Gas prices, long a scourge throughout the Joe Biden Administration, are increasing again. Will that be a problem for the president?
What Will Joe Biden Do About Gas Prices?
In the first two years of the Biden Administration, inflation was a major concern, and a big part of that concern was gas prices.
The bottom fell out of gas prices in 2020, during the pandemic lockdowns, when few cars were on the road and demand, therefore, dropped to historic levels. But prices rose again as the pandemic eased, and again in early 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine.
The Joe Biden Administration, along with other governments, reacted by tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and other stockpiles.
That effort appeared to stop the bleeding, although gas prices have not yet gotten anywhere near pandemic-era levels. Gas prices are notoriously volatile, and while they are mostly driven by the global price of oil, they are often affected by other things as well, from weather to political instability in various parts of the world.
And while the administration has had some success bringing down inflation in other areas of the economy, gas prices remain stubbornly high.
According to GasBuddy, the average gas price has reached $3.79 per gallon, a 7.8-cent increase over the previous week.
“Average gasoline prices continued to move up last week thanks to a continued rise in oil and continued pressure from hot weather that impacted refineries. However, the pace of increases has started to slow down over the last few days, and for now, appears to have hit a peak over the weekend and is beginning to gently fall,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said in the site’s weekly report.
The price of crude oil, GasBuddy said, has gone up for six straight weeks.
“But, with oil remaining under pressure from Saudi Arabia extending its 1 million barrel per day production cut into September, the respite from gasoline rising may not last long. Plus, there remain unknowns about hurricane season that will likely become more active in the weeks ahead.”
What will the gas price increase mean for politics? According to CNN, the White House is watching the situation “very carefully.” In fact, White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients has been “holding regular meetings on the topic but has not obsessed over prices in the same way” as his predecessor Ron Klain, CNN said.
“The irony is the strength of the economy brings higher prices,” a Biden official told CNN. “The better the president (and his agenda) performs, the higher the price is going to go.” The official added that it’s “the height of air conditioning and driving season,” as energy prices are often higher in the summer than in the spring or fall.
Per CNN, analysts attribute the rise in prices to “a combination of mounting supply cuts by OPEC and Russia, extreme heat that has sidelined oil refineries, and optimism about the health of the world economy.” Indeed, when gas prices were dropping throughout the second half of 2022, that was often attributed to fears of a global recession, which have since largely dissipated.
Per Politico, the Department of Energy recently canceled a planned purchase of 6 million barrels of oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve after oil prices climbed above the department’s target range.
Politico also quoted a White House official as stating that they are monitoring gas prices “as we always do, especially during the summer months when it is not uncommon for prices to fluctuate in this way.”
Matt Smith, an oil market analyst at Kpler, told Politico that the rise in prices is likely to be limited.
“It’s not likely that we’ll get to $4 a gallon,” Smith told the outlet this week. “I think it’s somewhat of a non-issue.”
The political consequences for Joe Biden will likely come if gas prices are this high, or even higher when the election rolls around in 2024.
Author Expertise and Experience
Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
From 19FortyFive
