[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 114 (Tuesday, July 12, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3232-S3233]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                 Energy

  Mr. President, now on the less pleasant subject which I wish I didn't 
have to talk about--deeply, profoundly stupid; deeply, profoundly 
stupid--that is the only way that I know how to describe one of the 
worst decisions by an administration that has become famous for bad 
decisions. I am talking about President Biden's assault on sustainable, 
affordable energy.
  The people of Louisiana know, and the people of America know that 
they are now paying $90 to fill up their cars and tanks with gas 
because the Biden administration killed the Keystone Pipeline, canceled 
our offshore oil leases, and forfeited America's energy independence. 
We were energy independent. The Biden administration forfeited it.
  What seems to be underappreciated, however, is how President Biden's 
agenda is driving up the price not just of oil but of all kinds of 
necessities that American and Louisiana families need every day. It is 
not just about oil and gas. It is about everything.
  Not only do most goods get to our homes after riding in trucks and 
planes and cars and ships powered by gas or diesel, but a lot of our 
plastics and other products, if you think about it, they are also made 
from petroleum. Actually, only 60 percent of oil in the world gets used 
as a fuel. Forty percent of the global oil supply ends up in other 
things, things other than cars and trucks--in products.
  That means that it doesn't just cost people more to get to and from 
the store. It means almost everything in the store costs more because 
of its connection to oil. Some medicines come from oil. Microfiber 
comes from oil. Mascara comes from oil. Synthetic leather comes from 
oil.
  Do you have a phone case or a handbag or a chair or a car made with 
plastic? That is oil. That is oil.
  Now, not everything is made from oil. Some goods that you buy are not 
made from that natural resource. But I bet they are packaged in 
plastic. And all of these items, all of these household necessities are 
casualties of President Biden's assault on sustainable energy.
  Here is a fat fact: Our economy can't run without fossil fuels. Now, 
I am not suggesting that fossil fuels should be our only source of 
energy. Certainly, we should take advantage of the efficiencies we can 
find in wind. I believe in wind and solar. I believe in solar--and 
nuclear and hydrogen and hydroelectric. But part of a sensible, 
sustainable, affordable energy plan has to include fossil fuels.
  Ours is the greatest economy in all of human history. It can't run 
without energy, and 80 percent of our energy today comes from fossil 
fuels. That is just a fat fact.
  The truth is that American ingenuity--and I am referring to fossil 
fuels--has made the most out of one of the most versatile resources 
that the world has ever known, but the Biden White House is determined 
to punish us for that innovation--just determined to punish us--by 
making every single part of the American dream more expensive. Even 
necessities that aren't directly made from petroleum depend on 
affordable fuel to reach American families.
  Record high inflation and gas prices have sent Americans to food 
pantries. Why? Because even fruits and eggs and milk are becoming 
unaffordable. The latest reports show that many Americans are paying 
8.6-percent higher prices today than they were last year. But we know 
it is more than that. I know those are the official government numbers, 
but we know it is more than that. Eggs are up 32 percent. Milk is up 16 
percent. Flour is up 14 percent. Baby food--when you can find it--is up 
13 percent. These aren't luxury items. These are staples that Americans 
depend on every single day.
  I mean, why is a Louisiana man telling us ``[m]y food budget is 
insane''? My food budget is insane. ``[I]t's gone up $100-150 a week. 
So, it's becoming more and more difficult, to buy the same thing I 
bought a year or two years ago.''
  That is not just a Louisianian talking. That is all across America.
  Why did a woman in Baton Rouge realize that fruits and vegetables--
not sirloin steak, fruits, and vegetables--are breaking her bank? She 
is cooking more with rice and bread instead of fruits and vegetables. 
The high grocery prices for this lady are gutting her and her family 
like a fish. And that is just a fact--a very unhappy one, but it is a 
fact.
  Now, high oil prices are also waterboarding our farmers, which 
contributes to these high food prices. Did you know that we make 
industrial fertilizer from fossil fuels? And when natural gas costs 
more, so does fertilizing a field of wheat or corn or soybeans. Some of 
our herbicides right now are twice as expensive as they were, if 
farmers can find them.
  Tractors drink diesel. Duh. So do irrigation systems. A gallon of 
diesel--1 gallon--a year ago, you know what it was? It was $3.23. You 
know what it is today? It is $5.20.
  Now, what does this mean for Louisiana rice farmers and other 
growers? For every extra dime farmers spend on a gallon of diesel--
every extra dime--a grower will spend about $4.50 more for an acre of 
rice, $2.30 more for an acre of cotton, and an extra $1.74 for an acre 
of corn.
  Corn growers--I mentioned corn growers--they also depend on nitrogen 
fertilizer, which we make with methane. And then corn--I mentioned 
corn--corn goes into cereal. It goes into sweetened drinks, peanut 
butter, baby food, ketchup, salad dressing.
  You know, I don't mean to be ugly, but this administration's energy 
policy is deeply, profoundly stupid. And it is dangerous.
  So my people are feeling President Biden's gas hike from the gas pump 
to the grocery store, to the doctor's office.
  A lot of the raw materials that make our medicines and healthcare 
products are made from--guess what--petroleum.
  Oil goes into our burn creams. Do you ever burn yourself, have to go 
to the local grocery store or the local pharmacy, buy something to put 
on your burn? That cream comes from oil.
  You have allergies? Those allergy pills are made, in part, with oil.
  Do you ever get a cold, take a little NyQuil, take some cold tablets? 
You need oil to make them. Our kids' gummy vitamins are made with oil. 
The bandaids in your medicine cabinet, they are made from oil.
  The President's assault on fossil fuels is hitting my people in 
Louisiana, and they are hitting the American people so hard they are 
coughing up bones. My people and the people of America are increasingly 
having to dip into their savings accounts just to afford everyday 
items, not to take a cruise, not to buy a new car, not to buy some new 
clothes to look good at church on Sunday--for household necessities.

[[Page S3233]]

  And on top of that, in addition to going into their savings account, 
my people and the people all across America are having to charge more 
and more and more to their credit cards, not for luxuries but for 
staples, for necessities.
  All of this inflation caused, in part, by the President's bone-deep, 
down-to-the-marrow stupid energy policy is costing the average American 
and Louisiana family $635 a month.
  Now, think about that--$635 a month. Let's call it $7 to $8,000 a 
year. If you are a mom making $40,000 a year and you are a dad making 
$40,000 a year and you have got two children and you have a home--
nothing special, you know, $200,000 home; it has a mortgage--mom and 
dad have to go to work. So they have to have automobiles. They have car 
payments. They are using every penny of that $80,000 a year. And now, 
all of a sudden, here comes inflation, and they have got to come out of 
pocket with an extra $7 to $8,000 a year. Where is the money going to 
come from? And just about every middle-class American is experiencing 
that right now.
  Now, recently, the President sent a letter. He sent a letter to the 
top oil companies. In the letter--it was kind of a snippy letter, 
frankly--he demanded that the oil companies ramp up their 
refining operations to try to slow the rising energy prices and to 
shore up supply. Isn't that special? The same President--he ran on it. 
He did it. He ran on it. He said he would do it, and he has done it. 
The same President who promised to end fossil fuels is now blaming the 
energy industry for historical oil and gas prices.

  The truth is, this administration refuses to accept responsibility 
for bad policies. And I don't know why they pursued this policy, other 
than just to try to check off a promise made to satisfy the woke 
agenda.
  For the sake of Americans' economic futures and for the sake of our 
national security, we cannot continue to rely on foreign oil imports--
we can't--while pretending to run this country using wind, solar, and 
wishful thinking because that is what the President's new policy is on 
energy. It is wind. It is solar. It is wishful thinking. Wishful 
thinking doesn't fill gas tanks or grocery carts.
  And the President this week will be in Saudi Arabia. He is not there 
as a tourist. He is in Saudi Arabia to beg the Saudis to produce more 
oil, after he has already forfeited America's energy independence, and 
he refuses to take his boot off the throat of the oil and gas industry 
to allow our oil and gas producers to produce our own oil.
  So think about it. This is the President's new energy policy. Let's 
don't produce our own oil and gas. Let's give up our energy 
independence. But we have to have oil and gas. So what do we do? The 
President's new policy is, let's give up our own oil and gas and let's 
buy oil from foreign countries that hate us so those foreign countries 
will have more money to buy weapons to try to kill us. It just makes no 
sense. And the people of Louisiana deserve better. And the people of 
America deserve better.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.