Day 111: Biden & Co. Don’t Care About Your Gas Shortages.

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On Day 111, the Colonial Pipeline shutdown draws attention to just how m pipelines work—but that’s not the “prism” we’re using, White House says.

White House: Pipelines Are “The Best Way To Go”.

The White House was forced Tuesday to beg Americans in states affected by the Colonial Pipeline shutdown not to hoard gasoline, with energy secretary Jennifer Granholm calling the situation a “supply crunch,” but not a “gasoline shortage.” Governors throughout the southeast declared states of emergency and took measures to facilitate fuel delivery and protect customers from price gouging.
Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia were especially hard-hit, reporting 42 to 65 percent of each states’ gas stations depleted. Gas prices are also soaring, reaching a national average of $3.00 per gallon as of this writing. The White House issued a one-week waiver allowing certain states to use noncompliant fuel to ease shortages and a temporary hours of service exemption. 
Asked whether the White House is “rethinking their opposition to new pipeline projects since one really important one goes offline and gas stations start running dry,” press secretary Jen Psaki replied, “I wouldn’t say we look at it through that prism… We look at it we analyze both the economic impact as well as the environmental impact. And that will certainly remain the case, but we look at each pipeline project individually.”

Cybersecurity Is “On The Mind of The President”

In light of the attack on Colonial Pipeline, Psaki was asked Tuesday what cybersecurity measures the president intends to add to his infrastructure proposal, since there currently are none. Answer: “It’s on the mind of the President.”

“As we work and have discussions with Congress and as we finalize details of the American Jobs Plan, we are talking about investing in critical infrastructure. And, you know, we’ve looked at, for example, what we saw in Texas and the need to better protect and better prepare for even events like that—weather events—where infrastructure could have been better protected. And certainly, ensuring that cybersecurity is a part of that conversation is on the mind of the President and one he’ll look forward to his team having with members and with staff on the Hill moving forward.”

President Joe Biden had claimed the day before that investing in safeguarding critical infrastructure was “one of the many things my American Jobs Plan is designed to do,” but the infrastructure plan notably doesn’t include dedicated cybersecurity funding.

White House Picks Up New Corporate Partners.

Three new corporate partnerships look to give Biden a boost toward reaching his goal of a 70 percent vaccination rate.
The president announced Tuesday that ride-share companies Uber and Lyft will offer free rides to anyone traveling to or from a vaccination site as part of a grassroots push. McDonald’s is also partnering with the White House to promote the COVID-19 vaccine through 50 million redesigned coffee cups, launching in July. 

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The National Pulse is a part of the American Principles Project.

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