Sen. Tom Cotton Slams Biden for Rising Gas Prices: 'This Is by Design'

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) charged President Joe Biden in a tweet Thursday with purposely causing gas prices to rise, saying that “this is by design.”

“The high cost of gas is not an unintended consequence. It’s what Joe Biden and the Democrats want to get people out of SUVs and trucks. This is by design,” the senator asserted, though he is not the first to do so:

The high cost of gas is not an unintended consequence. It’s what Joe Biden and the Democrats want to get people out of SUVs and trucks.

This is by design.

— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) November 11, 2021

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) also contended on Thursday that high gas prices are, in fact,  the “intended effect,” most likely to decrease the use of fossil fuels in the name of fighting climate change:

Obama’s Energy Sec once said “we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.”

Recently Biden’s Energy Sec laughed when asked what could be done to lower gas prices.

High prices aren’t a side effect of their policies – it’s the intended effect.

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) November 11, 2021

“Obama’s Energy Sec once said ‘we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe,’” Massie wrote, adding, “Recently Biden’s Energy Sec laughed when asked what could be done to lower gas prices.” Massie then charged, “High prices aren’t a side effect of their policies – it’s the intended effect.”

SAN RAFAEL, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 05: Gas prices approaching $5 a gallon are displayed in front of a Shell gas station on October 05, 2021, in San Rafael, California (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images).

Many talking heads on the left continue to insist that “presidents do not control gas prices,” some suggesting gas prices are high because “Saudi Arabia is withholding oil production,” thus driving up inflation in the U.S.

But while Biden oversees the highest gas prices in seven years — with the AAA reporting an average price of more than $3.40 — he continues to cripple America by making the country more dependent on foreign actors who have the potential to “withhold” oil in the first place.

Biden started his presidency by canceling the Keystone Pipeline, halting energy exploration on federal land, and ending America’s energy independence, which was gained under former President Donald Trump. His administration has openly said it will not increase domestic oil production to help lower gas prices in the United States and, instead, has begged OPEC to increase its production abroad.

AP Photo/Nati Harnik

While his administration touts his “green” Build Back Better agenda as the solution to fighting inflation, experts largely forecast Democrats’ spending bills will do little to boost economic recovery. Meanwhile, Biden continues to enable other countries to produce oil while stymieing production at home. Soon after he canceled the Keystone Pipeline, he removed Trump-era Russia sanctions in order to streamline construction on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Germany.

The problem has persisted long enough that the Biden administration can no longer get away with calling inflation “transitory.” Instead, they laugh on live television when questioned about gas prices, admit the irony of asking OPEC for oil while fighting “climate change” at home, and continue to study the impacts of shutting down another pipeline. In a flashier show of hand, Biden’s Comptroller of the Currency nominee actually “said the quiet part out loud.”

“We want them [the oil and gas companies] to go bankrupt if we want to tackle climate change,” Saule Omarova said:

Biden nominee Saule Omarova saying the quiet part out loud. On the oil, coal and gas industries:

“We want them to go bankrupt if we want to tackle climate change.” pic.twitter.com/luMR2HEMK9

— BidenNoms, A Project of AAF (@bidennoms) November 9, 2021

A New York Times reporter outright asked Biden in October at the G20 Summit to raise gasoline prices on middle class people around the world to reduce carbon emissions and curtail climate change. The reporter’s question prompted a nervous grin from the president, knowing full well that such an initiative would be political suicide.

“Well, because they have to get to work,” Biden responded. “They have to get in the automobile, turn on the key, get their kids to school. School buses have to run. That’s the reason why; you know that. The idea that there is an alternative to walk away from being able to get in your automobile is just not realistic. It’s just not going to happen.”

The president acknowledged that gas prices higher than $3.35 a gallon have a tremendous economic impact on the middle class.

“By the way, when the cost of a gallon of gasoline gets to above $3.35 a gallon, it has a profound impact on the working-class families just to get back-and-forth to work,” he said. “So I don’t see anything inconsistent with that.”

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