Good morning, and welcome to Thursday’s US political blog.
Joe Biden will address high gas prices in a lunchtime briefing on energy from the White House, at which he is expected to announce a record release of up to a million barrels of oil daily from US strategic reserves. Oil prices have already fallen sharply today at the news.
The Ukraine conflict continues to dominate the headlines globally, and you can follow all the developments in the Guardian’s main live news blog here.
Here’s what else we’re watching in the US today:
The Trump-era immigration policy that blocked asylum seekers at the border because of the pandemic is likely to end on 23 May, with an announcement expected as early as this afternoon. We wrote about it yesterday here.
The former vice-president Mike Pence has taken another dig at his old boss Donald Trump by releasing a conservative policy agenda urging Republicans to look forward, and not to focus on past grievances.
There’s growing agitation among congressional Democrats over lack of legislative action from the Biden administration. The president met with progressive and moderate caucuses separately last night, and House speaker Nancy Pelosi is likely to be asked about it at her weekly press conference this morning.
White House communications director Kate Bedingfield will hold her daily press briefing at 3pm.
