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Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., on Tuesday bragged about buying an expensive electric vehicle amid a global semiconductor chip shortage and being able to bypass historically high gas prices on her road trip to Washington, D.C.
Stabenow briefly weighed in on gas prices, which hit a national average of $4.94 per gallon Tuesday, during Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s testimony before the Senate Finance Committee on President Biden’s 2023 budget.
Senator Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat from Michigan, speaks during a hearing in Washington, D.C., US, on Tuesday, June 7, 2022.
(Photographer: Sarah Silbiger/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“I do have to say, just on the issue of gas prices, after waiting for a long time to have enough chips in this country to finally get my electric vehicle,” the senator said. “I got it and drove it from Michigan to here this last weekend and went by every single gas station, and it didn’t matter how high it was.
GAS PRICES COULD HIT $5 THIS WEEK, EXPERT SAYS
“And so I’m looking forward to the opportunity for us to move to vehicles that aren’t going to be dependent on the whims of the oil companies and the international markets,” she added.
Stabenow went on to hail Biden’s handling of the economy and blamed the “global supply chain” for the reason “we’re not getting enough of those chips for automobiles.”
Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Chairwoman speaks at a press conference on the introduction of legislation to help Americans with the nationwide baby formula shortage at the U.S. Capitol Building on May 17, 2022 in Washington, DC.
(Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
In her prepared testimony, Yellen said the U.S. is facing “unacceptable levels of inflation” and that elements of Biden’s proposed budget, “including the clean energy initiatives and plans to reform the prescription drug market,” can “help lower the costs paid by American consumers.”
The hearing comes one week after Yellen admitted she was “wrong” about the path of inflation after downplaying its threat to American consumers for months.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speaks during a news conference with Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe at Government buildings in Dublin, Ireland, Nov. 1, 2021.
(REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne)
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“I think I was wrong then about the path that inflation would take,” she said during a CNN interview. “As I mentioned, there have been unanticipated and large shocks to the economy that have boosted energy and food prices and supply bottlenecks that have affected our economy badly that I didn’t at the time fully understand.”