day for six months. predicting the painful price of the pump will go down fairly significantly. but still, there are questions about how soon struggling americans could feel some relief. abc s chief business and economics correspondent rebecca jarvis leads us off. reporter: tonight, reporter: tonight, with gasoline near record highs, president biden promising to lower prices with the largest ever release of oil from the nation s strategic petroleum reserve. 1 million barrels a day for the next six months, up to 180 million barrels total. there isn t enough supply. and the bottom line is, if we want lower gas prices, we need to have more oil supply right now. reporter: the additional supplies accounting for about 5% of america s daily consumption. analysts blame forces like the pandemic and political uncertainty for a drop in u.s. oil production in recent years. i m calling for a use it or lose it policy. congress should make companies pay fees on wells on federal
investors and executives. look, i m a capitalist. i have no problem with corporations turning a good profit. but companies have an obligation that goes beyond just their shareholders. to their customers, their communities and their country. no american company should take advantage of a pandemic or vladimir putin s actions to enrich themselves at the expense of american families. investing those profits in production and innovation, that s what they should do. invest in your customers. and it isn t just like it s not the patriotic view. it s good for your business as well. right now, oil and gas industries are sitting on nearly 9,000 unused but approved permits for production on federal lands. or more than a million unused acres, they have a right to pump on. families can t afford that companies sit on these on their hands. so, to help execute this first part of my plan, i m calling for a use it or lose it policy.
fact that we even have to have this discussion about rational rationing testing at this point. yeah. i mean, dr. hotez, i mean, i know it doesn t make any sense to you. why why are we in this situation? i mean, obviously, you know, i mean, it it s there s been two administrations now in which testing has not been adequate. it s it is never gotten off the ground and and from the very beginning, we have had we have struggled with this. and now of course, now we have some guidelines that are add some confusion. and actually, now send a mixed message because you know we made a big announcement or the president made a big announcement about purchasing half a billion diagnostic tests. and then, the cdc today says, well, use it, i guess, if you feel it s important. but by the way, if it s negative, it doesn t mean very much because you still have to wear a mask. and so so, that also adds to the confusion, as well. so, it we really have to define our algorithms around
not itemizing your deductions. you could actually contribute up to $100,000 out of those minimum distributions. important thing to remember is that you do it directly from that ira. now, 529s, those contributions, for those kids that are going to be going to college, it s not allowed to be deductible on a federal basis. however, check your state because some states do allow tax benefits for that. now, fsa, flexible spending account, that s a use it or lose it so you want to make sure that you re using up all those funds and, finally, before the end of the year if you used up your deductibles for your medical, get out and see the doctor because you can take advantage of that deductible already being met. new year, you start all over again. do it now, todd.
next, a recent report on the effective climate change here predicts fewer snow covered days and a a chance of more days above the threshold needed for snow to fall. you are the land manager here, gym jim, you have been doing it for 25 year, what are the changes you have noticed in terms of weather systems and snow conditions? i noticed in terms of weather systems and snow conditions? and snow conditions? i think the baseline, temperature, - and snow conditions? i think the baseline, temperature, has- and snow conditions? i think the - baseline, temperature, has changed, less than one degree but maximum minimum temperature we are seeing a change. we get more extremes, so we might get warmer summers and bigger snow falls as well, so any given year, there could be big anomalies as it goes through, so, it is adapting to these storm cycles that seem to be getting stronger these days. seem to be getting stronger these da s. ., , , ., , days. and the irony is last winter ou had days. and t