Oklahoma Congressman Tom Cole says President Biden’s energy policies are still diminishing the nation’s energy independence while pursuing what Rep. Cole calls “out-of-touch energy policies.”
In his weekly column this week, the Republican Representative said Biden refuses to acknowledge the obvious solutions right here in America.
Here is his column:
Since President Joe Biden was sworn into office, he has waged an all-out war on American energy and unfortunately the American people are paying the price. In fact, gas prices have more than doubled in just two years, and it is estimated that the average American is spending more than $2,000 extra a year on fuel. However, instead of using the resources here in our own country to bring relief to the American people, he continues to diminish our nation’s energy independence and pursue out-of-touch energy policies.
Just last week, President Biden doubled down on his green energy agenda. Reports also suggest his plans to declare a “climate emergency,” in order to direct funds for more Green New Deal climate policies without congressional approval. The result of this action would dangerously move the country further away from oil and gas drilling in the United States, which has already been proven disastrous to our economy.
The cost of energy and fuel affects nearly every aspect of industry here at home and forces producers and businesses to raise their prices. President Biden already has the tools to ease the pain at the pump such as restarting the Keystone XL Pipeline and allowing for more drilling on federal lands and waters. Sadly, he refuses to acknowledge these obvious solutions and instead has been traveling abroad begging foreign nations for more oil and proposing policies that have no effect on the current energy crisis. In fact, the president last month asked Congress to temporarily waive the federal gas tax of 18.3 cents per gallon, but this gimmick was rightfully denied by both Republicans and Democrats.
The president also previously ordered the release of 1 million barrels per day from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for six months. Although our nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) was created so that the U.S. would have a stockpile of crude oil supply to be used in the case of an emergency, President Biden has nearly drained it. Not only was this ineffective at easing the pain at the pump, but his administration recently sold nearly 1 million barrels of our emergency reserves to Communist China. Selling our emergency oil to adversarial countries completely undermines the security this reserve provides America.
House Democrats and the Biden Administration believe the way to ease the pain at the pump is to force Americans into buying electric vehicles that cost $50,000 or more. Americans are not looking to spend more money on vehicles, they need immediate help saving money on skyrocketing gas prices.
One year ago last week, President Biden said that inflation was only “temporary” and would only last for a few weeks or months. Now, Americans are still facing the harsh reality of the results of over-spending in Washington. In fact, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has nearly doubled from 5.4 percent to 9.1 percent since then. Not only was the president wrong about inflation, but he also continues to be wrong on how to handle it as he and Democrats continue to try to spend our country dry and crush U.S. energy production.
Gas prices are higher than they have ever been. As a nation rich in energy resources and emerging technologies, America has the resources here at home to pursue an all-of-the above energy strategy that encourages domestic energy production and reduces America’s dependency on foreign oil. If the president and Democrats continue to chase Green New Deal climate policies and ignore our energy resources that are already in the U.S. and readily available, Americans will continue to struggle.