In The Hill this week, Oklahoma Republican Congressman Kevin Hern offered a column on his thoughts about President Biden and his war on oil and gas.
Here is what he wrote:
The Biden administration refuses to take the blame for their self-inflicted energy crisis. While gas prices have steadily risen for a year, Biden wants Americans to believe that — rather than his own failed policies — it’s conflict on the other side of the planet causing your gas prices to rise.
Certainly, the invasion in Ukraine is causing further hardship, but the energy crisis goes much further back. In fact, most of our crises — energy, crime, border security, inflation — can all be traced back to Jan. 20, 2021.
Biden took the oath of office and immediately began dismantling everything President Trump did, regardless of the potential harm to the American people. As a result, prices on just about everything have risen every month of the Biden presidency. Biden’s had countless opportunities to turn back from his anti-Trump strategy and re-institute successful policies, but he refuses.
At this point, all I can assume is that it’s intentional. Biden is intentionally destroying the American way of life in an attempt to force a radical shift to Green New Deal policies that will overturn nearly every aspect of our lives. At his State of the Union Address, he barely even mentioned energy.
The Biden administration is taking a page out of Obama’s book: never waste a crisis. While the American people suffer under record-high gas prices, the Biden Administration tells us the solution is to buy an electric vehicle — at an average price of $55,000. Instead of unlocking domestic energy production, they want to begin a long, expensive and unnecessary transition to the Green New Deal.
Biden is looking everywhere but his own backyard for new energy sources. He hasn’t even acknowledged Nicolás Maduro as the legitimate president of Venezuela, but he may lift sanctions on Venezuela to access their oil. An Iran nuclear deal is back on the table in pursuit of oil from the Middle East.
The answer isn’t with dictators and autocrats, it’s in Oklahoma. It’s in Texas, Louisiana, West Virginia, North Dakota, Alaska, Pennsylvania, and many more states who are ready to step up to the plate to provide the energy the world needs.
Under President Trump, domestic oil production peaked. The United States was on track to be a net exporter of crude oil for the first time since Tulsa was the oil capitol of the world a century ago.
Much of the world gets their energy from the planet’s worst dictators and human rights violators. Our allies are reliant on oil from Russia and OPEC nations, just like we are. Russia gets about $700 million a day from oil sales to the U.S. and Europe combined. An energy-dominant United States not only helps Americans, but our allies around the globe. When the U.S. is a net exporter of crude oil, the whole world prospers.
Without a stable domestic energy supply, we are dependent on foreign oil. Putin has no incentive to alleviate oil pressures while under sanctions from the U.S. and other NATO nations. Neither Putin nor OPEC owe us any effort to lower gas prices.
Under Biden, energy independence is gone, and energy dominance will remain a pipe dream.
On Day 1, Biden ended the Keystone XL Pipeline, halted leasing on federal lands for oil and gas productions, and levied heavy restrictions on domestic oil producers, making it harder to produce oil in America. This abrupt switch caused widespread uncertainty and disruption in the domestic oil market, limiting our ability to produce oil in the U.S. and forcing dependence on foreign nations to power our country.
How much longer are we expected to stand by while Biden intentionally destroys our country?
I know my colleagues across the aisle are concerned about rising costs. Their constituents are mad about it, just like mine. If Democrats were willing to look inward, they’d connect the dots on cause and effect, but they refuse to accept that their policies are the root cause of our current problems, and they refuse to hold their president accountable.
After over a year of failed policies, you and I and everyone outside of Congress has connected the dots. We know where these problems originated — and it’s not Ukraine.
Democrats’ faux sympathy for American families’ plight at the gas pump is just that: fake. They know the rise in prices can be traced directly back to Biden’s first day in office. They know how we got here, and they know how to fix it — they just won’t do it.
Until Biden confronts his own failed decisions, I fear the energy crisis is long from over.
Hern represents the 1st District of Oklahoma and is a member of the Ways and Means Committee.