The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge is shown behind the gasoline price board of a gas station in San Francisco, Wednesday, July 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
OAN NEWSROOM
UPDATED 9:21 AM PT – Friday, July 22, 2022
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre touted falling gas prices despite prices remaining at record highs. In a video posted to Twitter Thursday, she used a graph to show declining gas prices over the past month.
This attempt to downplay the issue came after the national average hit more than $5 a gallon in June. While prices have dropped since then, the current national average of $4.41 is still about $2 higher than when President Joe Biden first took office.
Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre explains what you need to know about the decline in gas prices over the past month. pic.twitter.com/QpwaQECsH3
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 22, 2022
Jean-Pierre said gas prices aren’t coming down as fast as oil prices, but she claimed gas should continue to decline in the upcoming months. Meanwhile, Biden has refused to take credit for any of the economic woes facing the country that have taken place during his presidency. He has often blamed Russia for the pain at the pump, however, prices had already risen a dollar per gallon prior to the invasion of Ukraine.
Over the past year, fuel prices across the US surged more than 60 percent. Economists have said recent retreat in US gas prices happened due to fears of recession and the degradation of demand. Some claimed Biden actually had nothing to do with it.
A March study by the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank found found half of the inflation rate in quarter four of last year had been triggered by bloated pandemic spending packages. Nonetheless, the Biden administration seems to be telling Americans to be grateful for a slight decline in gas prices as the population continues to feel pain in their pockets.