Despite reassurances from the White House that it is doing nothing to discourage oil companies from opening new drill sites, President Joe Biden’s allies in Congress just months ago pressured oil executives to decrease outputs because of climate change, raising questions about the Democratic Party’s strategy to lower prices for consumers.

In late October, for example, the House Oversight and Reform Committee called in the CEOs of Exxon, BP, Shell, and Chevron to explain what steps they are taking to produce less oil and gas, with Rep. Hank Johnson (D., Ga.) alleging that “the world can’t wait” any longer. At the time, gas prices were hovering around a 10-year high…

In one exchange during the October hearing, Khanna pressed Shell president Gretchen Watkins on whether she agreed that “under the Paris agreement that … we need to have oil and gas production declining every year.” After she answered that the company believes “that hydrocarbon demand needs to reduce if we’re going to get to net zero [emissions] by 2050,” Khanna demanded to know whether Shell will decrease its production by 2 percent each year, a figure initially offered by the company in 2019.