KINSLEY GAFFE: State Dept. official slammed for saying he prefers high gas prices.
A US State Department official is under fire after declaring he prefers the country’s historically high gas prices because it leads to less carbon-dioxide emissions.
Alan Eyre, a self-described government “bureaucrat” according to his Twitter profile, was slammed online after he responded to President Biden’s tweet touting that Americans will spend $30 less on average per month on gas after prices have fallen since gas reached “peak prices” earlier this year.
“I prefer high gas prices = less driving, less CO2,” Eyre said in a Tweet Friday.
Republican congressional candidate Ron Bassilian ripped into Eyre, calling him a “ghoul” and arguing that gas prices are “inelastic” to American drivers.
“Perhaps, but I don’t think it is inelastic and I remember in the 1970s the oil embargo led to a massive increase in renewables,” Eyre replied and added the hashtag #BeKind.
Eyre’s comment comes days after Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg requested Congress subsidize electric vehicle purchases as millions of Americans struggle to fill up their gas-powered cars.
Related: Let them pump gas: Elitist environmentalists have contempt for working class.