Exclusive — Rep. Jim Banks: Biden and Green New Deal Leftists 'Want Americans to Suffer at the Gas Pumps'

President Joe Biden and radical Green New Deal leftists “want Americans to suffer at the gas pumps,” Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN), Chairman of the Republican Study Committee (RSC), told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview on Tuesday.

“There’s no doubt about it that Joe Biden is directly responsible for our currently high gas prices and they’re not going to get better,” Banks told Breitbart News. The national gas price average stood at $4.225 on Thursday, although it exceeds $6.00 in some areas of California.

“They’re only going to get worse,” he said, pointing to the most recent Biden budget which includes at least $43 billion in new taxes “directly targeting energy companies,” which means “all of us are going to pay even more in gas prices than what we do already.”

Banks’s remarks came on the heels of this week’s RSC memo, which details how Biden is keeping his promise to “end fossil fuel.” His constituents, Banks said, are upset by the price of gas, taking a hit every time the fill up their tank. However, the congressman said they understand that Biden “is responsible.”

A majority of Americans say the skyrocketing gas prices in President Joe Biden’s America have caused financial hardship. https://t.co/fElhGcVvUH

— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) March 20, 2022

“In spite of that, the Biden administration continues to play games trying to blame it on everybody else, and that’s why the memo lays out very clearly that it’s the Biden administration Green New Deal agenda that’s sending gas prices through the roof,” Banks said.

When asked what the administration should do to lower gas prices, Banks pointed directly to the successful policies embraced by former President Donald Trump.

“It’s so simple.We had a president for four years who made us energy independent for the first time in many years under Trump. Instead of continuing those successful policies on day one of the Biden presidency, he reversed those effective policies,” Banks said.

“So Keystone Pipeline is first and foremost, the easiest solution for this president to send us back in the other direction, but on top of that, to continue drilling on federal land and then to sign off on new drilling permits and other places too like Texas and in other areas where we have opportunities that we’re not taking advantage of,” he said, explaining that it is “just that simple.”

“The fact that this administration refuses to do what Donald Trump did that works so well just goes to show” that their moves are intentional and that they “want Americans to suffer at the gas pumps and inflation at grocery stores and take the hit to our pocketbooks that most Americans are facing today.”

A majority of Americans say Biden should prioritize increasing American energy production in the wake of continually rising gas prices, which Biden has blamed on both Russia and gas and oil companies. https://t.co/CdPK7KwjAy

— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) March 17, 2022

The Indiana Republican’s remarks also coincided with a Convention of States Action/Trafalgar Group survey released Tuesday, which found that most Americans want Biden to step down for mishandling U.S. energy production if gas prices hit $8 per gallon.

“I agree with Most Americans that this president’s disastrous agenda is hurting American families,” Banks said, predicting that if the election were held today, “Joe Biden would lose, I believe, would lose 50 states because the American people directly tie” these disasters and crises to his “failed leadership.”

All of Biden’s actions, from promising to end fossil fuel and the executive actions moving toward that goal, “directly led to where we are today with approaching $5 a gallon gas,” Banks added.

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