[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 20 (Tuesday, February 1, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S434-S435]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                 Energy

  Mr. President, I come to the floor today to talk about a different 
issue, and that is the need for more American energy.
  Right now, the American people are facing the worst inflation in 40 
years. In November, we saw the biggest price increases from an energy 
standpoint in 10 years. CNBC reports that one in five American families 
could not afford to pay an energy bill this past year. Roughly the same 
number of Americans have kept their homes at an unhealthy temperature 
because they can't afford the cost of energy to heat it.
  Gas prices have gone up by roughly $1 a gallon since Joe Biden took 
office. This is the fastest increase in gas prices in 40 years. The 
price of gas affects the price of everything else. It is increasingly 
expensive in this country to transport goods from the farm and from the 
factory to the people who need the products. As a result, the American 
people aren't just paying more at the pump; they are also paying more 
at the grocery store.
  So why are energy prices rising so quickly? Well, demand is up and 
supply is down. It is basic economics.
  Under Joe Biden, American energy production still hasn't recovered in 
this country to the levels that we were producing energy prior to the 
pandemic. Why would that be? Because this is a direct result of the 
anti-American energy policies of this White House.
  On his first day in office, Joe Biden killed the Keystone XL 
Pipeline. He blocked new oil and gas leases on public lands all across 
the country. He stopped the exploration for energy in the Arctic. He 
tried to ban exploration for energy off our coasts. He has threatened 
to raise taxes on American energy. So what happened? Well, as a result 
of this radical, anti-American, Biden energy agenda, we are failing to 
produce enough energy in this country, and people who have the capacity 
and ability to do it and have worked those jobs for a long time are 
having a hard time keeping a job.
  America is now producing 1.4 million fewer barrels of oil each and 
every day than we were prior to the pandemic. We are now using more oil 
from Russia than we are from Alaska. This is specifically the result of 
the Biden policies.
  Joe Biden is attacking American energy. He is turning into a great 
salesman for Russian energy. I mean, why is it that right now, we are 
importing twice as much--twice as much--crude oil from Russia as we did 
a year ago? It is because of Joe Biden. Joe Biden has even had his 
National Security Advisor plead with Russia to produce more oil to sell 
to the United States.
  I know the Presiding Officer may find that very hard to believe, but 
all you have to do is go to the White House's website and read the sad 
fact.
  Just months after he killed the Keystone Pipeline, Joe Biden gave a 
big stamp of approval to Vladimir Putin--to Putin--for his pipeline, 
the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline. He killed the American pipeline and 
approved the Russian pipeline. Joe Biden's energy policy is, pipelines 
for Putin and no pipeline for the American people, and the American 
people have been paying the price as a result. It seems that Joe Biden 
would rather have us buy energy from our enemies than have us produce 
the energy in our country and sell it to our friends.
  So, as a result of the Biden policies, Vladimir Putin has hit the 
energy financial jackpot. For decades, Putin has used energy as a 
geopolitical weapon. How does he use it? He uses it to coerce and 
intimidate, and that includes our allies. We saw this in November when 
Putin shut off the flow of natural gas to Moldova. By giving Vladimir 
Putin Nord Stream 2, President Biden gave Putin a new geopolitical 
weapon, and now Putin is emboldened, and he is flush with cash.
  Right now, today, Vladimir Putin is preparing to do something he has 
wanted to do for years. He has amassed over 100,000 troops on the 
border with Ukraine. With the Winter Olympics about to begin in China, 
Russia is expected to invade Ukraine. If Russia invades, this will only 
worsen the energy crisis in that part of the world but also here as 
well.
  Vladimir Putin is cunning, he is opportunistic, and he is aggressive. 
When he sees an opportunity, he takes it. Putin can smell weakness, and 
he views our President, Joe Biden, as weak and ineffective.
  The sledgehammer we have against Putin is to shut down the Nord 
Stream 2 Pipeline and to do it permanently. Last month, this body had 
an opportunity to do just that. Yet Senate Democrats filibustered the 
bill. The same Democrats who voted to get rid of the filibuster on the 
floor of the Senate used the filibuster to shut down a bill that many 
of them have supported for years. This is hypocrisy at its worst.
  Democrats, last week, based on lobbying from the White House, refused 
to sanction Putin's pipeline. The Nord Stream 2 Pipeline is going to 
lead to an enormous transfer of wealth from our allies to our enemies. 
It is going to make our allies weaker, and it is going to make Vladimir 
Putin that much stronger. When Putin gets stronger and wealthier, what 
does he do? Well, he tends to become more aggressive. It is not just a 
threat to Europe; it is a threat to the whole world.
  So I have introduced legislation called the ESCAPE Act. My bill 
imposes mandatory sanctions on Russian pipeline projects, and it 
expedites the sales of American natural gas to our NATO allies.
  We have the ability to produce massive amounts of more energy in the 
United States than Joe Biden and the Democrats are allowing our country 
to produce, and, of course, the Democrats are killing jobs and hurting 
paychecks in the process.
  It is incumbent upon us to give our allies an opportunity to have 
energy and not be beholden to Vladimir Putin's supply. We need to 
produce it here. We have it here. We should be producing it here.

[[Page S435]]

  Vladimir Putin knows how to turn off the lights, and he knows how to 
raise energy prices in foreign countries. We can't let Europe become 
more dependent on Vladimir Putin for anything, and neither should we 
become more dependent, although that seems to be the Biden policy. Buy 
more crude oil from Russia than we were a year ago--Joe Biden in 
action.
  We need to expand our exports. We need to expand the production of 
American energy. We have it, and we have the capacity to do it. If we 
want to reduce inflation--and that is the No. 1 topic I heard about in 
Wyoming this past week as I traveled around and visited with high 
school groups, rotary clubs, people in diners, and folks all around the 
State in many, many communities--then why aren't we just producing more 
energy at home? That will help bring down the costs at the pump, the 
cost to heat, and the cost to get goods to market.
  We need to be producing it in America, in this country, and not be 
beholden to the far-left extremists who want energy costs to go up when 
the American people are struggling to get by. Energy is called the 
master resource for a reason. It powers our Nation. It powers our 
military. It powers our economy. The same is true for our allies. We 
should not allow our allies to fall into the clutches of Vladimir 
Putin, even though that is what Joe Biden's policies are doing today.
  We need more American energy, not less, and we need it now.
  I yield the floor.