The midterm elections just three weeks away and
President biden pulling as many levels as he can to
boost democrats chances of retaining control in
Washington. And today he's tackling an issue that we've
been talking about for months that everybody cares
about and that of course the price of gas and it's
going up again this morning. The national average p
for a down of gas is $3.85 the highest in Califor
at nearly $6 lowest in Georgia, $3.24. Now. Still, gas
prices have significantly dropped since the summertime,
but prices are creeping up in the last month and are
still higher than last year. So the president is
reaching into one of the few inflation tools he has at
his disposal. National correspondent Haley bowls in
Washington D.C. With a look at the President's plan.
Good morning Haley. Hey, good morning. The President is
reaching once again into the Strategic Petroleum
Reserve, authorizing another re and an effort to
help with market stability and prices, especially in
the wake of Putin's invasion of Ukraine, while at the
same time highlighting the rate of decline of gas
prices with just about three weeks until the midterm.
Now the president specifically is expected to announce
the release of 15 million barrels to finish the 180
million barrel roll he authorized earlier this year an
he'll also signaled that they could call for further
releases depending on conditions this winter. Now,
despite another release from the Reserve administration
contends there is still plenty remaining in the reserve
with about 400 million barrels. The president will als
renew a more critical stance towards companies and ca
on them to pass on lower prices to the consumers.
Senior administration officials say the outside
industry profit margins are, are higher than they
should be in. That is causing a higher price per gall
The president will call out that the profit margins are
quote inappropriate. Now, this of course comes after
Opec plus his decision to cut oil production to move
the White House really saw as profiting towards Putin.
Now, according to the triple A gas prices are down from
last week but still up from a month and a year ago,
some experts say this latest announcement is really a
short term solution. Listen, I'll say this that the
administration is in a tough position uh, that there's
not that many levers that they can pull to have to
influence world oil prices. The use of the Strategic
Petroleum Reserve is one of those levers. It's not a
very strong one. So while I'm not surprised that
they're going to try it, I don't expect to see a large
impact from those releases. Now, an executive from the
american Petroleum Institute, which is a trade
association representing the oil and natural gas
industry tells us quote, the reserve was established to
reduce the impact of severe supply disruptions and n
as a long term solution to the economic pain. Americans
are feeling that the pump. We urge the administratio
to recognize that short term policy making is no so
substitute for the long term strategies needed to
encourage american energy production. Now, with this
announcement just ahead of the midterms, the White
House is really framing this as part of the President's
efforts to lower prices for families, contending gas
prices have fallen at the fastest rate in more than a
decade over this summer. Now with gas talks today and
his abortion speech yesterday, the president is really
honing in on election messages while outside the
campaign trail. While republicans continue to critici
administration over the economy over the inflation
polls show both the economy the inflation and abort
are among the top issues for voters. Listen to what the
White House press Secretary had to say, the president's
going to continue to talk about issues that matter to
the american people and abortio is one of the majority
of the american people disagree with the decision that
uh that the Supreme Court made the decision that is a
majority of the people uh disagreed with that. When it
comes to the economy, the president has made it very,
very clear when it comes to inflation, it is his number
one economic priority. And he is doing everything that
he can to make sure that we lower prices for the
american. And today, the president is also expected to
signal administration's intent to refill the reserve
when the market prices are right now, when it comes to
other options here, senior administration officials
not indicate a stance on banning fuel exports, which is
one thing that has been kind of floating around. People
have questioned, except to say that all tools are on
the table rob. Alright, National correspondent
Bull reporting. Thank you Haley.