Democratic Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow doubled down on remarks she made last week boasting about the fact that she drives an electric car.
During Senate Democrats’ weekly press briefing Tuesday, Stabenow fired back at criticism from at least one Republican senator, and again boasted about the fact that she drives an electric car. She then blamed soaring gas prices on oil companies price-gouging and attacked Republicans for not standing with Democrats in their push to combat it.
“Just to respond to one of our oil and gas-enthusiastic Republican senators who just said something about my buying an electric vehicle. I’ve got to tell you, we have great new Michigan electric vehicles, and my [Chevrolet] Bolt is terrific… affordable, union labor, and I’m so proud to have an opportunity to be able to support Michigan workers,” Stabenow said. “What he was doing and what others are doing is trying to divert us from the fact that we have gas gouging at the pump, and have had it for some time.”
Stabenow pointed to a report by the Senate Democratic Policy and Communication Committee, which claimed that oil companies made $237 billion in profits in 2021. “And yet they continue to gouge us at the pump. So we would love to have Republican colleagues working with us on that, rather than accepting oil and gas money to fund their campaigns.”
#BREAKING: Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) responds to GOP criticism of her comments about driving an electric vehicle: “What he was doing and others are doing is trying to divert us from the fact that we have gas-gouging at the pump.” pic.twitter.com/y72bMklvxA
— Forbes (@Forbes) June 14, 2022
Stabenow’s comments came in response to Wyoming Republican Senator John Barrasso, who blasted Stabenow’s original remarks, which she made at a hearing of the Senate Finance Committee, and said that her remarks reflect the sentiment of the party as a whole. “So what does the Senator from the Democrat Party, who is the chair of the Democrats’ Policy and Communication Committee have to say, which, to me, makes them the spokesmen for the Party?” Barrasso said during the Republicans’ weekly briefing earlier in the day. “Last week in the Finance Committee, she said it didn’t matter to her how high gas prices went, because she had an electric car. So that is the spokesmen for the Democrats, the chair of the Policy Committee, saying, ‘you don’t like the high cost? Tough. Buy yourself an electric car.’”
During a hearing of the Senate Finance Committee with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Stabenow boasted about the fact that she had just purchased an electric car. “I do have to say, on the issue of gas prices, after waiting for a long time to have enough chips in this country to finally get my electric vehicle, I got it and drove it from Michigan to here this last weekend, and went by every single gas station,” Stabenow bragged. “It didn’t matter how high it [gas price] was. And so I’m looking forward to the opportunity for us to move to vehicles that aren’t going to be dependent on the whims of the oil companies and the international markets.”
Stabenow’s comments are just the latest example of prominent Democrats bragging about how electric cars make it so that they no longer have to worry about the price of gasoline.
In a November interview with MSNBC, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that tax credits for electric vehicles would make it easier for families to afford one, and “once they own that vehicle, [they] will never have to worry about gas prices again.” Then in May, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said during a hearing of the Senate Energy Committee that she did not remember the price of gasoline because she drove an electric car.