{UAH} SOME TIMES YOU END UP ONLY SHAKING YOUR HEAD

Bring back energy independence

JANUARY 05, 2022 12:00 AM 

BY REP. DAN NEWHOUSE, 

America was energy independent a year ago.

It’s hard to believe, but it’s true. Since President Joe Biden took office, gas prices nationwide have spiked 56%. Home heating costs will rise as much as 54% this winter.

Our president wants you to believe this is merely “transitory.” But it’s not. It’s the direct intentional result of his energy policies.

Like a bull in a china shop, Biden used the first day of his presidency to demolish our energy independence one pen stroke at a time.

First, he canceled the Keystone XL pipeline, killing not only 11,000 jobs and domestic oil production but also any shred of hope that he would govern as an America-first president.

The United States is home to some of the cleanest energy in the world. A 2019 study found that the country's natural gas produced 56% less in total emissions than gas from the European Union. And Russia, home to the contested Nord Stream 2 pipeline that Biden has allowed to move forward virtually unchecked, produces 22% more natural gas emissions than the EU.

How can a president claim to be implementing clean energy policies if his own administration is actively increasing global emissions?

The U.S. is a clean energy leader. We need to operate like one. That means more clean domestic drilling and more pressure on foreign nations to meet their clean energy targets.

Instead, Biden suspended oil and gas leases in Alaska and banned new drilling on federal lands, hamstringing our ability to produce energy domestically and creating our current energy crisis.

When the impacts of his policy decisions became apparent at the pump, Biden turned to other oil-exporting nations to ask them to increase their production when the U.S. couldn’t keep up with demand. They denied his request.

Then, over Thanksgiving, Biden released three days’ worth of our own oil reserves in a desperate attempt to stabilize his plummeting poll numbers. This was a knee-jerk reaction that temporarily dropped gas prices by, at most, two cents a gallon and set a dangerous precedent for the use of our emergency oil reserves moving forward.

That is an awfully small price to put on our energy security. Biden literally put in his two cents, and the public is still not impressed.

After staring down nearly a year of record-breaking prices at the gas pump, the Biden administration is now considering the unthinkable: increasing the cost of drilling on public lands.

The nightmare has to end.

That is why we introduced the Make Energy Affordable Act. Our bill will require the Biden administration to create a report on rising energy prices in the U.S. and a plan to combat it. The plan must consider all energy sources and include regulatory and permitting reforms and monthly updates on how energy prices are impacting consumers. Additionally, the plan cannot include dipping even further into our emergency coffers.

With this bill, Congress has the opportunity not only to hold Biden accountable for the disaster he’s thrust onto people but also to take concrete steps to fix it.

If the Biden administration truly stands by the energy-related decisions it has made since coming to power, then it should welcome this bill as an opportunity to demonstrate the impacts of those decisions on our energy sector.

Rarely does Congress have an opportunity to pass legislation that will have swift, positive impacts on people's wallets. The Make Energy Affordable Act gives us that opportunity.

Buddy Carter represents Georgia's first congressional district in the U.S. House. Dan Newhouse represents Washington's fourth congressional district.

EM         -> {   Gap   at   46  } – {Allan Barigye is a Rwandan predator}

On the 49^th Parallel          

                 Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
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