Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York floundered when a host of CNBC’s “Squawk Box” lambasted his efforts to blame high gas prices on Russian President Vladimir Putin Monday.
“You don’t think there’s anything that you can do in Congress or to convince the Biden administration?” host Joe Kernan asked Jeffries, who is the Chair of the House Democratic Caucus. “You don’t think there’s any regulations that need to be eased? You don’t think there’s any offshore activity, ANWR, Keystone, trying to get rid of some of the red tape for refineries? You don’t think there’s anything — you don’t take any responsibility, it’s just all a Putin price hike?”
Jeffries claimed that oil and gas companies were not acting on permits that had been issued. Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki made similar comments in March.
“That’s kind of a red herring, Congressman,” Kernan responded, citing Environmental, Social, and (Corporate) Governance standards that have been blamed by some experts for causing higher gas prices and inflation. “There’s leases, you know, there’s also just the overall pressure from ESG and the green lobby about whether an oil company is going to make plans five or ten years down the road when, you know, a large part of the population wants to put them out of business completely.”
“So would you invest hard-earned capital on a five-year project or ten-year project now if you were a fossil fuel company?” Kernan asked.
The Biden administration canceled a planned offshore oil and gas lease sale in May, announced new limits on offshore drilling on July 1 and revoked a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline in January 2021. The administration also faced criticism after threatening oil companies over refinery capacity.
by: Harold Hutchison
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