[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 120 (Wednesday, July 20, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S3504]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Energy and Foreign Policy

  Mr. President, now on another matter, right now, Washington Democrats 
are frustrated by the pace of the radical green transformation they 
envision for our country. They are having trouble getting enough 
Senators to agree to make the most reliable and abundant forms of 
American energy more expensive for working Americans.
  Energy prices are rising faster than at any point since 1980. 
Gasoline is nearly 60 percent more expensive than it was last summer. 
Natural gas is up nearly 40 percent in the same timeframe.
  Washington Democrats have surveyed this scene and decided it is the 
perfect time--perfect time--to hike taxes on American energy, reviving 
a failed tax from the 1980s on American oil refineries and exporters 
and--listen to this--increasing it by nearly 60 percent, new sky-high 
fees on American natural gas producers and more pain at the pump for 
working families. It is an insane proposition.
  But there does appear to be an exception. If you are not among the 75 
percent of Americans who say inflation has caused you financial 
hardship, and you happen to have a spare $80,000 lying around, 
Washington Democrats want to give you a green energy tax credit if you 
buy an electric vehicle made with Chinese supply chains. This is what 
Washington Democrats are trying to do with their one-party control of 
government, and they are hoping President Biden will declare a national 
emergency to help them do it faster.
  Well, unfortunately for the far left, the President is occupied with 
a climate conundrum of his own. On the campaign trail, Candidate Biden 
left no room for doubt that he had bought his party's radical climate 
dogma, whole hog. This is what he said back then:

       I guarantee you we are going to end fossil fuel.

  ``End fossil fuel.'' Sure enough, his first year in office was an 
all-out assault on American energy, just like green activists drew it 
up--day 1 bans on energy exploration; canceling a safe, efficient 
pipeline that was set to create American jobs; and ghoulish, reanimated 
regulations from the War on Coal.
  But unlike the radical base that is frustrated their ideas aren't 
moving faster, the Biden administration now appears to be concerned 
that their assault on American energy has actually worked too quickly.
  Americans have seen gas prices double on this President's watch. Sky-
high diesel is driving other prices up all across the country, and big 
majorities of Americans don't like what Democrats are doing about it. 
But rather than call off the onslaught and clear the way for a return 
to domestic energy dominance, the Biden administration has dispatched 
officials to beg other countries to take over America's share of the 
market for reliable energy that the President has purposely abandoned. 
They have literally chosen places like Venezuela over States like 
Pennsylvania or Texas or Alaska.
  Then, on a trip to oil-rich Saudi Arabia, President Biden announced 
that ``I'm doing all I can to increase [oil] supply for the United 
States of America.''
  The President who promised he would ``end fossil fuels'' thinks that 
finding more energy for American families means flying to the Middle 
East and asking politely instead of unleashing our own production right 
here at home.
  And for the record, U.S. producers extract oil and gas in a far, far 
more environmentally friendly manner than many of their competitors 
overseas. So if the priority is reducing our environmental impact, 
outsourcing seems more than a little bit shortsighted.
  So, Mr. President, if the Biden administration really is serious 
about helping American consumers, then they will stop waging war on 
American producers. If they are serious, they will call off Democrats' 
plan to tax reliable American energy into extinction.
  For the sake of working families who are struggling to fill their gas 
tanks and keep the lights on, I hope they get serious sometime soon.