Gas prices continue to rise across the country, and concerned consumers are wondering just how high the prices could go. Combined with the supply chain crisis, America faces a difficult holiday season.
The Biden administration is also under fire — the President has provided a reason for the skyrocketing gas prices, but says there isn’t much we can do about it right now.
But one Democrat doesn’t agree with the President’s reasoning.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) has stood against Biden and his staff for much of 2021. He frequently voiced his opposition to controversial policies, and he’s even considered leaving the Democrat party.
Manchin is one of the few leftist politicians to reject the Biden administration’s spending bill, for example. He hasn’t supported much of the “pork” his fellow Democrats have tried to put in.
And in the case of the gas price fiasco, Manchin doesn’t believe the President’s excuse.
Recently, President Biden blamed the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) for the high gas prices. This likely sounded reasonable to most of his supporters.
But it’s not reasonable at all, according to Manchin.
During an interview with Fox News host Bret Baier, Sen. Manchin responded to Biden’s assertion, and said that in fact, America can fix this problem itself (via The Daily Wire):
Via The Daily Wire:
We have been energy independent for the first time in 67 years.
…why don’t we do more drilling, and why don’t we do more basically production in the United States?
I’m not depending on OPEC. I’m not depending on other countries for my energy anymore.
We know how to do it. We have the technology. We should be resilient, relying on ourselves.
One of Biden’s first moves in office was to cancel the XL Pipeline, and he’s jumped aboard the “green” bandwagon in the war against fossil fuels.
But as a result, this has caused gas and oil prices to surge, and a lot of Americans are feeling the crunch. It isn’t helping the overall bottom line for the economy, or for individual households.
And to many critics, it feels like we’re reverting to depending on overseas sources for our energy.
As Manchin says, there’s no reason to do this. If we have the supply and means in this country, there’s no excuse for relying on foreign sources to run this country.
Former President Donald Trump worked toward making the U.S. more independent on this front, and believed America should distance itself from OPEC. Many economists supported the idea.
However, with climate change dominating the leftist handbook right now, it’s difficult to make any headway in terms of drilling in the U.S.
It doesn’t help that the economy continues to struggle as the country claws its way back from the pandemic. High energy prices only makes it more difficult to recover completely.
That’s likely why Sen. Manchin wants the country to support itself, primarily because it can — but also because to him, it’s a perfectly logical solution.
Economists and other experts may agree. And there’s no doubt that millions of Americans will appreciate Manchin’s words, and wonder why we have to continue to rely on OPEC.