President Joe Biden was forced to remind a Washington, D.C.-based journalist that Americans who lived outside the Beltway — and outside most major cities — could not simply “take the train” if they wanted to avoid paying record-breaking gas prices.
Biden addressed the nation on Tuesday, taking a few questions from reporters after speaking about the inflation that is impacting American families as well as the still rising gas prices that reached yet another record high earlier that morning.
Reporter: "Have you ever thought of your administration asking Americans to drive less and take public transport?"
Biden: "They don’t have that many options in terms of transportation around the country right now. If you live in the Northeast corridor, you do." pic.twitter.com/YL5cYRrC7i
— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) May 10, 2022
Referencing the high cost that Americans are paying at the pump — and the fact that high demand is not helping to lower the prices any — one reporter asked why the Biden administration was not doing more to push people toward public transportation.
“You have yet to ask Americans to consume less,” the reporter noted, referencing the record high prices for both regular gasoline and diesel fuel. “You’re a train guy. Have you ever thought of your administration asking Americans to drive less and take public transport?”
“Well, if you ever raised a family like mine, you don’t have to tell them,” Biden replied. “They’re doing everything in their power to figure out how not to have to show up at the gas pump. That’s why — for example, one of the things that’s going to help a lot, it’s going to take time, is our infrastructure bill.”
“The truth is, they don’t have that many options in terms of transportation around the country right now,” Biden continued. “If you live in the Northeast Corridor, you do, if you’re driving back and forth between Baltimore, Washington, New York, etc. But you don’t have many choices. You don’t have a whole lot of choices with other aspects of transportation, in terms of local transportation.”
“Amazing that Joe Biden had to remind an ultra privileged reporter in the DC Acela Corridor that people exist outside the DC Acela Corridor,” Daily Caller Editor-in-Chief Geoff Ingersoll noted.
“Two Mondays ago the Northeast corridor went offline for the workday starting around 5am because a car hit a pole. So even that answer is incoherent,” added Omri Ceren, national security advisor to Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX).
“He’s really, really close to echoing Jimmy Carter and telling us to just ‘put on a sweater,'” Cruz said.
And the Biden administration has been criticized for being relatively out of touch with regard to the high gas prices as well — mainly for claiming that people could save money on gas by purchasing electric vehicles.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg famously said last November that families who purchased electric cars would never have to worry about the price of gas — but failed to note that the price of the electric car might be prohibitive for someone struggling to afford gas.
Buttigieg: Families who buy electric vehicles "never have to worry about gas prices again" https://t.co/3W93S9UDf4 pic.twitter.com/xjJmzeLRkf
— The Hill (@thehill) November 29, 2021