yes, 4.2 million people have come back into the work force. those are all signs of a recovery that is still going. but for an american family, as you were saying, going up to the gas pump, going through the grocery line, you know, they re getting hit by higher prices than they should need to. you know, we re not going to pretend there is a silver bullet that s going to stop the global phenomenon of the gas price going up. it doesn t mean there s not things we can do. the president has reduced a large amount of oil from the strategic oil reserve. he s allowed e-15 gasoline to be able to put downward pressures. he called today for legislation to prevent the exorbitant hikes on shipping that are being passed on to americans to do other measures that congress can do with them that might not directly hit gas but still lower the price that families are paying in prescription drugs, internet, utility bills. and finally, yes, we re glad
other countries. now, this is a not any comfort to any american going to the gas pump but it is the fact that we are all suffering from this again, this unthinkable aggression. what the president s made clear is he gets it. yes, we have had record-job growth. yes, we have 3.6% unemployment. yes, 4.2 million people have come back into the workforce. those are all signs of a recovery that is still going. but for an american family, as you were saying, going to the gas pump, going through the grocery line. you know, they are getting hit by by higher prices than they should need to. now, we are not going to pretend there is a, you know, a silver bullet that s going to stop the global phenomenon of the goes price going up but doesn t mean there is not things we can do. the president s already released a historic automatic of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve. e already allowed e-13 to be able for downward pressures. he called today for legislation to prevent the exorbitant hikes
that was $87 when putin made this first move, that s over $125. so, yes, it is it has given some relief compared to doing nothing, but it s not enough and i understand it s going to be very little comfort to an american family going through the grocery line, going through the gas pump to know it s even worse for a family in canada or europe and or would be even worse if the president had not taken historic action on the strategic petroleum reserve. i promise you this, there is openness to virtually to a variety of different policy options that we could get if we could get bipartisan cooperation to do even more to bring down the price of gas or the price of other basic goods or the cost of other basic things from prescription drugs to child care for the very same american families who are dealing with this putin tax hike. what about a windfall tax for big oil so that some of the record profits go back to
related to russian aggression and variance of delta and omicron. we know when the president said this, it is little comfort for her family driving up to the gas pump are going through the grocery line and seeing those high prices. yes, even if it is a global phenomenon, people want to see their leaders taking it on. that is why this president tried to do everything he could both legislatively and administratively to have a plan to have lower prices and make, as he said, bringing down those prices his number one priority for working families right now. you said people still have money saved up. the debt services lower. there comes a point and it looks like it will be in the not too distant future. it will hit everyone really hard in the pocketbooks. they will suddenly feel much poor were then they have in the last two or three years. they will pull back on consumer