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The Biden administration's latest decision pertaining to high gas prices has been to invoke the Defense Production Act, which pertains to electric vehicles, not American energy production.
This is the newest area of concern for the Functional Government Initiative (FGI), and has prompted their most recent government investigation.
“Exploring the expansion of domestic extraction of minerals is a good step because it may create jobs for the next generation of American workers, but it does not tackle the current fuel crisis," Functional Government Initiative Spokesman Peter McGinnis said. "We are on month two of ‘We will do everything we can to lower gas prices,’ yet nothing of substance has been done to accomplish that – as you can see every time you fill up your tank. Either the administration is hoping the problem will fix itself or that Americans will surrender to astronomically high gas prices. Neither scenario appears plausible. Along with inflation in general, energy prices are crushing the American dream. FGI will continue its investigation of which special interests are dictating the government’s handling of this energy crisis.”
This decision from the Biden administration comes with inflation at a 40-year high. The FGI is opposed to Biden's invocation of the Defense Production Act. The invocation of this act is reputed to be an attempt to ease potential supply chain problems for electric vehicle components.
FGI has asserted that this move is just another means for the Biden administration to move the American public away from gasoline and toward electric vehicles. The Biden administration's order will reroute money to private projects for feasibility studies surrounding the extraction of minerals, such as lithium and cobalt, that are important to constructing electric vehicle batteries. FGI says if their encouragement of increasing supply of essential minerals is successful, it could decrease America’s reliance on China, but it remains unclear how this decision would ease any inflation anxieties or decrease energy prices in the short term.
Opening up the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and overtures to foreign dictators have formed the essence of the Biden administration's approach. They continue to reject requests to reconsider opposition to pipeline infrastructure, oil and gas leases and financing. FGI asserts that the question of which special interests are influencing the government’s anti-fossil fuel policy amid an energy crisis still remains, and is the focus of several of the nonpartisan organization's ongoing investigations and requests for government records.
According to the American Automobile Association, Texas's average price for gas is $3.70 per gallon. At this time last year, it was $2.57.
FGI is a nonpartisan organization that strives to promote transparency and integrity from government agencies and elected officials. The group has expressed alarm on numerous occasions as a result of the federal government’s response to rising gas prices.