According to a Monday story, although President Joe Biden visited an Iowa biofuel factory in April to publicly praise it as one potential solution to rising gas prices, he was privately expressing reservations about the concept.
Despite its recognized environmental concerns, Biden spoke at the name of a factory in Menlo, Iowa, as the White House said it would allow the sale of ethanol-blended gasoline known as E15 during the summer driving season, which runs from June 15 to September 1.
‘I’m here today because domestic biofuels have a role to play right now — right now — as we seek to bring prices under control and down the expenses for families,’ the president said during his speech in Iowa on April 12.
Behind the scenes, though, Biden was concerned that the program would do more harm than good, having minimal impact on Americans’ gas prices while also jeopardizing his climate goal, according to two people familiar with the situation.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is said to have persuaded President Barack Obama that it would at the very least benefit the Midwest, where biofuels are manufactured.
The national average petrol price had risen to $4.10 per gallon at the time.
Inflation had increased to 8.5 percent in the previous month before dropping to 8.3 percent in April.
After nearly two months, the average price of a gallon of gas has been breaking daily records, surpassing $5 over the weekend.
The cost is $5.01 as of Monday. In some places of California, the price of gasoline exceeds $7 per gallon.
According to the most current Labor Department figures released last week, inflation reached a 41-year high of 8.6% in May.
Biden is growing increasingly upset about the toll that rising costs are taking on the country.
The Washington Post writes that top White House aides including Chief of Staff Ron Klain have urged agencies and departments to find ways to rein in soaring expenditures, indicating the administration’s all-hands approach to the problem.
It’s a long way from the administration’s prior statements that inflation was simply ‘temporary.’
‘Inflation is the bane of our existence,’ Biden said in an interview with late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel last week.
The administration, on the other hand, is adamant about remaining upbeat, dismissing claims that the country is about to enter a recession, with no end in sight to the country’s sky-high prices.
Last week, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen downplayed the possibility of a recession, insisting that consumer spending was still ‘strong.’
She did admit, though, that gas prices are “unlikely” to fall anytime soon.
Larry Summers, Barack Obama’s former economic adviser, questioned Yellen’s denial, suggesting that a recession might occur “within the next year.”
‘I believe there is a significant probability of recession in the coming year.’ Summers remarked on CNN’s State of the Union that “given where we’ve gotten to, I believe it’s more probable than not that we’ll have a recession within the next two years.”
‘That’s something we’ll be able to handle.’ We’ve had them throughout the country’s history. We must be ready and respond fast if and when this occurs.’
‘But I think the optimists were wrong a year ago in claiming we’d have no inflation,’ Summers remarked, taking a more direct shot at Yellen.
‘And I believe they are now mistaken in believing – if anyone believes – that we will avert recession.’