Average prices for gas are still falling as the U.S. winds its way through the holiday season.
On Thursday, the national average for a gallon of regular gas as reported by AAA was lower than the averages from the prior day, a week ago, a month ago, and a year ago. It reached $3.101 on Thursday, just days before Christmas, which also furthers the country’s drop from the record highs seen earlier this year. The Biden administration has taken action like releasing some of what was held in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a national stockpile. Boosting supplies in the U.S. stood to help with easing prices, although lower demand has also been reported. “Gas prices continue to fall as we head into the holidays – saving families around $200 a month compared to the June peak,” the White House noted on Twitter Wednesday.
Biden and his team have also taken action to assist Americans in dealing with energy costs when those prices do hit higher levels, including tax benefits for small businesses transitioning to solar power, making improvements to energy efficiency in buildings, acquiring vehicles running on clean energy, and crafting equipment utilized in clean energy use in the United States. All of that was outlined in the Inflation Reduction Act, a sweeping legislative deal that was what became of months of negotiations among Dems about passing a budget reconciliation deal in the Senate. Fashioned in that manner, the bill didn’t require any GOP support to become law. Although Dems hold the majority, the Senate’s filibuster rules requiring the support of 60 Senators before moving forward with a lot in the chamber mean that’s not a given. Dems increased their majority following this year’s midterm elections, meaning the party will no longer need Vice President Kamala Harris as a tiebreaker — although filibusters remain possible.
Billions from the Inflation Reduction Act are also going towards the purchase of tens of thousands of electric vehicles for the Postal Service, comprising a portion of the agency’s planned vehicle updates much larger than what previous plans called for. High-profile inflation measurements in Consumer Price Index data use energy prices as a factor, although versions of the data without gas weighing on the outcome are also available. Still, inflation reports show the rate of increase on both a yearly and month-to-month basis going down last month. The overall rate of increase in prices from October to November was recorded as 0.1 percent, per federal data.
Gas prices continue to fall as we head into the holidays – saving families around $200 a month compared to the June peak. pic.twitter.com/IHyQRI4tpe
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) December 21, 2022
Image: Gage Skidmore/ Creative Commons
