President Barack Obama plans to step into the political debate over rising gasoline prices on Thursday, when he kicks off the first of a series of events focused on his energy plans, senior administration officials said.
During an event at the University of Miami, Mr. Obama will discuss the steps the country can take to tackle what the White House sees as an annual cycle of spikes in gas prices, the officials said. At the same time, these officials, who briefed reporters Tuesday on the president?s plans, acknowledged that there is almost nothing the president can do in the near term to lower gas prices.
But rising gas prices are a threat to the president as he runs for re−election this year. It?s one of the issues of chief concern to Mr. Obama?s political advisers and has become the subject of criticism of Mr. Obama on the campaign trail.
Mr. Obama?s speech Thursday will call for a diverse energy plan and lay out his efforts to boost domestic production of oil and gas. His defense comes as Republican presidential candidates blame him for the rise in gasoline prices and cast him as unfriendly to domestic oil production, particularly his administration?s decision to postpone the construction of the Keystone pipeline. The administration officials pushed back against the GOP criticism, arguing that Americans don?t trust Republicans on energy issues because their plans focus narrowly on production, which has been rising.
The officials declined to say whether Mr. Obama is considering another release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, but they suggested it?s one tool Mr. Obama has that could lower gas prices in the short term. One official disputed the notion that Mr. Obama?s release of the reserve last summer had little impact, saying afterwards gas prices began to drop and that the move helped smooth disruptions from the unrest in Libya. The officials also said there are steps the White House can take in terms of diplomacy to try to lower gas prices.
After Thursday, Mr. Obama and Cabinet officials will hold energy−focused events in coming days and weeks, officials said, as he amplifies the energy ideas he laid out in his State of the Union address last month. Thursday?s event is meant not only to inject Mr. Obama into a political debate about rising gas prices, but also to get ahead of Congress?s return to Washington next week, when the White House expects lawmakers will put forward plans aimed at quickly lower prices at the pump. Mr. Obama will strike a similar tone on the issue similar to the one he took last March in a speech at Georgetown University in which he said there are ?no quick fixes? to lower gas prices.
He will urge Americans to consume less, vow to do all he can to produce more oil and gas, call for a diverse energy plan and push for a clean energy standard, officials said. The president will revive his call this week for an end to subsidies for oil and gas companies, part of the White House?s effort to frame the debate against congressional Republicans. Mr. Obama made ending oil and gas subsidies a fixture of his budget fights with Republicans last year.
The administration officials brushed off the brewing political storm over rising gas prices as an annual affair bolstered by media hysteria. They said the White House anticipated the current spike in gas prices, which they attribute to increased demand around the world, particularly from China.
Mr. Obama is speaking Thursday at the University of Miami because it has an industrial energy efficiency program, officials aid. The university is also located in Florida, the largest swing state up for grabs in the November election.
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