Rep. Lauren Boebert managed to produce a viral moment when she attended Tuesday evening’s State of the Union Address by President Joe Biden.
The Colorado Republican’s black outfit featured three words in gold lettering: “Drill baby, drill” — a criticism of Biden’s reversals of Trump-era policies aimed at developing more U.S.-based fossil fuel, which led to the country becoming energy independent for the first time in decades.
Also, the stunt came as gas prices hit a seven-year high this week; “notably, Biden has canceled the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline and recently halted new oil and gas leases indefinitely,” The Daily Wire reported.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) posted a photo of Boebert’s outfit to Twitter, which he approved of and agreed with.
My friend at
Drill Baby Drill!
— Ted Cruz
The viral moment for Boebert comes as oil prices are skyrocketing again in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, though prices were rising steadily beforehand.
“Oil prices surged Tuesday, with U.S. crude hitting its highest level since June 2014 as Russia bears down on Ukraine’s capital,” CNBC News reported just a few hours before Biden gave his address Tuesday night.
“West Texas Intermediate crude Futures, the U.S. oil benchmark, jumped 11.5% at the highs of the day to $106.78 per barrel. The contract eased off that level during afternoon trading and ended the session at $103.41, for a gain of 8.03%,” the outlet continued.
Fox Business, meanwhile, added, “The U.S. and its allies released 60M barrels of oil into the market, with America pushing the lion’s share of 30M on Tuesday, to temper rising crude prices. The problem is, it didn’t work.”
In November, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm admitted during a CNN interview that Americans will be paying more for gas, adding she hoped prices did not hit $4 a gallon — which they have in many parts of the country.
“So, according to AAA, the national average of gas prices is now $3.42 a gallon. Bank of America is predicting crude oil prices could soar another 50 percent by next June,” CNN host Dana Bash said. “Could the average gas price in America be $4 a gallon in the United States soon?”
“Well, we certainly hope not,” Granholm responded. “As I say, the Energy Information Agency is going to put out their forecast this week.”
“The president is all over this,” she claimed.
“Should Americans in what will likely be a cold winter — most of them are — expect to pay higher prices for heating their homes?” Bash asked at a later point.
“Yeah, this is going to happen,” Granholm responded. “It will be — it will be more expensive this year than last year. We are in a slightly beneficial position, certainly relative to Europe, because their chokehold of natural gas is very significant.”
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