Gas prices are hitting new records almost daily, and combined with record diesel and fertilizer prices, are eating away at producers’ bottom line and consumers’ pocketbooks.
Fuel prices are going up, farm profits are going down, and consumers’ wallets are getting thinner as gas prices hit or top 4.60 a gallon, and diesel, a dollar more, making it a hot election-year issue on Capitol Hill.
Wyoming Republican Senator John Barrasso; “It’s over $4 a gallon in all 50 states. So over $5 a gallon in New York, over $6 a gallon in California, we have the energy in the ground. In this country. The president ought to be getting the permits, passed the permission to drill and the infrastructure, the energy infrastructure that is so desperately needed.”
The White House blames Russia’s war in Ukraine, post-pandemic demand and supply chain issues. Hill Republicans blame Biden’s energy policies. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley; “They could lower energy prices by reversing all the policies of last year. That is, it increased the price of gasoline by $2. They can get tariffs off of fertilizers and we can move back to energy independence.”
President Biden is again considering tapping an oil reserve, this time for diesel, as national distillate stocks fall to their lowest level since 2008, but officials admit it will do little for prices, only help prevent spot shortages.
