Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis rips into Biden on inflation, gas prices
MIAMI -- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ripped into President Joe Biden Thursday morning during a South Florida stop when asked about inflation and high gas prices.
The governor was in SW Miami-Dade to launch this year's Python Challenge.
The question came during the Q&A session of the press conference.
Here is what he had to say in its entirety:
"So, the question is about gas prices and inflation, you know what I could do, if you could give me a time machine to go back to January 2021, we would just do the opposite of what Biden has done, and we'd be in a better spot," said DeSantis.
"Now. I mean, I really think it's, he's got a lot of chutzpah to attack energy producers, when he campaigned saying he was going to shut down energy production in the United States."
"He said, we're not going to let him drill, we're not going to give leases, we're not going to do any of that. And so then he comes in, he puts really negative policies to try to kneecap American energy production. And of course, that's been a huge driver as to why we now have gas higher than we have ever seen it before, in my lifetime in this country."
"And so he has facilitated this. And I think that's had a huge impact on overall inflation, because everything that's produced relies on energy. And when those energy costs go up, it has an effect across the board, obviously, when you're printing trillions of dollars, the money supply that has caused it to go up as well."
"So, I think there have been a series of policy misjudgments. What I would do is I would say if and he will not do this, but he should admit he was wrong. And he said, you know, what, we need to be energy independent. We need to lead the world in production. We need to get rid of all the roadblocks. We need to make sure people can get permits when it makes sure we can do LNG exports."
"I mean, you know, Anwar, we did Anwar. And when I was in Congress, and he showed he won't allow Anwar, let's build pipelines, not just Keystone. But there's other pipelines, you know, you have like the Marcellus Shale, Ohio and Pennsylvania, they don't have pipelines to get it to the rest of the area, because FERC, the federal agency won't permit these pipelines."
"So you have it within your control, to really, really move the needle. And here's the thing, this energy, the markets are very forward looking, if he were to come in, and just really, really double down on American energy and have policy to reflect that look, it would represent a complete 180, he would have to admit he was wrong."
"But you know what, that would be good for the American people. And so we've got to start putting the people first over the ideology of the ruling class and the governing elites."
"Yes, John Kerry, and these people think that our economy should be gone on windmills and solar. Look, we have solar and Florida world, we'll have more. And I'm happy with that. That is not enough."
"Okay, the windmills are not enough. You have to have oil and gas, to be able to power a modern economy. And so these have been really, really, I think, devastating decisions, I think it did not have to happen, you know, he inherited a situation, that was much better, he's made it a lot worse. But you look, he's now complaining about the refining capacity, you can't get a refinery permitted if you want to expand capacity."
"And when you say you're going to shut down the industry, who's going to put capital down to want to expand there, when you know, the federal government is going to try to kneecap you, you know, right out of the starting block. So he needs to reverse course, here, I don't think he will. But at the end of the day, the American people are paying the price, when you're looking at these gas prices."
"And you know, as high as it is I'm looking around here, a lot of states are even higher than what we're seeing in Florida, there have been places I got in Nevada, these places, California, they've been over five, six bucks for a while. And so this is really, really problematic. And it has a huge impact on people's ability to make ends meet."
"And it permeates things like what you see at the grocery store. That's why I think I get such a kick out of them saying inflation was only was 8.6. That was not a good number. But it's much higher. When you look at the things that really count in somebody's everyday life. When you look at the gasoline, when you look at groceries, when you look at utilities, all those different things have gone up way more than 8.6%."
"And the things that have gone up less than that are things that really aren't as essential as the things that really make that much of that make a significant impact on people's daily lives. And so I sometimes you know, he needs to take responsibility. It's always trying to blame other people."
"He's always trying to create a scapegoat. I guess his position is that it wasn't until he became president that oil companies are trying to make profits like they're gouging. Now, they weren't doing that for the last 25 years, all of a sudden, just now they're doing that."
"It's insulting to the average citizen to listen to some of this drivel coming out of the White House and because they know people are upset about it."
"They know they're responsible for it. So they're just looking for a boogeyman to try to pin this on. And here's the thing, not gonna let them get away with that. Okay, that's an All right and we're gonna hold them accountable All right thanks guys."
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden told refiners to increase production. He asked oil companies about the need to work with his administration on "near-term solutions" addressing the crisis.
Gas prices nationwide average roughly $5 a gallon.