TRANSCRIPT:
BIDEN: "Fourthly, we are taking action to address gas prices as well. Today gas prices are lower than they were early in this decade, but they’re still high enough to create a pinch on working families. One key thing about the infrastructure bill that just passed the Senate is there are no gas tax increases. No gas tax increases. I made that absolutely clear, that I would not raise gas taxes. I’m glad everyone in the Senate seemed to agree with that. But that’s not enough. Recently we’ve seen the price that oil companies pay for a barrel of oil begin to fall, but the cost of gasoline at the pump for more American people hasn’t fallen. That’s not what you'd expect in a competitive market. I want to make sure that nothing stands in the way of oil price declines leading to lower prices for consumers. So today, my director of the National Economic Council has asked the chair of the Federal Trade Commission to use every available tool to monitor the U.S. gasoline market and address any illegal conduct that might be contributing to price increases at the pump while the cost of a barrel of oil is going down. We also made clear to OPEC, the major oil exporting nations of the world, that the production cuts made during the pandemic should be reversed as the global economic — as the global economy recovers, in order to lower prices for consumers."