During a Monday press conference at the White House, Biden administration press secretary Jen Psaki again faced questioning about the possibility of increasing U.S. oil production to offset strains on energy prices from serious issues including the Russia-Ukraine conflict. During this Monday’s conversation with reporters, Psaki put Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy in his place for falsely insinuating that federal policies are a crux of limits on energy production in the United States to an extent that would change prices in the short-term. There’s more to it than that. As Psaki told Doocy:
‘Let me give you the facts here. And I know that can be inconvenient, but I think they’re important in this moment. To the contrary, we have been clear that in the short-term, supply must keep up with the demand… We are one of the largest producers with a strong domestic oil and gas industry. We have actually produced more oil — it is at record numbers. And we will continue to produce more oil. There are 9,000 approved drilling permits that are not being used. So the suggestion that we are not allowing companies to drill is inaccurate. The suggestion that that is what is hindering or preventing gas prices to come down is inaccurate.’
President Biden will discuss the latest on Ukraine with the leaders of France, Germany and the U.K. at 10:30 this morning, per the updated White House schedule.
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) March 7, 2022
Doocy subsequently asked if Biden would undo his executive order blocking new oil and gas drilling leases for federal lands, to which Psaki reiterated that the question is essentially pointless — thousands of approved drilling leases aren’t in use, and most such drilling takes place on private lands, anyway. Psaki made similar points during a recent appearance on Fox ahead of Biden’s State of the Union address last week. Check out Psaki’s remarks to Doocy on Monday afternoon below:
"Let me give you the facts here. And I know that can be inconvenient, but I think they're important in this moment" — Jen Psaki to Peter Doocy pic.twitter.com/9sXR0gSSB5
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 7, 2022
Initially, Russian energy exports have been largely shielded from the brunt of the sanctions and related economic counter-measures that have been implemented in response to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, but there’s been talk about targeting Russian energy with future steps. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed this past Sunday that “banning” Russian oil was under consideration by the U.S. and allies. As Blinken explained it, he “spoke to the president and the leading members of the Cabinet about this just yesterday from Europe, and we are now in very active discussions with our European partners about banning the import of Russian oil to our countries, while of course at the same time maintaining a steady global supply of oil.” Asked about the possibility of the U.S. blocking Russian oil on its own, without an agreement to do so among the country’s allies, Blinken added that a “hallmark of everything we’ve done to date has been this coordination with allies and partners. We are much more effective across the board.”
White House hasn’t decided yet whether it supports the policies in this bipartisan plan, which would ban US import of Russian oil, suspend normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus, empower Biden to boost tariffs on other products from Russia/Belarus.https://t.co/JQpyQaOK1k https://t.co/fzXtuZazlK
— Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) March 7, 2022
