[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 101 (Thursday, June 10, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4033-S4035]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Foreign Policy
Mr. President, since this administration--the Biden administration--
came into office, I and a number of Senators,
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Democrats and Republicans, have been trying to work with them on a
number of important foreign policy issues, particularly as it relates
to China.
The President is now in Europe, and a couple days ago, he wrote an
op-ed in the Washington Post where he stated that the United States
must lead the world from positions of strength.
By the way, his National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, also has
made this argument. It is actually a really good argument, that the
United States needs to lead the world, particularly competition with
countries like Russia and China, from positions of strength. I couldn't
agree with that more.
But let me just talk about two areas where we have strength relative
to any other country in the world and where this administration is not
reinforcing that but is undermining it. And I really, really hope they
change. Let me begin with the obvious one in terms of our foreign
relations and national security--the U.S. military.
We have a position of strength; there is no doubt about it. We have
the finest fighting force in the world, maybe in the history of the
world. We need to continue to lead with strength and value the men and
women who raise their right hand and volunteer for this incredible
fighting force, not with words but, most important, with actions and
with funding.
Here is where this administration is clearly missing the mark. This
is a breakdown of the Biden administration's blowout $6 trillion
budget. As you can see, it lays out priorities, and I think we can all
agree that if you look at this chart, the military and national defense
are simply not priorities. To the contrary, they are dead last in terms
of this administration's priorities.
Look at this. Every Agency you can imagine--Commerce, HHS, EPA,
Interior--there are double-digit--20 percent or more--increases in
their budget. Where are the two national security Agencies in the Biden
administration's priorities? They are down here. Actually, we see a 2-
percent increase in Defense, a 0.2-percent increase in Homeland
Security, but inflation is now estimated at 4.2 percent, so the numbers
here are actually declines--inflation-adjusted decreases in the
Department of Defense's budget and Homeland Security's budget. Dead
last.
We had an Armed Services hearing today with the Secretary of Defense
and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs--two gentlemen I have a lot of
respect for. They have a tough job because they had to come up to the
Hill and pitch this budget, when I believe they didn't agree with that
budget. I don't think Secretary Austin and General Milley want to cut
defense spending, but guess what--that is what they had to pitch today
In the hearing, I asked them this question. Budgets are a reflection
of an administration's priority. If you look at this chart, it is clear
that the Biden administration prioritizes defense spending in our
military and our national security last--dead last. So my question to
them was, how can you tell our troops that we are prioritizing their
mission, defending America, when it is clear, again, from this document
and from the Biden administration's budget that it is dead last? To be
respectful to General Milley and Secretary Austin, they didn't have a
very good answer because there is no good answer. There is no good
answer.
But we know that one country is prioritizing their defense spending.
I also showed General Milley and Secretary Austin this chart. This
chart, if you look at it, is where the U.S. annual change in defense
spending is--that is the blue--and where the Communist Party of China's
annual defense spending is. That is the red.
Again, if you take a look, these big declines here, that is the
second term of the Obama administration, where they cut defense
spending in the United States by 25 percent. Not good. Not good for our
troops. The increases here are when the Republicans had control of the
U.S. Senate during the Trump administration era, when we were
increasing our defense spending and increasing readiness. And now we
are starting to go back to the previous Biden-Obama era of cutting
defense spending. What have the Chinese been doing? Every year, at
least 6 percent and sometimes 12, 13 percent.
Again, this is not being from a position of strength for the United
States, as the President of the United States says we must.
Let me just make one final point in another area in terms of a
position of strength. One of the other areas of our country's strength
right now--and nobody disagrees with it--is in the area of energy. In
the last 10 years, we have had an energy renaissance in our country,
turning us into a true global superpower of energy: Largest producer of
natural gas in the world; bigger than Russia. Largest producer of oil
in the world; bigger than Saudi Arabia. Largest producer of renewables
in the world. All of the above.
Our country has been trying to get to this point where we are the
world's energy superpower--again, we were in this position during World
War II--for the last several decades, and this has always been a
bipartisan endeavor. Jimmy Carter wanted energy independence, and so
did every other President before and after him, and we are there.
But we are on the cusp of seeing this enormous strategic advantage to
our Nation, to working families, to our environment, disappear. Why?
Because the Biden administration is restricting energy production in
America, is having senior officials like John Kerry and Gina McCarthy
go to Wall Street and tell our Wall Street executives: Don't invest in
the energy sector, and they are stopping the permitting of pipelines
where we need to move our energy. In fact, the President is fine with
killing the Keystone Pipeline and the 10,000 jobs that go with it but
is approving the Russian Nord Stream Pipeline. That is a gift to
President Putin.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record
a Wall Street Journal editorial today entitled ``America's Energy Gift
to Dictators.'
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[From the Wall Street Journal]
America's Energy Gift to Dictators
(By The Editorial Board)
China, Russia and Iran will exploit the US. retreat on fossil fuels:
The U.S. is barreling toward one of the greatest self-
inflicted wounds in its history. This came into sharper focus
last week when President Biden suspended oil leases in
Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), even as
Russia and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OPEC) announced production increases.
Mr. Biden's anti-carbon fusillade will have no effect on
the climate as global demand for fossil fuel will continue to
increase for decades no matter what the U.S. does. Meantime,
Russia, China and Iran will take advantage of America's
astonishing fossil-fuel retreat.
Not long ago, the U.S. depended on OPEC for much of its oil
supply. But hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling
enabled producers to extract oil and natural gas once
believed unrecoverable. Shale frackers from North Dakota to
Texas unleashed a surge of oil and gas onto global markets,
breaking OPEC's dominance on supply. OPEC tried to break U.S.
producers by flooding markets, but frackers became more
efficient. By 2019 the U.S. was producing nearly two-and-a-
half times as much crude as in 2008. OPEC and Russia have had
to limit their production to lift prices to shore up budgets
that depend on petrodollars.
U.S. producers reduced investment during the pandemic as
demand plunged. While prices have since recovered to a two-
year high, a larger U.S. retrenchment driven by government
and progessive investors is on the way.
Two weeks ago the hedge fund Engine No. 1 allied with big
asset managers, government pension fund and proxy advisers
ousted three Exxon Mobil board members in a climate proxy
battle. Shareholders also passed a resolution requiring
Chevron to reduce its downstream emissions. The latter is a
de facto mandate to withdraw from oil and gas.
America's big banks have red-lined U.S. coal companies and
refused to finance oil projects in ANWR, which the 2017 GOP
tax reform opened up to development. Now the Biden
Administration is trying to wall off the Arctic again as it
launches a regulatory assault on fossil fuels--from tighter
emission rules to endangered-species protections.
The anti-carbon left says the U.S. must banish fossil fuels
to meet the Paris goal of limiting global warming to 1.5
degrees Celsius relative to pre-industrial temperatures. This
is incompatible with a worldwide population that is expected
to grow by two billion by 2050. It would require an enormous
reorganization of the global economy that would keep billions
in poverty.
Electric vehicles would have to make up 60% of worldwide
car sales by 2030, according to a recent International Energy
Agency report. ``You have 800 million people who do not have
access to electricity. You can't say that they have to go to
net zero [carbon]. They have to develop,'' Indian Minister of
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New and Renewable Energy Raj Kumar Singh said in March.
Unless there is some technology breakthrough, demand for
fossil fuels will continue to grow for decades. And Russia
and China will take advantage of U.S. energy disarmament.
Russian oil giant Rosneft warned last fall that retrenchment
by U.S. and European companies would result in higher prices
and shortages. ``Someone will need to step in,'' Rosneft
senior executive Didier Casimiro said.
In November Rosneft announced a $170 billion oil and gas
project in Russia's north, which it claims can supply the
entire world's oil demand for a year. It says the project
will become the world's largest liquefied natural gas
producer by 2030. Russia is also laying down thousands of
miles of oil and gas pipelines to supply Europe and Asia.
Vladimir Putin is gloating that Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas
pipeline to Germany will soon be finished, as Mr. Biden has
refused to sanction Russian companies running the project.
But he didn't care about upsetting Canada when he killed the
Keystone XL pipeline. Nor Alaskans when he suspended the ANWR
leases. Mr. Biden wants to curtail North American energy
development while he stands by as Russia uses its natural
resources for strategic gain.
That includes coal, by the way. Russia is spending more
than $10 billion on railroad upgrades to boost its coal
exports. According to a new report by the Global Energy
Monitor, coal producers--in Australia, China, India, Russia
and South Africa--are planning mining projects that would
increase global output by 30%. China has 112 coal mines under
construction. It is also developing shale.
Progressives want to surrender one of America's major
strategic economic advantages in the name of saving the
climate. But banishing fossil fuels in the U.S. won't
eliminate carbon emissions, which will be produced somewhere
else. So will the jobs, economic growth and geopolitical
leverage.
Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, here is how this excellent editorial
begins:
The U.S. is barreling toward one of the greatest self-
inflicted wounds in our country's history.
I could not agree more.
The editorial goes on to list the different actions that I just
mentioned--restricting energy production in America, including in
Alaska, with ANWR, restricting pipelines, encouraging defunding of the
energy sector. It is not good for the country.
The editorial also notes that this will have no impact on global
greenhouse gas emissions. None. None. It is virtue signaling at the
expense of working families, working Americans, and our national
security.
Right now, we are beginning to import more oil from Russia than we
ever have. How does that make any sense? How does that help a working
family in Alaska or Maryland or anywhere? It doesn't. It does one
thing: It empowers countries like Russia and Putin and Saudi Arabia at
the expense of the United States. This is a fact. Yet, every day you
hear a new action. You read a new quote from someone in this
administration focused on killing the energy sector of the United
States. Again, as the Wall Street Journal just mentioned, this will be
recognized in history as one of the greatest self-inflicted wounds,
with no upside. No upside.
We have the highest environmental standards in the world in Alaska
when we produce oil. Highest in the world. Russians have the lowest,
and yet we are now preferring Russian oil over American oil.
Can anyone tell me how this makes sense? It doesn't.
Here is how the editorial concludes:
Progressives want to surrender one of America's [most]
strategic economic advantages in the name of [so-called]
saving the climate. But banishing fossil fuels in the [United
States] won't eliminate carbon emissions, which will [just]
be produced [elsewhere]. So will . . . jobs [and] economic
growth and [the] geopolitical [advantage that comes with our
energy dominance].
Let me conclude by saying this. As I mentioned, I agree with
President Biden and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. We need to
address challenges, particularly with our adversaries like China and
Russia, from positions of strength. Two of the most prominent positions
of strength--the U.S. military and our energy dominance--right now are
being undermined by this very administration.
They need to change course, and if they do, we will support their
actions.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Louisiana is recognized.