While the White House has tried to spin inflation’s impacts on the Thanksgiving holiday, higher gas prices will eat into Americans’ wallets more than they did while the Trump administration was setting economic policies for the country.
The national average per-gallon price at the pump currently sits at around $3.30, a figure that is significantly higher than the $2.20 and $2.69 observed in 2020 and 2019, respectively, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Between Wednesday and Sunday of this week, AAA estimates that more than 49 million Americans will drive at least 50 miles from home for the holiday, making this year’s Thanksgiving travel period the third-busiest since 2000.
The White House tried to explain the reason for a recent decrease in gas prices on Monday, with White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre using a menu graphic to demonstrate that this Thanksgiving will be “the cheapest ever.” In her remarks to reporters, Jean-Pierre boasted that “gas prices are down a dollar and 70 cents from their peak” in June 2022, when the per-gallon price at the pump soared above $5.
The Biden administration has taken numerous actions that have hampered domestic energy production since coming into office in January 2021. President Joe Biden killed the Keystone XL pipeline within his first few hours in the Oval Office, with his administration issuing the smallest number of oil and gas drilling leases since the 1940s and the most restrictive offshore oil and gas leasing schedule in modern American history in September.
Gas prices only retreated from their high-water mark in the summer months of 2022 after Biden opted to release about 180 million barrels of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve, bringing the total available supply down to about 17 days worth of fuel. A vast majority of the releases have not yet been offset.
Fuel prices are not the only commodity that will cost Americans more this holiday weekend.
The price of turkey, measured by the index for uncooked poultry excluding chicken, jumped by 31.2% between January 2021 and October 2023, according to data analyzed by the Daily Caller News Foundation. As of October, the average price of bread has also spiked by about 26% since Biden assumed office, with the price of potatoes jumping by about 14% in the same window.
“What is a family to do at this time of year when they’re already drowning in credit card debt and faced with such sharp price increases? I suspect some will cut back, either inviting fewer guests or serving less food, perhaps less expensive food,” E.J. Antoni, a research fellow for the Heritage Foundation’s Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget, previously told the DCNF. “Others may go further into credit card debt. It is heartbreaking that during this time of year when we’re supposed to be giving thanks for our abundance in the wealthiest country on earth, families are instead forced to cut back.”
The White House did not respond immediately to the DCNF’s request for comment.
Nick Pope on November 23, 2023
