Gas prices are up as much as a quarter per gallon in some places around the country, due in large part to OPEC+ vowing to cut oil production by about 2 million barrels per day.
The White House was in an absolute tizzy over the announcement, calling it “unfortunate” and “short-sighted.” That big of a reduction in the current political climate is absolutely devastating to global markets, and the White House was just celebrating prices going down on their watch.
Democrats have lost it over the oil-producing countries’ decisions, and now they are vowing to fight back through legislation. Because that will show them.
POLITICO is reporting that Senate Democrats, like Bob Menendez, are apoplectic.
A top Democratic senator is vowing to block all future weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and urging the Biden administration to “immediately freeze all aspects” of U.S. cooperation with the kingdom in response to its decision to cut oil production amid a global energy crisis set off by Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The message from Senate Foreign Relations Chair Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), who has veto power over foreign arms sales, comes amid the West’s outrage at OPEC+ for slashing its oil output — a move that the U.S. and other allied governments saw as a gift to Moscow as it suffers significant losses on the battlefield in Ukraine.
[…]
“As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I will not green light any cooperation with Riyadh until the Kingdom reassesses its position with respect to the war in Ukraine,” Menendez said in a statement first obtained by POLITICO. “Enough is enough.”
Menendez’s broadside is the latest call from top Democrats on Capitol Hill to reevaluate the U.S. partnership with Saudi Arabia in the wake of the cartel’s decision to slash its oil production, which U.S. officials worry will only deepen the energy crisis across Europe and hike gas prices at home. In addition to Menendez’s authority as chairman of the powerful Foreign Relations panel, Congress as a whole can vote to block certain weapons sales.
You love to see it.
This isn’t Democrats getting mad at the oil cartel. Do you want to talk about “short-sighted” decisions regarding oil production? How about the Biden administration walking in and threatening oil companies, vowing to shut down leases, and generally making it harder for them to operate in the United States?
AP Photo/Evan Vucci
We were a net exporter prior to Biden coming into office. Now we’re a net importer, praying on less-than-reputable countries to provide the oil we need. Our reserves are dry. Oil is now more expensive than it was prior to Biden. But it’s 100 percent the Saudis’ fault, right?
The Democrats blocked Trump from re-filling our strategic petroleum reserve back when oil was around $25 per barrel. Now, it’s between $90-95 and rising due to this new crisis. We wouldn’t be in this position if we were producing, because we can produce enough to overcome what OPEC+ cut. But that’s not what the Democrats want.
Oil production is a 20-year investment if you wish to see returns and investors are fleeing, thanks in large part to the Biden administration’s devotion to the cult of climate change. Under the Biden administration, production on leases is at its lowest point in nearly 80 years, and it’s getting worse as these companies just decide it’s not worth it.
The quickest way to fix the problem is to roll back regulation and announce that American oil leases are open for business. That, in this crisis, the U.S. government won’t stand in your way. The actual impact on supply won’t be seen immediately, but relief at the gas pump would almost certainly be, given that oil is a futures market and gas prices typically respond accordingly.
And Bob Menendez and the rest of the Senate Democrats? They all supported this. They are the ones who helped get the so-called Inflation Reduction Act through Congress, ensuring that the country would be forever tethered to all the climate change tomfoolery.
So, they want to pitch a fit about Saudi Arabia and OPEC+, but not because of the oil. They are furious because a spike in gas prices that naturally comes from such events is happening once again right before the midterm elections. They would be more composed, at the very least, if OPEC+ had decided this in, say, March of 2023. But they are livid because their Senate majority is quite at risk and they think the Saudis are working alongside Republicans to steal the election.
God bless them for being appropriately angry about gas prices. I am, too. But let’s not insult everyone’s intelligence by pretending it’s about some faraway oil cartel. It’s about your own policies and your midterm prospects.