Schumer claims gas prices ‘never go down.’ The real story is quite different. Democrats so believe their own lies...It's gas taxes that never go down.

Schumer claims gas prices ‘never go down.’ The real story is quite different.

Tré Goins-Phillips  1 min

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer claimed Sunday that gas prices “never go down,” while — in reality — they are at their lowest point in 12 years. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) says gas prices “never go down” when — in reality — they are at a 12-year low.

Schumer, speaking Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” told host George Stephanopoulos that gas prices can only go up, citing “huge companies buying up other big companies” as the catalyst for the high cost.

“Gas prices are sticky — you know, when the domestic price goes, uh, when the, uh, price for oil goes up on the markets, it goes right up but it never goes down,” the liberal senator claimed. “How the heck did we let Exxon and Mobil merge?”

But according to the Federal Reserve, Schumer has it all wrong. In fact, the agency specifically cited gasoline costs as an example of prices that aren’t “sticky.”

“We all know that some prices change more frequently than others: Digits at the gas pump vary daily, but haircut prices rarely budge,” the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis explained. “Haircuts, then, are a sticky-price item and gasoline is not.”

And a quick look at the facts clearly shows the flexibility of the gasoline market.

As of July 17, the nationwide average gas price was $2.39 per gallon, which is down from $2.47 per gallon when President Donald Trump assumed office, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

And over the Independence Day weekend, the national average gas price was $2.23 per gallon — the lowest price since 2005, the American Automobile Association reported. Twelve years ago was the first time gas prices surpassed the $2.00 mark for the July 4 holiday.