#shorts On 10/18/2022, Bloomberg News reporter Jennifer Jacobs asked White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre why Joe Biden is announcing another release of oil before the midterms. She asked if this is merely a political ploy ahead the midterms to help Democrats hold on to the House and Senate, the reporter asked, “And then one more on the SPR release. Some White House officials have been talking for the last few days about the fact that it’s a possibility.”

Can you explain why, with gas prices — you mentioned earlier that gas prices are going down again — why would the U.S. need another SPR release from that 180 million barrels that you already announced? Why would you need that now if prices are already dropping?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, again, I’m not going to get ahead of the — the President. As you know, there’s going to be an announcement tomorrow on the President’s policy, next move — his next move forward on what he’s going to do … So, you know, as you note, gas prices have indeed come down. I just listed some of the states where we had seen a — an increase and now we’re seeing a decline this past week. They came down at the fastest pace in over a decade this summer and have continued to fall in recent days … President Biden is going to continue to take action to make sure that he lowers costs.

Reporter: And do you have any response to those who would say — who are criticizing the White House saying that this seems like a ploy ahead of the midterms?

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Look, the President — I would say this to folks: Should the President not do everything that he can to lower prices? Should he not continue to keep his prime — promise to give American people a little bit of breathing room? You know, that’s the promise that he’s made. Should he not do that?

And so, that’s what you’re seeing right now. This is something that he has done throughout the summer