with potential supply losses from the storm approaching 30 mb. An uptrend in supply should resume in October as OPEC+ continues to unwind cuts, outages are resolved and as other producers increase,” the agency stated in its September Oil Market report.

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‘Pathetic’: U.S. Energy Supporters Blast Biden Administration’s OPEC Request

With gasoline prices up more than $1 a gallon over the past year, the Biden administration took heat Wednesday over a statement from National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan pressuring OPEC nations to increase oil production.

“Higher gasoline costs, if left unchecked, risk harming the ongoing global recovery. The price of crude oil has been higher than it was at the end of 2019, before the onset of the pandemic,” Sullivan said. “While OPEC+ recently agreed to production increases, these increases will not fully offset previous production cuts that OPEC+ imposed during the pandemic until well into 2022. At a critical moment in the global recovery, this is simply not enough.”

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Commentary: Democrats Brace for Inflation Attacks During August Recess

Iowa Rep. Cindy Axne, one of the most vulnerable Democratic incumbents heading toward the 2022 midterm elections, spent an early July afternoon talking to constituents’ from the cool environs of an ice cream shop in her district when the discussion suddenly heated up.

“I just wanted to ask, are you concerned about the rising gas prices and the rise in the cost of consumer goods here in Iowa and in America?” one constituent asked.

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