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For Immediate Release
Contact:

Karl Frisch, 202-580-5813

Beware of Hypocrites and Fossil Fuel Funded Witnesses at Gas Price Hearing

Ranking Member Sen. Barrasso (R-WY) Blames Biden for High Gas Prices Despite Blaming Supply and Demand for Same Issue During Bush Administration

WASHINGTON
Today during a hearing on "domestic and international energy price trends" in the Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources, government watchdog Accountable.US released a new research report showing that hearing witness Robert Bryce, a fossil-fuel funded writer, has spent years dismissing green solutions to climate change while pushing fossil fuels. The research also exposes the hypocrisy of Sen. John Barrasso, the committee's ranking member, who blames President Biden for high retail gas prices despite blaming supply and demand for the same issue during the Bush administration.

"Americans looking to this hearing for answers about the high cost of retail gas will find hypocrisy and special interest-backed rhetoric instead," said Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.US. "Rather than attempting to score cheap political points or make their benefactors in the oil and gas industry even richer, the Senate should get serious about holding the industry accountable for raking in record profits while American consumers pay skyrocketing prices at the pump."

Big Oil and its allies are blaming President Biden for increased retail gas prices while simultaneously boasting about record-breaking profits that it uses for stock buybacks and showering investors with billions of dollars rather than passing savings onto American consumers.

Read the full research report.

KEY FINDINGS:

  • Robert Bryce is a writer who has made a career out of rejecting green energy solutions while working for the climate denying Manhattan Institute.
  • Sen. Barrasso says high gasoline prices are President Biden's fault, but he had a more nuanced view when prices spiked during the Bush administration.

Accountable.US is a nonpartisan watchdog that exposes corruption in public life and holds government officials and corporate special interests accountable by bringing their influence and misconduct to light. In doing so, we make way for policies that advance the interests of all Americans, not just the rich and powerful.