Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) slammed President Joe Biden during remarks Thursday morning for soaring inflation rates and surging gas prices, saying that Biden “has facilitated this” and that the administration knows they are responsible for it.
The remarks from DeSantis come after Biden sent a letter threatening the oil industry if they did not do more to combat rising fuel costs, which led to oil companies firing back and saying that the administration needs to change its policies to allow them to do more.
DeSantis said during an event in Miami-Dade that if he could go back in time to the start of the administration, he “would just do the opposite of what Biden has done, and we’d be in a better spot.”
“I mean, I really think it’s, he’s got a lot of chutzpah to attack energy producers when he campaigned saying he was going to shut down energy production in the United States,” DeSantis said. “He said, we’re not going to let them drill, we’re not going to give leases, we’re not going to do any of that. And so then he comes in, he puts really negative policies to try to kneecap American energy production. And of course, that’s been a huge driver as to why we now have gas higher than we have ever seen it before, in my lifetime in this country.”
“And so he has facilitated this. And I think that’s had a huge impact on overall inflation, because everything that’s produced relies on energy. And when those energy costs go up, it has an effect across the board. Obviously, when you’re printing trillions of dollars, the money supply, that has caused it to go up as well,” he continued. “So, I think there have been a series of policy misjudgments. What I would do is I would say if — and he will not do this, but he should admit he was wrong. And he said, you know what, we need to be energy independent. We need to lead the world in production. We need to get rid of all the roadblocks. We need to make sure people can get permits, want to make sure we can do LNG exports.”
DeSantis said multiple local pipelines needed to be built ranging from the Keystone pipeline to ones in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and other areas.
“So you have it within your control to really, really move the needle. And here’s the thing, this energy, the markets are very forward looking. If he were to come in, and just really, really double down on American energy and have policy to reflect that, look, it would represent a complete 180, he would have to admit he was wrong,” DeSantis said. “But you know what, that would be good for the American people. And so, we’ve got to start putting the people first over the ideology of the ruling class and the governing elites.”
“And so these have been really, really, I think, devastating decisions. I think it did not have to happen. You know, he inherited a situation that was much better, he’s made it a lot worse. But you look, he’s now complaining about the refining capacity. You can’t get a refinery permitted if you want to expand capacity,” he continued. “And when you say you’re going to shut down the industry, who’s going to put capital down to want to expand there when you know the federal government is going to try to kneecap you, you know, right out of the starting block? So, he needs to reverse course here; I don’t think he will. But at the end of the day, the American people are paying the price when you’re looking at these gas prices.”
DeSantis explained that the record high gas prices have contributed to the worst inflation that the U.S. has seen in decades because gas is used to deliver products to stores, which then forces companies to increase costs.
“He’s always trying to create a scapegoat. I guess his position is that it wasn’t until he became president that oil companies are trying to make profits. Like, they’re gouging now, they weren’t doing that for the last 25 years, all of a sudden, just now they’re doing that,” DeSantis said. “It’s insulting to the average citizen to listen to some of this drivel coming out of the White House and because they know people are upset about it. They know they’re responsible for it. So they’re just looking for a boogeyman to try to pin this on.”
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