Georgia Mountain News

U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) has criticized President Joe Biden for his blaming of rising gas prices on the Russia-Ukraine war even as inflation hit 8.5% in March — a sizeable part of which was due to gasoline costs.

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, which is used to measure inflation, increased 1.2% in March, and over the last 12 months it increased to 8.5%; a report released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on April 12 showed. The 8.5% was the largest 12-month increase since December 1981. The CPIs are based on prices of goods and services people buy for living — including food, shelter, clothing, fuels, transportation and more.

"Increases in the indexes for gasoline, shelter and food were the largest contributors to the seasonally adjusted all items increase," the bureau said in the report. "The gasoline index rose 18.3% in March and accounted for over half of the all items monthly increase."

In one year, gas rose 48%, Blackburn said on Facebook recently. She blamed Democrats' reckless spending for the "runaway inflation train."

"On the day that President Biden took office, the average gallon of gas was $2.38," Blackburn tweeted recently. "At the time of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the average price was $3.53. This isn't Putin's price hike — it's because of Joe Biden." 

As of Monday, the average price of regular gasoline in Georgia was $3.71 per gallon, the latest American Automobile Association (AAA) report said. One week prior, the price was $3.76, and one year ago it was $2.71.

In remarks from a recent White House release, Biden said the rising cost of gas was due to the COVID-19 pandemic and to Vladimir Putin (the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24).

"When COVID struck, demand for oil plummeted, so production slowed down worldwide," Biden said. "Because of the strength and the speed of our recovery, demand for oil shot back up much faster than the supply. That's why the cost of gas began to rise last year. At the start of this year, gas was about $3.30 a gallon. Today, it's about — averaging $4.20, $4.22. It's higher in many states. Nearly a dollar more in less than three months. And the reason for that is because of Putin's war." 

To help stem rising gasoline prices, Biden authorized the release of 1 million barrels of crude oil per day for six months from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve until production increases. He also called on U.S. oil companies to produce more oil.

The national average price of gasoline is decreasing "as countries plan more emergency oil reserve releases," a recent report from AAA said.