Watch: Vance is pressed on gas prices, recognizes they're "too high"

Channel: CBS News

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] you're making the argument here uh in

[0:01] the state of Michigan and this is one of

[0:03] those races that could decide the

[0:04] outcome who controls the Senate. And

[0:06] it's closer than I think a lot of people

[0:08] expected. It's close in part because

[0:10] there are some Trump voters from 2024

[0:13] who have now switched to say I'm going

[0:14] to vote for a Democrat this time around.

[0:16] I'm going to vote for Abdul El Sad. In

[0:18] fact, we have one of those voters here

[0:20] tonight. Uh Keshan Weeden. He's a 43y

[0:22] old barber. Keshan, where are you?

[0:24] >> He's got a question for the vice

[0:25] president. Go ahead.

[0:26] >> Greetings, Mr. Vice President. My name

[0:28] is Keshan Weeden from Detroit and I

[0:30] voted for Trump in 2020 and 2024 because

[0:33] I saw the gas prices fall during his

[0:36] first term as low as 117 a gallon in

[0:39] Detroit and now I'm paying 433 a gallon

[0:43] for gas and I wanted to know what aren't

[0:45] we doing that we could be doing to

[0:47] obtain the previous Trump

[0:49] administration's gas prices and also I

[0:52] plan on voting for El Say in this

[0:55] upcoming election and I wanted to know

[0:57] why should I vote for Mike Rogers

[0:58] instead.

[0:59] >> Okay. Well, I really appreciate that,

[1:01] man. And uh appreciate the question and

[1:03] obviously the support in 2024. I'm vice

[1:05] president because of it. But I I I think

[1:07] that first of all, I recognize that gas

[1:10] prices are too high right now. And I

[1:13] think it's important to be honest about

[1:14] why they are so elevated. And there are

[1:16] a few different things going on. So the

[1:18] first thing that's going on obviously is

[1:20] what's happening in the Middle East,

[1:21] particularly the fact that the Iranians

[1:23] are shooting at every commercial ship

[1:25] that they can. It's a global energy

[1:27] market. So that's pushing up the price

[1:28] of fuel everywhere. But there are also a

[1:30] lot of things that we've done already to

[1:32] lower fuel prices and frankly to keep

[1:34] them from going even higher. We've never

[1:36] had a situation like this where you have

[1:38] effectively the largest state sponsor of

[1:40] terrorism that's trying to completely

[1:41] choke off world energy supply. The fact

[1:44] is that if we just like left and we let

[1:47] the Iranians control shipping out of the

[1:49] straight of Hormuse, uh what what what

[1:51] that would mean is is you would pay a

[1:52] lot more for gasoline. There are also

[1:55] other things that we frankly should have

[1:56] been doing years ago and we are now

[1:58] doing quite affirmatively. So a couple

[1:59] days ago I was in Texas and we announced

[2:01] that we're going to use what's called

[2:03] the Defense Production Act to massively

[2:05] increase the amount of refining capacity

[2:07] uh that we have in the United States of

[2:09] America. That's actually the biggest

[2:10] reason why gas prices are so high is

[2:12] because when Joe Biden was president, we

[2:14] had about 20% of American refining

[2:17] capacity that went offline. We're slowly

[2:19] bringing that online, but it does take a

[2:21] little bit of time. And because we shut

[2:22] down so much refining capacity, we were

[2:25] more susceptible to the shock that we've

[2:27] seen in the Middle Eastern energy

[2:30] prices. So there's a lot that we we we

[2:31] we are doing. It's just we also are

[2:35] working against an Iranian regime that's

[2:37] shooting at commercial shipping. And

[2:39] >> President Vance, go ahead. If I may,

[2:41] Keshan's talking about this increase in

[2:43] gas prices just since you guys took

[2:45] office. Uh it's almost been two years.

[2:47] At a certain point, it becomes your

[2:48] economy, not Joe Biden's economy. Also,

[2:51] back in March, right here in Michigan,

[2:53] you said it was just a temporary blip in

[2:55] gas prices. How long is temporary?

[2:58] >> Well, look, um I I don't think that when

[3:01] when this conflict is over, we are going

[3:03] to see gas prices come down. But it

[3:05] takes two to tango. And what's happening

[3:07] right now in the Middle East is that you

[3:10] have these terrorists who are shooting

[3:12] at all these ships. They're blowing up

[3:15] the ships. They're blowing up world

[3:16] energy markets in the process. And what

[3:18] we've tried to do, we've actually gotten

[3:19] more oil and gas out of out of the the

[3:22] Middle East than we've had in a very

[3:23] long time. That's because, frankly, our

[3:25] troops are doing incredibly brave work.

[3:26] And we're the only people in the world

[3:28] that could actually do it. And I guess

[3:30] that Keshan, what I would I would argue

[3:32] to you is yes, I'm very aware. And and

[3:36] look, you know, you probably know my

[3:37] story. I grew up in a working-class

[3:39] family. When gas prices were high, I

[3:42] know that it made my grandmother suffer.

[3:44] And I'm sure that you're struggling with

[3:45] it in in a variety of ways. But what I

[3:47] would say is is what is Abdul Elsed

[3:50] saying about it and what is Mike Rogers

[3:52] saying about it and what are their

[3:53] actual ideas to fix the problem? And

[3:55] what I'd say is we drew down way too

[3:58] much oil and gas capacity and we drew

[4:00] down way too much refining capacity. We

[4:03] are bringing that stuff online but it

[4:05] does take a little bit of time. Now I

[4:07] see what Abdul says about the war in

[4:09] Iran. And I see he criticizing decisions

[4:11] that the president has made, the

[4:12] military has made. But fundamentally, we

[4:15] are where we are. And you have to, in my

[4:17] view, I'd like to know what is Abdul

[4:19] Sed's solution for the problem that we

[4:22] have right now. It's easy to criticize

[4:24] something that happened seven months

[4:25] ago. And the reason why I think Mike

[4:27] Rogers is going to make a great senator

[4:29] is because he's fundamentally a problem

[4:30] solver. By the way, he he's one of the

[4:32] point I want to make on this, Tony, is

[4:33] he's been remarkably independent about

[4:35] this. It's not easy for a Republican

[4:37] who's running for Senate in Michigan to

[4:39] say, for example, we got to bring this

[4:40] conflict to a close. He has done that,

[4:42] shown a willingness, I think, to stand

[4:44] against his own party on that. So, I I

[4:45] think Mike is a courageous guy, but most

[4:47] importantly, he's a problem solver. And

[4:50] there's a lot that we are doing right

[4:52] now to work against those rising energy

[4:54] prices. It's too high, but we're working

[4:57] on