Biden says he worries that cutting oil production too fast will hurt working people

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President Biden spent three days in Rome talking to world leaders before and during the G-20. He held a formal press conference before heading to the UN climate summit in Glasgow.

Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

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Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

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Biden said the idea that Russia, Saudi Arabia and other producers are holding back to boost prices «is not right.» With gas prices averaging $3.40 a gallon in the US, according to AAA, Biden said families are feeling it.

«It has profound impact on working class families just to get back and forth to work,» Biden said. He talked about the issue with other major oil-consuming countries at the G-20, but told reporters he was reluctant to reveal any of their plans to spur producers to pump more.

Biden says he isn’t worried about his sagging approval ratings

Surging gas and grocery prices and supply chain snarls have prompted concerns among Americans about the state of the U.S. economy, even as unemployment continues to improve and wages rise.

Biden’s approval rating has sunk well below 50%. An NBC News poll released Sunday that found 70% of Americans say the country is headed in the wrong direction, eight points worse than in August, a moment when Biden’s fortunes really began to slide because of the surge in COVID-19 cases and the chaotic troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Asked about his poll numbers, Biden said «the polls are going to go up and down and up and down,» adding that he didn’t seek the presidency for the ratings.

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President Biden leaves the stage after addressing a press conference at the end of the G-20.

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Lawmakers within his own party have struggled to agree on the scope and cost of his plan. «It’s going to pass in my view – but we’ll see,» he said, saying a vote could happen soon.

He acknowledge that climate activists found the G-20 agreement on climate measures underwhelming, but blamed Russia, China and Saudi Arabia for not making commitments. «I found it disappointing myself,» he said.

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President Biden leaves the Vatican on Oct. 29 after visiting Pope Francis.

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Biden’s meeting with Pope Francis will be both official and deeply personal

Biden had told reporters the pope told him he was a «good Catholic» and should continue to receive communion. Asked how that made him feel and whether it should put the debate to rest, Biden said «a lot of this is just personal,» explaining that Francis had «provided great solace» after the death of his son Beau Biden in 2015.

«He is just a fine, decent honorable man,» Biden said of Pope Francis. «He is everything I learned about Catholicism from the time I was a kid going from grade school through high school.»