Secretary of Interior Refuses to Say Gas Prices Are ‘Too High’ When Pressed by Barrasso

Jackson RichmanMay 19th, 2022, 5:41 pm
 

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland refused to say that gas prices are too high when Wyoming Republican Sen. John Barrasso pressed her to at a hearing on Thursday.

During a Senate Energy and Commerce Committee hearing ranking member Rep. Barrasso asked Haaland, “Do you believe that gas prices are too high?”

Haaland did not answer the question directly, instead responding that things have been worse before.

“I completely understand the crunch that so many Americans are under right now,” she said. “I mean, I’m thinking back. I’ve been driving since I was about 18, so it’s, I know that we’ve had other — you know, I remember back when there were lines back out the gas stations and that kind of thing.”

“I think that Americans are still recovering from this terrible pandemic and there are a lot of other world events making things difficult for all of us,” she said.

Barrasso pointed out that she didn’t acknowledge prices are too high, and implied the administration isn’t doing anything to combat that “crunch.”

“So it sounds like you’re unwilling to say that gas prices are too high,” he said. “Because if you thought they’re too high, I mean — I just wonder what your department has actually done specifically to lessen this terrible pain that Americans are suffering under these high gas prices.”

Again, Haaland did not assess the price of gas as being too high or even that it would be better if they were lower, answering Barrasso on the subject of actions taken by her department instead.

“We’re doing all we can, senator. As we’ve mentioned several times today, production on Federal lands is up. It’s a forty-five percent increase from 2020, a nine percent increase from 2019 … I’m sorry, that’s new drilling. That’s up,” she said. “But the production is also up. It’s at an all-time high, more than a billion barrels.”

Although that reply was very close to saying that nothing more can be done, Barrasso went ahead and moved on to his next question.

On Twitter, Barrasso posted a short clip of the exchange and said that the Biden administration is “in denial” on the cost of fuel.

Watch the clip above, via CSPAN.

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