President Joe Biden incorrectly claimed on Thursday that the price of gasoline was over $5 a gallon when he entered the White House, while the then-average price of regular gasoline was just $2.39.
“Today, the most common price of gas in America is $3.39—down from over $5 when I took office,” Biden said during a Thursday speech on the CHIPS and Science Act in Syracuse, New York, claiming declining gas prices are adding up to real savings for families. “We need to keep making that progress by getting energy companies to bring down the price of a gallon of gas to reflect the cost of paying for a barrel of oil,” the president added.
According to historical data from the Energy Information Administration, the weekly regular gasoline price in the United States was $2.39 per gallon in late January 2021 and remained under $3 a gallon until May last year. The average national retail price topped $5 for the first time ever this June, about a year and a half after Biden took office.
By Oct. 28, a gallon of regular gas cost $3.76, more than 30 cents above what Biden claimed a day earlier, the latest AAA data show. However, AAA said fluctuating oil prices and low demand are driving the national average downward.
Biden’s latest remark follows a pattern of comments that have caused far-reaching diplomatic and domestic impacts, from saying Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power” to declaring the COVID-19 pandemic “over.” Biden’s verbal miscues and other gaffes commonly go viral before White House staff scurry to walk back his statements, leading some Republicans to call on the president to take a cognitive test.
Fox News reported that the president made at least 17 gaffes over the past four weeks, including mispronunciations and confusing or inaccurate statements.
A White House spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Biden, the oldest president in history, said on Sunday that queries toward his age are “totally legitimate.” If Biden, who will turn 80 years old in November, wins reelection in 2024, he would be 86 at the end of his second term.
During his Thursday speech, the president also addressed domestic inflation, as a third-quarter gross domestic product report released the same day estimates the U.S. economy increased at a 2.6 percent annualized rate last quarter, after contracting at a 0.6 percent pace in the second quarter.
“Economic growth is up; the price of inflation is down; real incomes are up; and the price of gas is down. Folks continue to spend, but now at a more stable pace than during our rapid recovery last year,” Biden said.
