Federal Stimulus Checks: Biden ‘Considering’ Sending Relief Amid Rising Gas Prices
Some federal help may finally be on the way. President Joe Biden, on Monday, suggested that he is considering sending federal stimulus checks to Americans to help them offset the rising gas prices. A point to note is that these stimulus checks wouldn’t come as a direct payment, nor in the form of a gas tax holiday, but instead, rebate cards. President Biden last approved federal stimulus checks in March of 2021.
Biden Considering Federal Stimulus Checks
Earlier this week, President Biden suggested that he is seriously considering temporarily halting the federal gas tax. Biden said he would make the decision by the end of the week and that the gas tax holiday would save Americans “18.4 cents per gallon at the pump.”
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“Yes, I’m considering it,” Biden told reporters, adding, “I hope to have a decision based on the data.”
A federal gas tax holiday would temporarily remove all taxes on the cost of gasoline. According to the American Automobile Association, the national average for a gallon of regular gas was marginally below $5 on Tuesday.
Gas prices have skyrocketed since Russia invaded Ukraine earlier this year. Many experts believe that oil companies are intentionally keeping prices high in order to boost their profits.
Even President Biden seems to believe so and has recently said that his team will meet the oil companies’ executives this week to discuss the rising prices.
“I want an explanation for why they aren’t refining more oil,” Biden said.
Biden Also Considering Rebate Cards
Along with the gas tax holiday, Biden is also considering offering rebate cards to provide relief to Americans amid rising gas prices.
“That’s part of what we’re considering,” Biden said about the cards. “That’s part of the whole operation.”
Last week, there were reports circulating that the White House is reconsidering sending rebate cards. Previously, the plan to send rebate cards was considered months ago but was shelved owing to a couple of reasons, including chip shortages and the chance that people could use the money for other purposes.
These reasons are very much valid even now, and thus, offering a gas tax holiday appears more likely. Even for giving the gas tax holiday, Biden will need the support of Congress. Garnering support, however, would be a challenge for Biden as the Senate is divided on matters of providing direct relief to Americans.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration has increased ethanol blending, released oil from U.S. strategic reserves, requested the refiners to boost their refining capacity and called on countries such as Saudi Arabia to raise their oil production. Earlier this month, OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) even announced an increase in their output.
Such efforts, however, have yielded little results so far. Thus, it becomes even more important for Biden to suspend taxes on gasoline. In the absence of federal stimulus checks, several states, including Connecticut, Georgia, and Maryland, have offered their own gas tax holidays.
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