[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 61 (Wednesday, April 6, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H4388-H4391]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       ENERGY INDEPENDENCE, NATIONAL SECURITY, AND FOREIGN POLICY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 4, 2021, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Pennsylvania 
(Mr. Kelly) for 30 minutes.
  Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to address some 
of the biggest problems facing the United States today and, quite 
frankly, the world.
  As the war between Russia and Ukraine wages on, many Americans have 
been quickly reminded of just how global our economy really is.
  Now, prior to the war, Russia provided the United States with 8 
percent of our Nation's oil and refined products. A war involving 
Russia can suddenly spike fuel prices at your local gas station. Like 
many nationwide, drivers in my home district of western Pennsylvania 
have seen gasoline at over $4 a gallon for well over a month.
  The interruption of our Nation's oil supply and subsequent 
skyrocketing prices are just the latest reminder that we need to 
refocus our energy policies in Washington and produce more energy right 
here at home in America.
  Let's go back to May 2021, when two things happened: the United 
States imported a record amount of Russian oil, and President Biden 
waived sanctions on Nord Stream 2. That is the Russian natural gas 
pipeline set to supply much of Europe with energy.
  Now, 4 months earlier the President canceled the Keystone XL pipeline 
between the United States and Canada. That pipeline would have 
delivered an additional 830,000 barrels of crude oil a day. That is 
830,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
  That would have gone to U.S. refineries, and it would have created 
thousands and thousands of jobs. That is more oil than the United 
States imports from Russia each day. This is a no-brainer. Just bring 
back the pipeline. It is so easy to do and so easy to institute.
  Why would we not do that?
  Why would we not be energy independent?
  We can't depend on bad foreign actors such as Russia, Venezuela, or 
Iran to help provide our Nation's energy. Above all I applaud the 
collective effort right here in Washington to stop bankrolling the 
Russian war machine by buying their products.
  According to the Council on Foreign Relations, revenue from the 
energy sector is responsible for more than 40 percent of Russia's 
federal budget. Some quick, back-of-the-envelope math, the 8 percent of 
Russian oil we imported equates to 672,000 barrels of oil per day.
  But this moment calls for a broader push to end our reliance on 
foreign energy sources.
  To start, President Biden should reverse his executive order banning 
the Keystone pipeline.
  Next, we must return to Trump-era energy policies that made the U.S. 
energy independent. To amend the former President's famous tag line, 
let's change it to make North America great again.
  According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 61 percent 
of U.S. crude oil imports come from Canada. Another 11 percent comes 
from Mexico. Seventy-two percent comes from our neighbors to the north 
and our neighbors to the south.
  We should be expanding oil imports from our allies and neighbors 
rather than paying our adversaries who can hold our energy sector 
hostage. Doing so not only makes economic sense, but it improves 
relations with those closest to us and further strengthens our national 
security by becoming less dependent on bullies like Russia, Venezuela, 
and Iran.
  Now, on the other hand, President Biden has single-handedly made 
Americans poorer and our Nation's security weaker during his first year 
in office. His anti-fossil fuel, Green New Deal wish list has placed 
unnecessary burdens on the oil and gas industry.
  Even as gas prices are reaching record highs here nationwide, just 
last month President Biden had announced that he is pausing decisions 
about new Federal oil and gas drilling as part of his plan to tackle 
climate change. And that is just the beginning.
  So far, President Biden has announced the release of 80 million 
barrels of oil from the Nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Just last 
week President Biden announced he will release up to another 180 
million barrels of oil over the next 6 months in an effort to drive 
down gas prices. That doesn't drive down gas prices.
  That theory really sounds good, but, Mr. Speaker, I want you to think 
about where that oil is coming from. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is 
to be used in times of a national emergency when we don't have a 
supply. It is not used to just try and rack up some cheap political 
points by saying: I am doing this so you won't have to pay that much at 
the pump.
  It is not working. It never will work.
  Now, on November 23, the administration released 50 million barrels 
from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. According to the U.S. Energy 
Information Administration, the average price of gas dropped by a 
whopping 2 cents. In following days, by December 6, it dropped another 
3 cents. So we saved a nickel, but we attacked our Strategic Petroleum 
Reserve.
  Now, as of March 25 the reserve supply was 568 million barrels, 
meaning that President Biden is ready to take one-third of our Nation's 
reserve and use them for his short-term political gain that has already 
proven to not lower gas prices for America but has weakened the 
reserve.
  Now, keep in mind, the purpose of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is 
to counter severe supply chain disruptions and enhance national 
security. It is not to make your polls look better, Mr. President.
  The 80 million barrels the President previously released are worth 
only about 4 days of U.S. oil consumption. Only the President can 
decide to withdraw oil from or refill the reserve. What is even more 
frightening so far is China has hardly tapped their oil reserves. 
President Biden's shortsighted decision-making is dangerously harming 
our national security.

[[Page H4389]]

  Now, I am proud to represent the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 
a place once deemed and called the Saudi Arabia of natural gas. 
Pennsylvania produces 21 percent of the natural gas extracted in the 
United States. That is second only to Texas, according to the Energy 
Information Administration.

  In 2020, the Energy Information Administration adds that U.S. dry 
natural gas production was about 10 percent greater than U.S. total 
natural gas consumption. That means we can export natural gas that we 
produce creating energy security for other nations, notably our 
European allies who are currently dependent on Russia for their natural 
gas, and it forges a stronger foreign policy in the process.
  Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the spike in fuel costs go hand in 
hand with American foreign policy. If we are dependent on bad actors 
for energy, then we are subjecting ourselves to their demands. But if 
we can supply the world with affordable energy, then we can strengthen 
our international ties and reinforce relationships instead of falling 
behind. Most importantly, we give the American people a greater sense 
of security that Russia so desperately seeks to have only for itself.
  On the topic of foreign policy, Mr. Speaker, I want to quote a great 
fellow Pennsylvanian, Benjamin Franklin, who said: ``By failing to 
prepare, you are preparing to fail.''
  Now, I have thought an awful lot about our Founding Father's words as 
we watched current events unfold around the world. So much of what we 
are seeing right now mirrors itself in history.
  Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine is a stark reminder that 
bullies like Vladimir Putin will stop at nothing to achieve their end 
game to upend democracy and freedom while chilling all the opposition 
in the process.
  This type of takeover carries a precedent. Putin's quest to conquer 
Ukraine should remind all of us of what happened in the 1930s and 1940s 
when Adolph Hitler began a similar pursuit across Europe. Now, for far 
too long the free world watched from the sidelines hoping that European 
forces could prevent further escalation only to find that Hitler and 
the Axis Powers were relentless. Thankfully, the Allied forces defeated 
the global bullies of that era.
  Now, over 80 years later, we can consult history for potential 
answers to modern power struggles. As Russia's military assault on 
Ukraine continues, the United States and NATO allies must respond 
together. After all, NATO, which is a collection of over 30 nations, 
was formed in 1949 after World War II to prevent what?
  Soviet aggression.
  NATO has a responsibility to step up. Those member countries have a 
responsibility to step in. All in all, hand in hand, the United 
States--which is also the first responder to anything that goes wrong 
in the world--needs to have help from other people, not America alone, 
but America with our allies.
  NATO's purpose remains as important today as it was back then. A 
powerful, unified response has served the free world well throughout 
history.
  Now, much like World War II, we have existing or looming conflicts in 
multiple regions or theaters of the world including Asia. Today, China 
is threatening Taiwan. Now, as we are deflected from watching what is 
going to happen in Taiwan and watching the dangerous situation in 
Taiwan by what is going on in Ukraine--and I don't say we should take 
our eyes off of what is going on in Ukraine--we should just not think 
that that is the only theater that we have to be concerned with.
  Taiwan is one of our major allies, and in recent months multiple 
reports indicate that China has been quietly conducting combat 
readiness drills near Taiwan, an island territory that China still 
claims to own. This matters for two reasons: First, the Chinese are 
watching the world's response to Putin's attempt at a land grab in 
Ukraine because China is threatening to take over their own neighbor as 
well.
  Secondly, this could directly impact the American consumer. Ninety-
two percent of the world's supply of advanced semiconductor chips--used 
in everything from automobiles to cellphones--are made in Taiwan.
  If we have learned nothing from the COVID pandemic, it is that we 
cannot depend on other people around the world to supply us with those 
things that we need the most. It is a fool's errand to think that 
somehow this ends well. It does not. It ends terribly for us, and it 
ends terribly for the free world.
  Any large-scale attack on Taiwan means these chips would likely 
become very scarce as almost everything else in the world is right now, 
and in some cases probably unavailable altogether. That is why I am 
cosponsoring the Facilitating American-Built Semiconductors, or the 
FABS Act, with Congressman  Mike McCaul.
  This piece of legislation allows for a new tax credit through 2032 
for investment in any semiconductor manufacturing facility and 
semiconductor-designed expenditures right here at home.

  What an unusual concept: to invest in American technology with 
American workers to make America safer and stronger, not somebody a 
world away from us. Let's do it right here at home. Let's do it right 
here at home.
  Now, currently we make just 12 percent of the world's semiconductor 
chip supply. That is hard for me to imagine that we knew at the time 
how necessary the semiconductor chips were, but we had kind of a blind 
eye and a deaf ear to what it was that manufacturers were talking 
about. We said: Do you know what? For a couple of pennies we can save, 
let's send them over to Taiwan and have them make it. And we walked 
away from what is so critical to us.
  Now, the scary thing is that these are just the crises before us 
right now. History reflects how a robust American foreign policy has 
significantly shaped the world, specifically the Western Hemisphere. So 
when we talk about the Western Hemisphere, this is one of the things I 
think that is probably going more unnoticed than anything: In the 1800s 
President Monroe knew that in its infancy the United States was 
developing at a very quick rate, and it really looked like something 
that other places around the world would look at with envy and say: Do 
you know what? They are getting stronger every day, and they are 
getting better every day. Maybe we need to get over there and colonize. 
Maybe we need to get involved there.
  So the Monroe Doctrine came into effect, and the whole idea behind 
that was, let's make sure that people around the world cannot make an 
effort to come in and get into our Western Hemisphere and cause us 
great danger.
  So the Monroe Doctrine came out. But then as things went on and we 
got more powerful and we had more and more going for us, all of a 
sudden, the world looked to us, and they just didn't take a slight 
glance at us, but they looked at us with covetousness. They looked at 
us with who we were and what we were becoming and all the valuable 
things that were right here in our hemisphere.

                              {time}  2015

  So Teddy Roosevelt says: You know what? I am going to put together 
the Roosevelt Corollary that really establishes guidelines for any 
intervention in the United States or our Western Hemisphere.
  The content within these policies largely addressed actions by 
European nations or the inactions of Latin American nations. But I 
believe they are relevant, once again, and are worth further review, 
and here is why.
  If you were to take a look at the Western Hemisphere and just take a 
real broad look at it and say: Okay, fine, let's take a close look. 
South America, Central America, up into the triangle, the deepwater 
ports in Cuba, and both ends of the Panama Canal all have significant 
foreign countries--and they are mainly China.
  People tell me: You don't need to worry about that Panama Canal; 
China is not really taking it over. I say: You know what? If you don't 
read history, you don't study history, you are doomed to repeat it.
  Why would we not look at what is going on right now in our Western 
Hemisphere and say, we have put things into place to protect us from 
foreign intervention.
  I want to tell you, you look at the Western Hemisphere, South 
America, Central America, the triangle, the

[[Page H4390]]

deepwater ports in Cuba, that would be ideal for heavy military use, 
and both ends of the Panama Canal. If you don't think that is a threat 
to American security, then you need to wake up. We are in great danger 
right now and not knowing it.
  First of all, the Chinese are not very quiet about what they are 
trying to do. They have a theory that they want to take over the world. 
They don't whisper about it; they don't sneak around about it; they 
just do what they want to do. Their presence in Africa should be a 
great awakening for us.
  We have crippled ourselves with regulations and sanctions on so many 
things that we need, and I don't know for what reason, other than 
somehow we think that we are smarter than everybody else and we know 
that we can protect ourselves. And the question is: Really, how? And 
the answer is: Well, we really can't.
  I guess our answer will be what it always is: We will write a strong 
letter, and Jinping will get it. We will tell them: Please, stay out of 
our hemisphere and please stop trying to influence the rest of the 
world for evil. And we will tell Putin: You need to stop doing what you 
are doing in Ukraine.
  At some point, we will actually read history and say we have been 
down this road before, but we failed to take action at a time that was 
absolutely critical and pushed it on and pushed it out of sight, and 
the price we paid was incredible. Let's not do that again.
  There is an old saying that is: To be foretold is to be forewarned. 
With everything going on in the world today, we hear a lot of people 
using the term ``world war III.'' I am not here tonight telling you 
that that is what is going to happen. I am here telling you tonight 
that America and the free world have to understand that we have seen 
this action before. We know what lies ahead of us, and we know the cost 
of not addressing it early. We can do it through policy, but peace 
always comes through strength, not through weakness.
  Diplomacy is one thing, as Teddy Roosevelt said: ``Walk softly, but 
carry a big stick.''
  I would just suggest to you that if you go back to the year 2016--
actually 2017, when our 45th President of the United States, Donald 
Trump, came into office, please tell me why for the 4 years Mr. Trump 
was in office, the rest of the world stayed at bay? The bad actors of 
the world didn't attempt to do any of the things that they are doing 
today.
  Certainly, last summer, in our demonstration of how we would leave a 
country high and dry, that we would take out our military first and 
leave our military equipment and citizens to face what was going on in 
Afghanistan was a warning to the rest of the world that you better be 
careful with the United States, because if you are not, they will pack 
up their bags in the middle of the night and leave. That is not who we 
are, that is not who we have ever been, and that is not who we can be 
in a free world.
  If our friends and allies in the free world take a look at what our 
actions have been later--because actions always speak louder than 
words--but we continue to use words, thinking that somehow bad actors 
will cower and walk away from us, that is not the America that we know. 
That is not the America that 1.4 million of our men and women in 
uniform have died to protect and to send a message to the bad actors of 
the world, we will always be here, we will always be on guard, and we 
will never walk away from our responsibilities.
  I don't know what has happened to America in a little bit over a 
year. People always say: I think it is better to be respected than 
feared. I think both have a great effect on everybody. I want both 
those to be in effect.
  I will tell you this: When Donald Trump was our President, nobody but 
nobody messed with the U.S.A.
  Mr. Speaker, we have so many things going on right now. We wonder: 
What is the future? What is the future not only for America but for 
America's friends and allies? We look at energy as one of the key 
issues that we are talking about today, and we know that in America we 
have endless supplies of energy. What is holding us back now are our 
own regulations.
  I heard the administration say: We have thousands of permits; why 
don't you just go ahead and use them? Which really shows that they have 
absolutely no idea that having a permit isn't the same as extracting 
energy. Somehow, I guess, if you say it long enough and loud enough and 
to the right crowd, they will nod their heads and say: I know. You are 
right.
  You know what? Get out into the field and see the people that 
actually do it. Talk to the people that know how to extract energy. 
Talk to the people that can go offshore. Talk to the people that go 
deep down into the Earth. Talk to all of those people and tell them: 
Don't worry. You have a permit. Just go ahead and use it. And by the 
way, if you don't use it, we will start taxing you on your nonuse. How 
upside down is this thinking?


                          Pro-Life Information

  Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, the last thing I am going to 
address tonight is probably the most important issue of all, because 
everything we talk about right now, everything we have addressed 
already, is about life.
  There was a tradition here that on Wednesdays people would wear red, 
and they would wear red to remind people of the girls that had been 
kidnapped by Boko Haram. We wanted those girls back, so we would wear 
red and would walk around here and say: We have got red on today 
because we want those girls back; Boko Haram has got to return those 
girls.
  So I started wearing red on Wednesdays. Friends on the other side 
would say to me: So you are in concert with us; you believe the same 
things we do? I would say: I absolutely do. I absolutely do. They said: 
You want those girls back? I said: Yes, I do. But I don't want just the 
girls that Boko Haram took; I want the girls back that have been 
aborted. I want those girls back whose lives were ended. I want you to 
really face the truth of what is going on in America today.
  The wordsmithing that takes place here in the people's House, on the 
floor, people talk about abortion as healthcare, taking the life of a 
little boy or a little girl is healthcare.
  Every night, we see pictures of what Russia is doing to Ukraine. Yet, 
we have a deaf ear to the cries of the unborn, and we don't look at all 
to those who are being lost every day. Because if you don't see them, I 
guess they don't count.
  Congress has long required that taxpayer dollars are not to be used 
for abortions, and President Biden has actively tried to circumvent 
this requirement. In April of 2021, under President Biden's leadership, 
the NIH announced it would no longer require fetal tissue research 
projects funded by the agency to go through an ethics advisory board.
  So the question then becomes: Why do we have an ethics advisory 
board, if we are not going to go to them to find out what it is that we 
are talking about?
  Then in September of 2021, we began hearing the horrific allegations 
of illegal abortions being performed at the University of Pittsburgh 
for harvesting fetal tissue.
  I can tell you, me being on the floor tonight will resonate in 
Pittsburgh and, unfortunately, it won't be by those who are pro-life; 
it will be by those that think that somehow this is an attack on Pitt 
and not an attack on little unborn boys and girls.
  For all of those who do not like what I am saying tonight, please 
take off your blinders and understand what is taking place.
  We began hearing all of these horrible allegations of illegal 
abortions being performed at the University of Pittsburgh for 
harvesting fetal tissue. These abortions were performed as part of 
Pitt's participation in an NIH program for the university to operate as 
a fetal tissue repository for research happening around the country.
  The types of abortions Pitt is accused of performing are horrific. 
Babies that survived the abortion would be born alive and then killed. 
This was to preserve--this is really hard to understand--this is to 
preserve the fetal cells longer, a process known as maximizing warm 
ischemia time.
  When you say: Well, what is that? When you talk to the scientists, 
well, the idea is the warm tissue is actually more valuable for our 
studies. So a baby boy or girl that survives this abortion, that is the 
tissue that is the most valuable to us.
  Now, I think if any of us came upon some kind of accident or saw 
somebody

[[Page H4391]]

who was in grave danger, we would want to save them. Somebody who has 
endured an unbelievable process and survived it, we would save them; we 
would not take advantage of that.
  This program was supported by taxpayer funding through the NIH 
program. So congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer, for all the things 
that you hate, you are helping to fund it.
  This isn't the only abortion project that the National Institutes of 
Health is funding, though. The NIH expects to spend $88 million on 
human fetal tissue research in this year alone.
  When these allegations began coming out--which I thought was a real 
good move by the university--they hired a law firm to conduct an 
independent review of Pitt's abortion process. Somebody is questioning 
the process you do, so you say: Here is what I will do. I want to 
participate with you, so I will provide the funding to an independent 
research group. That law firm was a Washington, D.C.-based consulting 
firm that employs Pitt grads. What a surprise.
  The review determined that Pitt was totally in compliance with the 
law. They didn't say what Pitt was doing was right; they said they were 
in compliance with the law, even though that report completely failed 
to look into Planned Parenthood or UPMC, who were partners with this 
NIH program.

  When all of this came out, we sent a letter, along with 
Representative Morgan Griffith and over 50 of our colleagues, asking 
the NIH for answers on how it funds and oversees these abortions 
programs. It took them months to respond to me, which is not unusual 
for any letter you send to any agency here in Washington, D.C.
  When they finally did reply to us, they simply pointed out to me and 
to the rest of us: Please, look at Pitt's independent review.
  Now, this level of accountability to Congress is completely 
unacceptable, and it shouldn't take months for a government agency to 
respond to letters from any of us here in the House of Representatives. 
We are here representing the people who voted us in office. And when 
they do respond, they should respond with a substantive answer. I don't 
need to be horsed around and told something and told: Well, you just 
don't understand.
  Which is absolutely correct. I don't understand. In the United States 
of America, why are we doing things and then covering them up and 
saying, we did an independent review. We paid for it, and these guys 
actually came up with an answer that we were looking for. So they 
followed the money.
  A few weeks ago, Congress finally passed a budget, the first since 
President Biden has been in office. It was far from perfect, but it 
included strong protections for the unborn, protections which have been 
in place since the 1970s.
  Less than 2 weeks later, President Biden released his 2023 budget 
proposal, which included a full wish list of Democrat anti-life 
priorities.
  Here are some examples from his recent budget: Number 1, it 
eliminates the Hyde amendment, which prohibits federal funding for 
abortions. It became law in 1976. The Hyde amendment has saved over 2.4 
million lives.

                              {time}  2030

  It also wants to eliminate the Dornan amendment. The Dornan amendment 
prevents taxpayer dollars from being used to pay for abortion in the 
District of Columbia. Without this protection, D.C. taxpayer dollars 
could pay for an estimated 1,400 to 1,500 abortions every year. Every 
year.
  It increased Title X family planning funding by $113 million. Title X 
is a prime funding source for Planned Parenthood, providing it with $56 
million taxpayer dollars annually. Now, on January 21, 2022, the Biden 
administration awarded $6.6 million in Title X funds from the American 
Rescue Plan to abortion providers. $6.6 million in American taxpayer 
money to provide funds for abortion providers.
  Now, I am Catholic, and oftentimes I have gone to my priest and I 
have said, ``Father, is there some reason you cannot go into the pulpit 
and talk about the horrendous things that are going on in our country 
today?'' You know what the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops 
said? ``The USCCB remains gravely concerned about the continued efforts 
to expand taxpayer funding of abortion, which would occur if the Hyde 
amendment or any other lifesaving appropriations riders were to be 
removed from the annual appropriations bill.''
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
  Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. ``We take this stand because abortion is 
not healthcare. It is the antithesis of healthcare.''
  Now, I know I am out of time, but me being out of time here on the 
floor does not take this country from being out of time to address the 
most egregious actions that are taking place.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has again expired.
  Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Now, I just tell you, I am going to use up 
some time, and you can keep hammering me, but you know what? In the 
time we have been talking, so far, as of April 5----
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman is no longer recognized.

                          ____________________