Democrats Lack Standing to Criticize Gas Prices Given Their Record of Price-Raising Energy Policies
Source: "Democrats accused of raising gas prices through energy policy moves | Fox News." November 5, 2026. www.foxnews.com
The Gist
The author says Democrats won votes by complaining about high gas prices, but their own policies, like killing the Keystone pipeline and pushing carbon taxes and EVs, have pushed prices up in the past. He also argues that prices under Obama and Biden peaked higher than under Trump. So in his view, Democrats have no right to attack current prices.
Conclusion
Democrats are in no position to criticize current gas prices, because their own history of energy policies has raised, and would raise, prices at the pump.
Premises
- Democratic leaders took actions that restricted oil supply or infrastructure, including Biden's cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline on day one and Obama's 2015 veto of the Keystone XL approval act.
- Keystone XL would have delivered about 830,000 barrels a day of Canadian heavy crude to Gulf Coast refineries optimized to produce diesel and jet fuel, which are the fuels most needed now.
- Prominent Democrats such as Harris and Buttigieg have endorsed a carbon tax or fee, which would immediately raise gas prices.
- Biden-era policies pushing EV adoption and green spending, including the Inflation Reduction Act and its Green New Deal elements, failed in the market and contributed to 21.5% cumulative inflation that still feeds the affordability crisis.
- Inflation-adjusted, gas peaks under Obama ($6.78 today) and Biden ($5.79 today) exceeded the peak under Trump this year ($4.55), so current prices are not unusually bad compared with Democratic-era prices.
Assumptions
- Canceling Keystone XL and vetoing its approval materially raised current gas, diesel, or jet fuel prices.
- Policy proposals such as a carbon tax, which were never enacted, count as evidence of the party's record of raising prices.
- Democrats' past record disqualifies them from criticizing current prices, even if the criticism is valid on its merits.
- Gas price peaks are a fair measure of policy impact, with little influence from global events such as the Ukraine war and the Iran war.
- Inflation-adjusted peak prices are the right basis for comparing administrations.
- Biden-era policy, rather than pandemic and other factors, was the main driver of cumulative inflation.