Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow said that record-high gas prices ‘don’t matter’ to her because she has an electric vehicle as she urged Americans to by eco-friendly vehicles and decrease reliability on greedy oil companies.
Her comments came on the day the average price per gallon of gas in the U.S. reached a new high of $4.92. In Michigan the average sits higher at $5.17 per gallon, according to AAA’s tracker.
‘On the issue of gas prices – after waiting for a long time to have enough chips in this country to finally get my electric vehicle – I got it and drove it from Michigan to here this last weekend and went by every gas station and it didn’t matter how high it was,’ the Michigan senator said.
She added: ‘I’m looking forward to the opportunity for us to move to vehicles that aren’t going to be dependent on the whims of the oil companies and the international markets.’
United States senators make an annual salary of $174,000. Michigan’s average household income is $59,234 between 2016-2020.
The average cost of an electric vehicle, according to Kelley Blue Book, is $56,437, which is approximately $10,000 higher than the industry average including cars that are electric and gas.
Her remarks were met with fury. Republican Repo. Byron Donalds said: DEMs continue to laugh at the struggles of working-class Americans who are suffering due to Biden’s Price Hike. Just look at how happy Debbie Stabenow is when boasting about driving her EV.
‘I can assure you Michiganders aren’t laughing.’
Democratic Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow said that it ‘doesn’t matter’ to her how high gas prices get because she has an electric vehicle and doesn’t have to worry about it
As of Tuesday, the average price per gallon of gas in the U.S. reached a new high of $4.92 – and it’s even higher in Stabenow’s home state of Michigan at $5.17 per gallon
Republican Rep. Mike Kelly said: ‘Democrats don’t understand the problems of everyday Americans.’
Stabenow’s office did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com regarding the senator’s comments.
Some of President Joe Biden’s lowest marks are on his handling of gas prices, which the administration continues to dub the ‘Putin gas price hike’ in an attempt to peg the continually inflating numbers on the war in Eastern Europe.
Michigan is a battleground state that went marginally red in 2016 for Trump by just 0.3 percent and swung back to blue in 2020, going 50.6 percent for Biden and 47.8 for the former president’s reelection.
Stabenow’s comments downplaying concerns of Americans who are struggling to afford the $100 plus it cost to fill their cars’ gas tanks came during a hearing with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen about soaring inflation.
The Democratic senator from Michigan is on the Senate Finance Committee, where Yellen was testifying on Tuesday about Biden’s Fiscal Year 2023 budget amid record-high inflation.
Stabenow is currently in the middle of her third term in the upper chamber of Congress. Before that she served as a member of the House of Representatives for Michigan’s 8th district from 1997 to until her election to the Senate in 2001.
When adjusted to reflect inflation of the value in 2020, Stabenow has been making over $212,000 per year since becoming a member of Congress in the late 1990s.
California remains the most expensive state for gas by a wide margin, and pump prices in the Golden State now average $6.37 per gallon.
A total of 13 states, as well as Washington DC, now average more than $5 per gallon, with more due to join their ranks in the coming days as supply fails to keep pace with demand.
‘People are still fueling up, despite these high prices,’ said Andrew Gross, AAA spokesperson, in a statement on Monday.
‘At some point, drivers may change their daily driving habits or lifestyle due to these high prices, but we are not there yet,’ he added.
On Tuesday, the states that had exceeded a $5 per gallon average were: Massachusetts, Maine, New Jersey, Indiana, Arizona, Michigan, Alaska, Illinois, Washington, Oregon, Hawaii, Nevada and California.
Georgia had the cheapest gas in the nation at $4.33 per gallon, which nevertheless represented an all-time record high for the Peach State.
Soaring gas prices and high inflation for other basic goods have emerged as key issues for President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats ahead of the mid-term elections.
Gas prices have now more than doubled since Biden took office in January 2020, when the national average stood at $2.39.
A recent ABC News/Ipsos poll found that 83 percent of Americans say that the economy is either an extremely or very important issue in determining how they will vote in November.
When it comes to economic issues, Biden scores the worst on gas prices, with 72 percent of voters disapproving of his handling of the issue.
Gasoline prices set another new record high on Tuesday, averaging $4.92 per gallon
Only 27 percent of Americans approve of how Biden is handling gas prices.
The administration continues to call rising gas prices ‘Putin’s price hike,’ and places the blame on the conflict in Eastern Europe.
Last week, Biden touted strong employment growth and an unemployment rate near the six-decade low reached prior to the pandemic as indicators that the economy is in a ‘position of strength.’
‘And there is no denying that high prices, particularly around gasoline and food, are a real problem for people,’ Biden said in remarks on Friday.
‘But there is every reason for the American people to feel confident that we’ll meet these challenges. Because of the enormous progress we’ve made on the economy, the Americans can tackle inflation from a position of strength,’ he added.
Republican critics blame Biden’s domestic energy policies for a decline in oil production, saying that his administration is waging a ‘war on American energy’.
‘Joe Biden’s war on American energy has forced families across the country to empty their wallets to fill their tanks,’ said Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel in a statement over the weekend.
‘Unfortunately, Biden is doubling-down on his disastrous agenda because he’s not the one paying the price – the American people are.’