WASHINGTON, DC—U.S. Representative John Rose spoke on the House Floor Wednesday about the historic gas prices been experiences across the country. The Congressman also laid out the Biden Administration’s actions leading up to the problem and remedies to lower oil costs. or the problem and remedies for lowering oil costs.
The full speech, as prepared for delivery, is below:
The average cost of a gallon of gas in this country just passed five dollars for the very first time. I repeat. The average cost of a gallon of gas in this country just passed five dollars for the very first time.
I’d like to remind Americans, especially those on the other side of the aisle who may not be affected because they drive electric vehicles, that prices at the pump started going up well before Vladimir Putin’s attempted disgraceful invasion of Ukraine. In fact, they started climbing shortly after President Biden took office. It’s not a coincidence.
The President doesn’t beat around the bush on the topic of fossil fuels. On the campaign trail, he pledged to get rid of them. I would say he’s well on his way to keeping that promise. Remember this county was a net exporter of oil. Now we’re stuck hoping the president has a good meeting with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, the same country he called a pariah, one that results in them producing more oil, and hopefully lowering global prices.
This administration has taken many steps to make it next to impossible to expand drilling here at home. We all remember how quickly the President killed the Keystone XL pipeline, with no regard for the impact that would have on those jobs – or how dependent it would make us on foreign oil suppliers. This administration has also proposed more than 80 billion dollars in tax increases on energy producers in its first two budget cycles.
We know the war in Ukraine has impacted fuel prices, but we Republicans argue that we didn’t have to be reliant on foreign countries. If we just used the oil we have here at home, we probably could have kept prices down. Now, we’re asking OPEC to produce more. It makes no sense.
The President calls this moment an incredible transition. I see nothing incredible about it. In fact, the only transition I see is the American people going from being able to provide for their families – to being stuck at home because of record inflation and gas prices that have more than doubled.
We’re not going to go from oil to electric consumption overnight. The grid isn’t ready for an all-electric future. We should pursue an all-of-the-above approach that includes oil. The Tennessee Valley Authority used 39% nuclear, 19% coal, 26% natural gas, 11% hydro, and 3% wind and solar to power millions of homes. That’s how you make sure you’re not just energy independent – but energy dominant.
The answer isn’t raiding our strategic petroleum reserve. The answer certainly isn’t relying on foreign countries for supply. The answer is tapping into the resources with which our nation is abundantly blessed.
With that, I yield the remainder of my time.
You can watch the full speech here.
Original source can be found here.
