[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 109 (Wednesday, June 23, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4708-S4709]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 RUSSIA

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, for the first time earlier this 
month, President Biden traveled to Europe. The primary purpose for this 
trip was to engage with some of America's closest friends and allies, 
but the agenda also included a one-on-one meeting with a staunch 
adversary, Vladimir Putin.
  The President took office armed with a great deal of tough talk on 
Russia. He called his counterpart a ``killer'' and a ``KGB thug'' and 
warned he would ``pay [the] price'' for interference in U.S. elections. 
The world wondered whether this rhetoric would be underpinned by tough 
action. I certainly hoped it would.
  Back in January, I made it clear that if the Biden administration was 
serious about ``imposing real costs on Moscow,'' it would ``find 
willing partners on Capitol Hill.'' But so far, there have been few 
encouraging signs for those of us who take Russia's threats very 
seriously.
  Remember, after less than a week in office, President Biden agreed to 
Russian requests for a full 5-year extension of the New START Treaty, 
no strings attached. He gave it up for free, undermining our leverage 
to extract concessions in future negotiations.
  Then, his administration rolled out a budget proposal that would cut 
investment in defense, in real terms--shortchanging the modernization 
we need to keep pace with both Russia and China.
  And 2 weeks ago, the President left for Europe, having already given 
the Kremlin two other gifts: a high-profile summit that experts 
predicted Putin would use to help legitimize his regime at home and 
abroad and a waiver of sanctions on the Russian-owned company behind a 
lucrative gas pipeline project.
  So I will repeat for President Biden the same warning I offered to 
the previous administration: The Kremlin is

[[Page S4709]]

not our friend, and it is high time our actions started reflecting 
that.
  Back home, of course, the Biden administration has proven it knows 
perfectly well how to crack down on energy pipeline projects when it 
wants to. In fact, on the day he left for Europe, the firm behind the 
Keystone XL Pipeline project announced that the President's revocation 
of its construction permit would be fatal. That is the end of it. What 
a striking image. The President of the United States heads overseas and 
meets with a major adversary whom he has handed a major geopolitical 
win, and here at home, the last nail goes in the coffin of the job-
killing crusade against reliable North American energy that he said on 
day one was a priority.
  It is a tale of two pipelines: the decisive rejection of thousands of 
American jobs here at home and the empowerment of America's adversaries 
abroad. And it is only the latest sign that the Biden administration's 
strategic priorities are simply out of order.
  Recall, this administration rushed to rejoin a climate agreement that 
has failed to hold major signatories to their commitments on reducing 
emissions, even as the United States recorded multiple years of 
reductions on our own.
  This administration made it harder to cap our abundant and domestic 
energy, even at the risk of greater reliance on imports from countries 
with lower environmental standards. And, of course, they proposed to 
squander years of accumulating economic pressure on Iran in exchange 
for no meaningful concessions on its nuclear ambitions or regional 
aggression.
  So when President Biden elected to pass on another opportunity to 
check the influence of a major adversary, we had heard this story 
before.
  Here in Congress, opposition to the completion of the Nord Stream 2 
Pipeline has been vigorous and bipartisan. Last year's Defense 
authorization, which earned 84 votes here in the Senate, expanded the 
scope of sanctions against critical entities involved in its 
construction. We are talking about a project that would give Putin a 
new artery of influence in Western Europe and rob Ukraine of critical 
leverage over the way Russian energy currently flows throughout the 
region.
  But, apparently, the Biden administration's own opposition to the 
project was just rhetorical. When the chips were down, the President 
used a waiver to avoid having to place sanctions on the biggest company 
behind the project and its CEO--a Putin crony. According to reports, 
his decision even overruled the objections of senior diplomats and the 
concerns of his very own Secretary of State.
  Oddly enough, the administration's decision to snuff out union jobs 
in the energy sector here at home didn't seem to prompt as vigorous an 
internal debate. In fact, President Biden's Executive action to kill 
the Keystone XL has been followed by a steady stream of radical 
proposals that illustrate just how deep his administration is in thrall 
to the environmental fringe.
  Under the guise of infrastructure, they pitched trillions of dollars 
in Federal spending, aligned so closely with most liberal interests in 
Congress that the authors--the authors--of the Green New Deal boasted 
President Biden's agenda had their manifesto's DNA all over it: 
unprecedented spending on electric vehicles, huge increases in funds 
for transit projects that disproportionately benefit blue States on the 
coast, and plans to pick winners and losers in the market for 
affordable, reliable American energy.
  So American workers know what a thriving energy sector looks like. It 
is exactly what Republicans spent 4 years working to encourage here at 
home.
  As a matter of fact, if you hit pause on Washington Democrats' 
radical climate rhetoric, you will notice that smart energy policy 
isn't limited by political stripe. For years, the liberal government up 
in Canada has recognized pipelines as a safe and efficient way to 
connect people with affordable, reliable energy and grow what is 
already the largest sector of United States-Canada trade. So it was 
hardly surprising to hear one Canadian official greet President Biden's 
decision to sink the Keystone XL Pipeline as ``an insult''--an insult--
or to read that the Canadian firm behind the project is now pursuing 
legal action to recoup its investment.

  So capitulation to our rivals, painful blows to our neighbors, 
legitimizing corrupt foreign leaders, and jamming hard-working 
Americans--whatever his motives, and despite his own rhetoric, the 
consequences of President Biden's actions are already clear.
  It is not too late to impose real costs on Russia's pipeline windfall 
and provide serious, lethal support to Ukraine and other vulnerable 
States on the frontlines of Putin's aggression. It is not too late to 
get serious about the defense investment that bipartisan assessments 
say that we need--that we need--in order to compete with China and 
Russia. It is not too late to recommit to bipartisanship on 
infrastructure and on energy and show radical climate activists the 
door.
  I hope the Biden administration changes courses sometime soon.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority whip.

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