Gas prices in Tennessee have once again hit all-time highs, as the Biden administration struggles to control rising prices at the pump and elsewhere.
According to the American Automobile Association (AAA), the average price per gallon of gas in Tennessee reached $4.12, the highest ever recorded, Tuesday. A year ago, a gallon of gas in the state averaged $2.71.
After a brief lull, gas prices have crept upward over the past month. One month ago, the average price for a gallon of gasoline was $3.89, and one week ago, it was $3.91. Average prices jumped four cents per gallon in the state from Monday to Tuesday.
The story is similar in Ohio.
There, Tuesday’s average price for a gallon of gasoline hit $4.17, also an all-time high. That price reflects an eight-cent jump in one day, up from $4.09 Monday, and a 23-cent jump from just a week ago, when the average price for a gallon of gas was $3.95. A month ago, that price was $3.86. A year ago, it was $2.82.
In February, gas prices, which had already been steadily rising throughout the Biden presidency, spiked to previous record highs in many states around the nation.
In order to combat that spike, Biden announced at the end of March that he would release 180 million barrels of oil from strategic reserves, temporarily halting the uptick in prices.
Meanwhile, the White House stopped importing oil from Russia in solidarity with Ukraine, as Russia continues to invade. The Biden administration has blamed the Russians for the rise in prices at the pump.
“Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has driven up gas prices and food prices all over the world,” Biden said in April. “So everything is going up. We saw it in today’s inflation data. Seventy percent of the increase in prices in March came from Putin’s price hike in gasoline.”
Tuesday, Biden blamed Republicans.
In a speech, Biden promised that he has a plan to tackle inflation by “lowering costs for working families, giving workers well-deserved raises, reducing the deficit by historic levels and making big corporations and the very wealthiest Americans pay their fair share.”
He then quickly shifted to discussing “MAGA Republicans,” a reference to former President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.
“The other path is the ultra-MAGA plan, put forward by Congressional Republicans – to raise taxes on working families, lower the income of American workers, threaten sacred programs that Americans count on like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, and give break after break to big corporations and billionaires.”
He then contradicted himself, noting that Republicans under Trump gave a $2 trillion tax cut to Americans, which Biden described as “reckless.”
Democrats currently control the House, Senate, and White House.
– – –
Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
