Congressional Democrats and the mainstream media panned President Joe Biden’s gas tax holiday proposal.
Summary
Congressional Democrats and the mainstream media panned President Joe Biden’s gas tax holiday proposal as inadequate, too little, too late, and even friendly media outlets called the plan “doomed.”
- President Joe Biden asked Congress to temporarily suspend taxes on gasoline (18 cents per gallon) and diesel (24 cents per gallon) through the end of September and requested states do the same.
- This election year maneuver was greeted with skepticism by Capitol Hill Democrats and “faces uphill odds” to pass a Congress controlled by his party.
- Vulnerable Democrats called on the president to suspend the gas tax four months ago but the White House dithered for weeks before belatedly backing their policy on Wednesday. Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) told Politico, “He has been slow to react to it…People need relief now.”
- Progressive Democrats were also wary of Biden’s scheme, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) saying, “That’s not the approach I would use.”
- Biden’s decision to beg Congress for a plan even his own leadership doesn’t believe in is “the latest sign of the desperation in the White House to find even modest steps to address an issue that is eating away at the president’s support,” per The New York Times.
- The New York Times pointed out Biden’s gas tax idea isn’t original – Republican Govs. Ron DeSantis and Glenn Youngkin proposed it first.
- NPR interviewed several progressive economists who called Biden’s gas holiday scheme a “bad idea.” Jason Furman, a former Obama economic adviser put it bluntly: “It would be very unlikely that gas prices would fall by more than a dime because of this change. And oil company profits would go up by billions of dollars.”
- Politico assessed “who gains from pausing the gas tax?” In their estimation, neither drivers nor Biden would benefit from the proposal, and “only a small portion of the savings” would make its way down to Americans.
- Fox News reported Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm floated using the Defense Production Act to respond to the gas supply crisis, calling it a “drastic move.”
- National Review argued that “corporate greed is not to blame for high gas prices” and analyzed the contributing factors, including global changes in supply and demand and Biden’s energy policies.
- The Washington Examiner covered disagreements between California Democrats on how best to relieve pain at the pump. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is calling for relief checks to be sent to every Californian to help pay for gas.
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© Dominic Moore, 2022
