Congressional Democrats accused oil companies of inflating gasoline prices on Thursday and promised to investigate, casting doubt on who is to blame for rising costs, which are damaging President Joe Biden’s reelection prospects.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and other prominent Democrats were flanked by supporters wearing matching blue shirts and holding banners reading, “Stop gouging us at the pump.”
Related posts
Schumer has attacked recent billion-dollar oil business mergers, such as the one between ExxonMobil and Pioneer Natural Resources, as potentially “disastrous for consumers.”
He said that prior mergers in the business reduced competition and increased pricing.
Schumer stated that he has already asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the mergers and would push the Justice Department to look into potential conspiracy and price manipulation.
“The federal government must use every tool at our disposal to investigate the oil industry,” he stated.
Schumer also claimed that former President Donald Trump offered oil sector CEOs $1 billion in exchange for a reversal of President Joe Biden’s climate measures if Trump were reelected, a charge that Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse reiterated.
According to sources familiar with the discussion, Trump advised a group of oil CEOs and business leaders to donate $1 billion to his presidential campaign because, if elected, he would reverse the Biden administration’s environmental initiatives.
The exchange occurred in April over a private dinner at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club.
In a statement, the Trump campaign did not deny the reports.
According to Whitehouse, the Senate Budget and Finance Committees, as well as Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin, will investigate Trump’s claims.
The news conference comes just days after the Biden administration revealed plans to release 1 million barrels of fuel stockpiles in time for the summer travel season. Republicans criticized the plan as an election-year tactic that jeopardizes the nation’s energy reserves.
According to AAA, the national average gas price is around $3.61 per gallon, a seven-cent rise from the same period last year.
On its website, the American Petroleum Institute, a group that supports the US oil and natural gas sector, asserts that “market forces of supply and demand, not individual companies,” determine petroleum prices.
