[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 47 (Wednesday, March 16, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1205-S1206]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Inflation
Mr. THUNE. Madam President, on Thursday, the February inflation
numbers were released, and the news wasn't pretty. Inflation for
February was 7.9 percent, the highest inflation since January of 1982--
January of 1982, 40 years ago. We are in the grip of the worst
inflation in 40 years.
American families have been hit hard by this crisis as the price of
everyday necessities has soared, and energy prices, particularly gas
prices, are one of the top challenges facing Americans. Energy prices
are up 25 percent on average from a year ago. Electricity is up 9
percent. Propane, kerosene, and fire wood are up 19 percent. Utility
gas services are up 23 percent, and prices at the pump for gasoline are
up 38 percent.
The national average for a gallon of gas was $4.31 on Tuesday, up
from $2.86 a year ago. That is $1.45 more per gallon. That is a big
problem for American families. That is a big problem for our entire
economy.
High energy prices don't just have an impact when Americans fill up
their cars; they affect prices across the economy. High energy prices
drive up the cost of operating a factory. They drive up the cost of raw
materials, and they drive up the cost of getting goods to customers.
President Biden would like to blame the inflation situation,
particularly high energy prices, on Vladimir Putin. I don't need to
tell anyone how ludicrous that is. Our inflation crisis has been going
on for a year. Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine 3 weeks ago. I am afraid
passing the buck to Putin doesn't hold water.
Now, it is true that the uncertainty surrounding Putin's war and
corresponding sanctions on Russia are partly to blame for the most
recent spike in gas prices. But had gas prices been lower to start
with, Americans wouldn't be feeling the sanctions-triggered bump to the
extent that they are.
Democrats' American Rescue Plan spending spree helped create our
inflation crisis. Americans need to look no further than the White
House when wondering how the United States, a recent net exporter of
energy, is not on stronger footing to weather these tumultuous times.
The President has pursued an energy agenda that has done next to
nothing to help drive energy prices down and is, in fact, almost
guaranteed to increase energy prices long term and increase our
reliance on foreign sources of oil.
From the moment he took office, the President sent a negative signal
to energy producers by making it clear that his administration was not
going to be embracing conventional energy production.
He set the tone for his administration on day 1 by canceling the
Keystone XL Pipeline--an environmentally responsible pipeline project
that was already underway and that was to be paired with $1.7 billion
in private investment and renewable energy to fully offset its
operating emissions.
He also almost immediately froze new oil and gas leases on Federal
lands, sending a clear signal to oil and gas producers that his
administration would be reluctant to work with them to increase
American energy production.
Now, President Biden has recently been touting the number of
available permits for oil and gas development, which is positive as far
as it goes, but new permits have dropped precipitously this year. And
issuing permits alone isn't enough to get development going.
The Biden administration has thrown up roadblock after roadblock to
actual energy development. Companies are struggling to break through
regulatory redtape to actually get oil and gas development up and
running. For example, they have struggled to obtain right of way to
build essential development infrastructure, like access roads to oil
rig sites. They are also struggling to get timely pipeline permits to
transport the oil and gas that they extract.
Unfortunately, they know exactly how this administration feels about
building pipelines. And the Biden administration is fully responsible
for
[[Page S1206]]
these problems. The administration has the ability to immediately take
action to expedite American oil and gas development by clearing away
the redtape that companies are facing.
It is refusing to do so. Instead, President Biden seems ready to
increase our reliance on energy imports from despotic governments in
volatile areas of the world. That is not acceptable. Energy
independence, relying on homegrown production instead of foreign energy
sources, is key for a number of reasons.
For starters, energy security is national security. The more we rely
on imports from other countries, the more that we are dependent on
those countries. We have seen that during the current conflict in
Ukraine. European companies like Germany have been unable to divest
from Russian energy because they rely on that production.
Without Russian energy, more than one country in Europe would face a
dire energy shortage--as Putin is well aware. We don't want to give
another country that much power over us.
Energy independence, and the robust energy production that comes with
it, also reduces the risk to Americans from price hikes in the global
market. The more oil and gas the United States produces as a share of
the global market, the more we are able to influence global supply,
which is the leading driver of cost.
The Biden administration has not been good for American energy
independence. We have increased our reliance on foreign sources of
energy during this administration, including our reliance on Russian
energy production.
And now that we have banned Russian energy imports, President Biden
seems ready to replace Russian energy, not with increased American
production but with oil and gas from human rights-challenged countries
like Venezuela.
I realize that President Biden and many Democrats would like to see
the United States focus solely on alternative energy production, but
the fact of the matter is that we are a long way from being able to
rely exclusively on alternative energy technologies. Whether Democrats
like it or not, our country is going to need oil and natural gas for
quite a while yet, and all of Democrats' wishful thinking isn't going
to change that.
The answer is not to get that oil and natural gas from despots in
volatile areas of the world but to get it from American energy
production.
President Biden and his administration may not be solely to blame for
high gas prices, but they have the power. They have the power to help
lower energy prices by unleashing American energy production--all of
it, both alternative and conventional--and they are responsible for
their failure to do so.
We need an ``all of the above'' energy policy that embraces
everything from oil and gas to hydroelectric and nuclear, to solar and
wind. And when it comes to alternative energy production, we need to
invest in all proven clean energy technologies, not just the
administration's preferred technologies like electric vehicles. The
administration has neglected important clean energy technologies like
biofuels, which have demonstrated significant emissions reductions
versus conventional gasoline.
As a resident of a rural state, I would like to see the
administration get serious about leveraging agriculture as an energy
solution and work to expand biofuel production and consumption. This
means not only setting robust blending targets and rejecting specious
small refinery exemptions but approving advanced fuels from corn kernel
fiber and restoring the year-round sale of E15.
Last week, I led a letter to the President with the Democratic whip
and colleagues from both parties urging the President to enable E15 to
be sold during the upcoming travel season to provide Americans with a
lower cost fuel that would help displace Russian oil.
Yesterday, the President's Press Secretary said that ``E15 was on the
menu.'' Well, it deserves real consideration. American drivers can't
afford for the President not to take action. The President could get us
on a path to lower energy prices today--today--by announcing that his
administration will get serious about expediting American production of
oil and natural gas. If he fails to do so, then he really will be
responsible for the prices that Americans are facing at the pump and
for the hit that our national security will take from our increasing
reliance on foreign sources of energy.
I hope the President will decide to unleash American production and
put our Nation on a path to long-term energy independence.
I yield the floor.
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