Gas prices may be falling, but they’re not falling fast enough to President Joe Biden.
“It’s happening. But it’s not happening fast enough,” the president said Friday during a virtual meeting with his economic team. “We’ve made a lot of progress, but the prices are still too high.”
The average U.S. gasoline price has fallen for 38 consecutive days this summer amid weaker demand during the summer deceleration. A gallon of regular gas costs $4.41 on Thursday on average, according to the auto club AAA.
These numbers are a far cry from the prices that once topped $5 earlier this summer, but they are still exceptionally high by historical standards and represent a very clear indication of how inflation could affect Biden’s re-election bid in November, along with Democratic control of Congress.
Biden, in remarks made barely, repeated his call for oil companies to take advantage of unused permits to drill on federal lands – “or lose them” – and also to know oil companies are making record profits should use that money to increase gasoline production instead of buying back stock.
“The real answer is moving towards a clean energy economy as soon as possible, turning this into something positive,” Biden said.
