Watch Live: Biden speaks on administration's actions to lower gas prices
CBSN
President Biden is updating the country Thursday on his administrations efforts to lower gas prices, as Americans continue to face high prices at the pump.
The Associated Press reports the president is preparing to order the release of up to 1 million barrels a day from the country's strategic petroleum reserve as a way to control price spikes caused by, among other factors, Russia's invasion of Ukraine. For weeks, reporters have asked the White House whether the U.S. will release oil from the United States' reserves, and the White House has consistently said it is considering all possible tools to lower prices.
Reports that Mr. Biden is planning to tap the reserves pushed oil prices down nearly $5 a barrel in overnight trading. But the overall economic impact to drivers remains unclear. U.S. oil on Thursday traded at $101.65 a barrel. The national average for gas is $4.23 a gallon, according to AAA, compared to $2.87 a year ago and $3.61 a month ago.
Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.