GOP senator attacks Biden for gas crisis after it's fixed

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) on Thursday attacked the Biden administration for not responding to the recent cyberattack against an oil pipeline, days after President Joe Biden had already begun working with the pipeline’s owner and it was brought back online.

On May 8, Colonial Pipeline company revealed that it had been attacked online via ransomware, forcing the shutdown of its 5,500-mile East Coast pipeline. The news led to panic-buying at gas stations and a temporary shortage of fuel.

But at the time Kennedy made his attack on Thursday afternoon, the Biden administration had already been working on the problem with Colonial for days.

On Thursday on Fox News’ “The Faulkner Focus,” host Harris Faulkner played a viral video clip of a fight at a gas station pump, then said, “The White House now is finally admitting there is actually a fuel shortage.”

Saying, “It doesn’t seem to matter to the White House,” Faulkner set the topic for Kennedy: “How do you cover up all those cars in line, and now people are reaching their breaking point?”

“Well, there are times, not always, but there are times I think that President Biden may have a blind spot on some issues about the lives and concerns of ordinary Americans,” said Kennedy. “When you’re trying to feed your family and educate your kids, the price of gasoline matters.”

Kennedy went on: “I can tell you how not to solve this problem. You don’t solve this problem by spending a kazillion dollars on building 500,000 charging stations for electric cars when only a handful of Americans drive them.”

“We cannot run the greatest economy in all of human history by putting fairy dust and unicorn urine in our cars,” Kennedy said.

Colonial announced a few hours before Kennedy appeared on Fox that the pipeline was back online and transporting gas.

In a speech on Monday, Biden noted that his administration had been in contact with Colonial and that they had been tracking the issue “extremely carefully.”

“I have been perfectly — personally briefed every day,” said Biden, adding, “The Department of Energy is working directly with Colonial to get the pipelines back online and operating at full capacity as quickly and safely as possible.”

Biden said that he had given an emergency order to the Department of Transportation to loosen restrictions on fuel transportation so that more could be delivered to gas stations via tanker trucks.

In a statement released on Monday, Colonial praised “the support we have received from the Federal Government.”

On Tuesday, the company said, “We would like to thank the White House for their leadership and collaboration in resolving this matter,” a sentiment that was reiterated on Wednesday.

In remarks on Thursday, President Biden noted that the pipeline was back online and said the U.S. government would be working on “a measure to disrupt the ability” of the hacker group identified as the culprit, DarkSide.

Biden also advised the public to avoid panic-buying so that supplies would not be limited and prices wouldn’t rise.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.