CBS News asks Energy Secretary if high gas prices have 'silver lining' for green energy
On "CBS Mornings," journalists posed to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm if high gas prices had a 'silver lining' if they forced us to move to clean energy sources.
CBS News journalists put a positive spin on the high gas prices bedeviling Americans while speaking with Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on Wednesday.
The Biden administration official appeared on CBS, CNN and MSNBC’s morning shows to discuss what the White House was doing to combat rising gas prices after President Biden wrote a letter to oil executives, threatening them with emergency action if they don't increase production.
"CBS Mornings" co-host Michelle Miller wondered if the "unsustainable" cost of gas would force Americans to move to clean energy.
"At what point do these [gas] prices become unsustainable?" Miller asked Granholm. "And two, ironically, does this push us closer to renewable energy?"
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm speaks during a press briefing at the White House, Nov. 23, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
Fellow co-host Tony Dokoupil also suggested Americans suffering economically could be a good thing because it would hasten the transition to green energy.
"Do you see this as a silver lining then to the pain many Americans are feeling? It will accelerate the move you mentioned?" he asked.
Granholm agreed that it was "important" to transition but denied there was anything positive about the hardship Americans are facing.
"I don’t think there’s a silver lining," she said, adding, "Pain does not have a silver lining."
The Biden official has been criticized for less sensitive responses to the gas price crisis, in previous months.
Gas prices continue to rise in the U.S. and across the world. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
The energy secretary completed her media roundup on CNN’s "New Day" and MSNBC’s "Morning Joe."
MSNBC host Jonathan Lemire echoed Biden blaming Republicans for obstructing his plans to lower inflation. "They’re going to try to sharpen their attacks on Republicans, really draw contrasts with their plan versus what the GOP is doing, or should we say, not doing, trying to stay on the sidelines on this issue, at times even cheering on inflation, the White House believes," Lemire said.
Blaming the coronavirus pandemic and global inflation, Lemire said, "There are so many things here that are out of his control," to which host Joe Scarborough agreed. "So much of it is outside a president’s control," he said.
US President Joe Biden speaks at the 29th AFL-CIO Quadrennial Constitutional Convention at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia on June 14, 2022. (Photo by Nicholas Kamm / AFP) (NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images)
Mika Brzezinski parroted the White House’s own talking points when interviewing the Biden official afterwards.
"I just wonder if the president needs to sort of level with the American people about the situation, the energy situation globally, and how it’s impacting gas prices here at home. Because isn't it the case, that some of this he cannot control?" she asked.
"Oh totally, Mika," Granholm agreed. She went on to deny regulations on oil refineries were driving up prices to Scarborough.
On CNN, co-host John Berman pressed Granholm on whether Biden supported surtaxes on oil companies making excess profits.
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May hit a 40-year record high for inflation.
During Biden's address to union workers Tuesday, he rejected criticism of his administration and blamed Republicans, Vladimir Putin and oil companies for soaring inflation and gas prices.
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