With the rising cost of gas, Virginia lawmakers are now weighing in on what can be done.
Recently, some lawmakers have asked President Joe Biden's administration to tap into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The reserve is used for emergencies only and could bring prices down by addressing demand.
Senator Tim Kaine said he does support tapping into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
He said that supply chains got completely disrupted and haven't been normal since pre-pandemic.
"The more and more Virginians get vaccinated, the more and more Americans get vaccinated. We can see a sense of uplift coming, and I think the supply chains will start to kind of reorient, and you might see gas prices start to come down again," Kaine said.
Senator Kaine also added between the infrastructure bill and the Build Back Better Bill, there will be incentives to move beyond gas to electric vehicles and higher efficiency vehicles.
Republican Congressman Morgan Griffith also weighed in on this issue. He said we're seeing high prices because of Biden's policies, such as, canceling the Keystone Pipeline and not updating and repairing a pipeline in Michigan that brings in oil from Canada.
He said dipping into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is only a short-term fix.
"The underlying is we have sent a message to the market that the United States is not interested in doing our own exploration and producing our own oil and making sure that we are self-sufficient on energy," Griffith said.
Griffith also said one of the committees he sits on sent a letter to the House of Representatives to have a hearing about addressing high gas prices on Friday. So far, he said there hasn't been a response.