While President Biden plans to release more U.S. crude oil from the country’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, his energy policies are still being criticized by Oklahoma Congressman Tom Cole.
In his weekly update “From Rep. Tom Cole’s Desk,” the congressman stressed again how Biden’s “Green New Deal” efforts resulted in skyrocketing energy prices but also presented a security threat to the U.S.
His column follows:
American Energy is Global Security
Since taking office, President Joe Biden has significantly slowed down energy production in the United States to pursue his unreliable and disastrous “Green New Deal.” In turn, our country and our allies have been forced to rely on other nations around the globe for energy and gasoline, even those that do not have our best interests in mind. Not only has this caused energy prices to skyrocket, but it also presents a security threat to the U.S. and our allies in the wake of Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked aggression against Ukraine.
Unfortunately, it is the American people and our allies paying the price of President Biden’s war on American energy. As the conflict in Ukraine continues, several European nations have revealed a price cap plan on Russian oil exports to limit Putin’s nearly $20 billion monthly oil revenues. Although this plan may be well intentioned, it puts many of our trusted allies and their citizens at risk before the winter months as Putin threatens to turn off the spigot in retaliation to these price caps.
The Biden Administration should be unleashing the full capacity of the American energy industry in order to reduce reliance on Russian oil exports. Indeed, we already have the resources here at home to support Ukraine and our European allies and to ensure Putin does not win this war, which is critical for the U.S. and the security of the entire world. As the world’s top superpower and the leader of democratic nations, it is incumbent upon us to provide energy resources for nations that do not possess that capacity for themselves.
While we could immediately help Americans and our allies abroad through greater access to reliable and affordable energy, the Biden Administration continues to ignore the obvious solutions to the energy crisis. Upon assuming office, President Biden halted construction and expansion of the Keystone XL pipeline and prohibited new leases for drilling on federal lands and waters. Sadly, he refuses to acknowledge the need to change course on these earlier decisions. Instead, he has been traveling abroad begging foreign nations for more oil and proposing policies that have no effect on the current energy crisis.
Under the Federal Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Reform Act, lease sales are required to be held quarterly in each state. While the president and Democrats continue to blame Russia for all of America’s energy hardships, the Biden Administration has in fact leased fewer acres of federal land for oil and gas drilling than any administration since President Truman. Moreover, House Democrats continue to block the American Energy Independence from Russia Act from coming to the House floor for a vote. If enacted, this legislation would allow the United States to lower prices at home and help our allies abroad by unleashing American energy production.
The war in Ukraine has illustrated why the United States has a vested interest in producing our own energy. With the European price cap likely to take effect and inevitably be met with Russian backlash, even U.S. Secretary Janet Yellen is warning that energy prices could spike again this winter, despite the price decreases we have seen the last few weeks. Unfortunately, instead of working on commonsense all-of-the-above energy policies, Democrats are stifling American energy production and threatening global security for the sake of misbegotten green energy policies at the bequest of the radical left. The time is now for the president to come to the center, as he promised he would during his campaign, and negotiate with Republicans for the betterment of the American people and our allies around the world.