Pelosi Pans Gas Tax Holiday

“There has been some interest in the holiday. The pros of it are that it’s good PR — you’re asking about it. The cons are that there’s no guarantee that the reduction in the federal tax would be passed on to the consumer. We have no evidence to think that the oil companies would pass that on to the consumer.”

— Speaker Nancy Pelosi threw cold water on the idea of a national gas tax holiday, which some vulnerable House Democrats have embraced, Politico reports.

Almost Four in 10 Blame Biden for High Gas Prices

39%

A new Emerson College poll finds 83% of voters say they are experiencing some hardship due to increased prices on everyday items, with 40% reporting significant hardship, and another 43% reporting some hardship. When asked about who they blame for an increase in gas prices, 39% blame the Biden Administration, 21% blame the sanctions on Russia, and 18% blame gas and oil companies.

Trump’s Decision to Leave the Iran Deal is Making Gas Prices Rise

The $.40 per gallon jump in gas prices over the past three months can be credited to one person, according to U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ).

“Thanks Trump!” Pallone says.

Senior energy analyst: “A lot of the reason for higher prices is the president’s policy on Iran…You’re going to see prices spike.”

The ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce committee traces a line that leads not straight, but up — as in the price of gas — to Trump’s decision to pull the United States out of a plan to help monitor Iran’s nuclear weapons program.

The so-called “Iran deal” also eased previous sanctions in order to encourage Iran to be a world partner.

Pallone is not the only one to make the connection.
[…]

It’s Not Your Imagination — Gas Prices Are Higher Under Trump

Take a look at this graph from AAA and you might think, “Yes, the price of gas seems high but it’s not the highest it’s been lately. Look how high it was in June of 2015! And how about September of 2017? Thanks Obama!”

Hold on. While it’s true that the price at the pump always goes up in the summer, look at each of the past Januaries. Now are you feeling worried? You probably should be.

[…]

Thank You for Lowering the Cost of Gasoline, Mr. President

Gingrich pumping gas
Gingrich pumping gas
Forbes columnist Peter Cohan says he was paying $4.50 a gallon for gasoline last spring but that now the price has dropped to $3.49 a gallon. That cost difference would save him $582 a year, says Cohan, and when you aggregate those savings across the U.S. economy, they add $78.4 billion to GDP.

It seems a bit unusual for a journalist from the corporate press, but Cohan is more than willing to give credit where credit is due — he says the reduction in the cost of gas is a result of actions taken by Pres. Obama earlier this year:

[…]

Fox News Schools Its Viewers: Rising Price of Gas Not the President’s Fault

One of the Republican Party’s propaganda narratives being driven on Fox News these days is that it is Pres. Obama’s fault that gas prices are rising. Actually, it’s even worse — Fox is pushing the idea that the president wants gas prices to rise.

This issue came up during the president’s news conference yesterday in this exchange with Ed Henry, the GOP-Foxbot embedded in the White House press corps:

FOXBOT: Related to Iran and Israel, you have expressed concern about this “loose talk of war,” as you call it, driving up gas prices further. Your critics will say on Capitol Hill that you want gas prices to go higher, because you have said before that will wean the American people off fossil fuels onto renewable fuels. How do you respond to that?

PRES. OBAMA: Ed, just from a political perspective, do you think the president of the United States going into reelection wants gas prices to go up higher? Is that — Is there anybody here [in the White House press corps] who thinks that makes a lot of sense?

It is unlikely that that exchange made it onto the air on Fox News yesterday, which could explain why, in his concession speech last night after losing all the Super Tuesday primaries but one, Newt Gingrich felt free to lie about what the president said:

NEWT GINGRICH: And I thought today, in one of the most shallow and self-serving comments by a president that I’ve heard in a long time, he was candid in his press conference. He said, “You know, I’m really worried about higher gas prices because it will make it harder for me to get re-elected.”

I did not make this up.

Actually, Newt, you did.

[…]

Georgia Preacher Leads Prayer Vigil at Gas Pumps

I don’t understand how anyone can say God doesn’t have anything to do with the gas prices. God has everything to do with the country…I believe in my heart of hearts that faith should always be the answer.

-Pastor Marshall Mabry of the Beacon of Light Christian Center in Dublin, Ga., a small town 130 miles southeast of Atlanta, who is leading prayer vigils at gas pumps asking God to lower the price of gasoline. “We are praying that God…will first, stabilize the economy, two, bring peace to the Middle East, and three bring down gas prices,” he said.

H/t: DBM