Biden's top economic adviser defends White House policies as inflation soars
National Economic Council director Brian Deese joins 'The Story' to push back on criticisms, rumors, and blame Vladimir Putin for recent energy sector volatility.
The U.S. economy "has a lot of strength" despite increasing inflationary pressures, while President Biden is promoting long-term energy security, White House National Economic Council Director Brian Deese told Fox News on Thursday.
Deese, formerly a top adviser to President Obama, claimed the U.S. labor market is also experiencing its strongest recovery in history while blaming Russian President Vladimir Putin for much of the current energy crisis.
He pointed to global aversion to Russian oil and gas as having constricted the market, claiming the most recent $1.40's worth of gas price increases are connected to the ex-KGB agent's invasion of Ukraine.
"It's important to have the facts straight. The U.S. is producing more oil this year than we produced under the first year of the last president['s term]," Deese said, adding energy sector executives have pledged to increase production by 1 million barrels per day by fall.
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Record-high inflation has dogged President Biden (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
"Prices are up $1.40/gallon since Putin began amassing troops on the Ukraine border… because Russia's supply of energy is off the market…" he added.
On "The Story," host Martha MacCallum said many Americans would "beg to differ" with Deese on whether oil production is as high as it can be, pointing to Biden's support for a quick green energy transition.
Deese replied that there is purportedly "no barrier for companies to increase production right now."
ALASKA GOVERNOR SAYS BIDEN ‘SEARCHING FOR OIL ANYWHERE ON THE PLANET EXCEPT AT HOME’
An oil pumpjack operates in the drive-thru area of a McDonald's in Bradford, Pennsylvania, U.S. October 6, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid (Reuters)
"The policies the president is promoting [will] provide long term and technology-neutral tax incentives to encourage more innovation here in the United States across the spectrum: nuclear, hydrogen, carbon-capture-and-sequestration," he said.
Republicans in top energy-producing states have pushed back the White House's claims, with Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy telling Fox News that Biden has been "searching for oil anywhere on the planet except at home."
Dunleavy previously called for Biden to "reverse course", telling Fox the Keystone XL pipeline he canceled would have replaced the need for Venezuelan, Russian or Iranian imports.
In Pennsylvania, lawmakers are trying to reverse Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf's entry into the RGGI cap-and-trade pact and blunt federal restrictions -- with GOP gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano and State Sen. Scott Hutchinson, R-Oil City, drafting a bill to fend off such repercussions.
The lawmakers argued Pennsylvania's rich natural gas, oil and coal deposits should render it "immune to energy cost volatility," if government allowed extraction to its full potential.
The first successful American oil well was drilled in Hutchinson's district in 1859.
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