Rantz: Democrat Kim Schrier says it’s ‘un-American’ to blame Biden over gas prices

Rep. Kim Schrier (D-WA-08) declares it “un-American” to blame President Joe Biden for high gas prices. These comments show both a stunning ignorance of the context of the crisis and disturbing eagerness to use a war to push partisan talking points.

Schrier made the imbecilic comment on (un)divided with Brandi Kruse. The Democrat, up for re-election in a toss-up district, was asked to explain why gas prices are at such historic highs. She launched into transparent political propaganda.

“I believe a couple things,” Schrier explained. “Right now, in the last two weeks, this is Putin. You should be blaming Putin, if anybody for this. And to not blame Putin, first of all, is denying reality and, second, frankly, is un-American. This is Putin’s fault.”

No, it’s not un-American to blame Biden for the gas crisis. This crisis was made worse because of Democrat policies from Biden — and Schrier.

This is remarkably ignorant and transparent. Rep. Kim Schrier tells @BrandiKruse of (un)divided that it’s “unamerican” to blame Joe Biden for high gas prices. She then offers a weak excuse for why gas was high pre-Putin war. pic.twitter.com/CD5SZ0Z8Xz

— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) March 15, 2022

Schrier lazily blames Putin for gas prices

Schrier knows the Biden energy policy is responsible for the current crisis. She just hopes her constituents are too stupid to remember the gas prices going up for a year leading into Putin’s war on Ukraine.

It’s certainly fair to say the war contributed to the sudden surge in gas prices — unlike the previous year’s more steady increase. Shunning Russian oil means less of a global supply, but not less demand.

But it’s Biden and Democrats like Schrier who are to blame for the rise prior to the last two weeks — the rise in gas prices that generated not a peep, let alone plan, from Democrats.

Increasing the supply of oil, lowering costs to produce oil, and making it easier and cheaper to ship oil bring down costs. Biden and Democrats did the opposite.

Schrier hopes you have no memory

Schrier knows you’ve felt the pain at the pump before the invasion of Ukraine. So she tries to argue that even the pre-war surge wasn’t the fault of Biden — COVID caused it!

“Before this, we saw an increase of over $1 a gallon over the past year and a half or so,” Schrier said. “That can be blamed realistically on [the pandemic]. During the pandemic, when people were not going to work and driving was down, gas prices were down. As demand increased and rigs had not yet been turned on, there was a supply-demand issue like with everything else in this country. And that was to blame.”

This is a whole lot of spin and half-truths.

The Democrat is obviously right to note that a lack of supply plus a high demand will increase prices. What she won’t say is that the global demand is lower because Biden chooses to stop domestic drilling of oil. It’s a move that has the support of the Democratic party. Schrier isn’t merely defending Biden; she’s whitewashing the positions of her own party.

Biden and Schrier’s role in rising gas prices

One of the Biden administration’s first actions in office was to make gas more expensive. It’s part of his plan “to get rid of fossil fuels.”

Biden reverted back to President Barack Obama’s move to raise the cost estimate of carbon emissions to $51 per ton of carbon dioxide emissions when deciding leases for drilling. This estimate accounts for the global economic impact of climate change versus the domestic impact, which resulted in a much smaller $7 estimate under President Donald Trump.

The higher the estimate, the higher the cost to produce energy. A judge blocked Biden’s move, saying it “artificially increases the cost estimates of lease sales.” In response, the Biden administration paused all new leases.

Biden also made it more expensive to transport oil when he stopped the Keystone XL pipeline. Had that not occurred, as independent energy analyst David Blackmon noted, the pipeline would likely be bringing “900,000 barrels of crude oil into the U.S. system.”

Green New Deal drives energy policy, which helped Putin

Biden embraced the fringe Democrats, like Schrier, who pushed and/or praised the Green New Deal. The movement intends to ban oil production. While there are certainly cleaner energy alternatives, the technology embraced by Democrats is either incapable of handling the demands of the American people (e.g., solar, wind) or based on costly infrastructure that doesn’t exist (e.g., electric vehicles you hope don’t run out of juice on your commute). An exceptionally clean and efficient form of energy — nuclear — goes ignored.

With Democrats singling an end to oil production, producers shifted their business models and operations. Concurrently, when Biden effectively stopped the production of new oil on federal land, he cut off the supply of oil that brought costs up. This happened before Putin invaded Ukraine. And by forcing the United States to be more reliant on foreign oil, including from Russia, we ended up funding a portion of Putin’s war.

The United States could, of course, produce more oil domestically. But neither Biden, nor Schrier, want that. And they know you’re smart enough to blame them for the high gas prices, so they’re gaslighting you, hoping you’ll join the world in blaming Putin not merely for his deadly and illegal war, but for issues that Democrats caused.

Listen to the Jason Rantz Show weekday afternoons from 3–6 pm on KTTH 770 AM (HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here. Follow @JasonRantz  on  Twitter,  Instagram, and Facebook. Check back frequently for more news and analysis.

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