We're all feeling a ton of pain at the pump right now—gas prices are over a dollar per gallon more expensive than they were a year ago, and they're jumping seemingly 10 cents every single day. No good.
You might think the best idea would be to ramp up domestic production, put us back on an energy-independent program, and get the oil flowing. Yet the White House believes that would take too long. But apparently shifting an entire economy over to green energy....won't?
Q Do you think that opening the Keystone Pipeline and having more energy-friendly policies might do that?
MS. PSAKI: The Keystone Pipeline has never been operational. It would take years for that to have any impact. I know a number of members of Congress have suggested that, but that is a proposed solution that has no relationship or would have no impact on what the problem is we, here, all agree is an issue.
Q So during that — those years where it would, you know, take to bring down prices, as you're saying, we should just continue to buy Russian oil?
MS. PSAKI: Well, again, Jacqui, I think you're familiar with a number of steps we've taken: a historic release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
Q But that didn't bring down prices — last time or this time.
MS. PSAKI: Well, we can — well, let me finish. What we can do over time and what this is a rema- — reminder of, in the President's view, is our need to reduce our reliance on oil.
The Europeans need to do that; we need to do that. If we do more to invest in clean energy, more to invest in other sources of energy, that's exactly what we can do to prevent this from happening in the future.
Ahhh okay. So it's all about "the future."
I mean, yes, you and your family are hurting right now, in the present, like today, this very moment. You need relief right now. Restarting the Keystone pipeline allegedly won't help right away (other than giving all those people their jobs back). Clean energy—oh, wait, also that wouldn't help either, that's also something that will take place in the future, I guess.
So the Biden administration is basically saying: "Sorry, nothing we can do about it, we're not gonna get more oil, we're not gonna ramp up domestic production, maybe if we invest in batteries enough right now it'll pay off in twenty years, hope you can absorb the massive sticker shock during your workweek commute."
I guess that's that!
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