Energy and Commerce Committee Republican Leader Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) delivered remarks in today’s Energy Subcommittee hearing on how President Biden’s energy policies have weakened America’s national security, raised costs on families, and emboldened Russia.
Excerpts and highlights from her prepared remarks:
ON BANNING RUSSIAN OIL
“With no end in sight, we have been watching the innocent bloodshed spilled in Ukraine.
“Putin’s evil attack on freedom-loving people is becoming more brutal and brazen by the day.
“I want to first address President Biden’s expected announcement to ban Russian energy imports. We should not be buying a single barrel of oil from Russia.
“But I want to be very clear. Any import ban on Russian oil that fails to flip the switch on American energy is incomplete.
“To lower energy costs here at home, Democrats must stop blocking the American Energy Independence from Russia Act.”
ENERGY SECURITY IS NATIONAL SECURITY
“This is a pivotal moment in our nation’s history.
“For a prosperous future, we must strengthen our security, not weaken it.
“Republicans have been crystal clear on this—especially since Day 1 when President Biden canceled the Keystone XL pipeline.
“President Biden needs to work with us to restore American energy dominance, lower prices, and use our abundant energy resources and technologies to help Ukraine and Europe fight back.
“Our allies should not have to depend on energy from regimes that attack freedom, nor should Americans.”
RELYING ON DICTATORS FOR ENERGY
“We are facing the greatest military and economic crisis in Europe since World War II.
“Putin is using his energy resources as a weapon against the West.
“Europe’s dependence on Russian oil and gas is the cautionary tale on how this crisis happened.
“Instead of focusing on how American energy can be used to counter authoritarian countries, Democrats are doubling down on their war to shut down American energy.
“These are the same policies that weakened Europe, raised energy prices to historic highs, and emboldened Putin to exploit their dependence on Russian energy.
“Meanwhile, the Biden administration is going hat-in-hand to other dictatorships and human rights abusers begging them for more oil.
“It is a disgrace.
“Today, we should be focused on American energy security and how we can be aiding our allies by producing more oil and natural gas and increasing LNG exports.
“Instead, the topic today is on forcing electric vehicles, which will increase our dependence on another authoritarian regime, China.
“In many ways EVs promise to be a leading edge—to the extent they take hold in the market—to new innovations in vehicle technologies, including in autonomous vehicles.
“However, the Democrats’ government command and control approach to EVs is central to the radical left’s agenda to dismantle America’s tremendous energy systems.
“These systems are foundational for our prosperity and the security the world needs today.
“We cannot avert our eyes from the risks of handing our energy dominance to dictators.”
EUROPE IS A WARNING SIGN, NOT A ROLE MODEL
“We shouldn’t be giving Putin what he wants.
“When European countries dismantled their energy systems and curtailed fracking, it played right into Putin’s hands.
“When I visited Ukraine in 2015, NATO officials warned me and members of this committee that Putin was funding the anti-fracking campaigns of environmental NGOs.
“We are now seeing the results of Putin’s successful campaign to kill European energy.
“This should be a wake-up call for every politician and policymaker.
“There are similar reports about Russian influence among NGOs in America, and E&C Republicans will open an investigation this week to expose any attempt by Russia to use NGOs to weaken American energy.
“It’s a mistake to double down on dangerous policies that will increase energy costs, weaken our security, and make us even more beholden to authoritarian regimes. Today, it’s Russia invading Ukraine and killing innocent people.
“Tomorrow we could be facing a similar invasion of Taiwan by China who holds way more economic sway with the rest of the world.”
SECURING OUR ENERGY FUTURE
“It is not too late for us to reverse course.
“We must come together and say ‘No’ to Putin and Communist China, and ‘yes’ to American energy.
“We can say ‘yes’ to flipping the switch on domestic production of oil and cleaner American natural gas.
“We can say ‘yes’ to advanced nuclear by removing burdensome and costly regulations.
“We can say ‘yes’ to innovation for abundant, cheap, and clean energy for us and the rest of the free world.
“With an all-the-above strategy, we can again say ‘yes’ to America’s global leadership in reducing emissions and producing clean, affordable, and reliable energy for the world.
“It’s not too late. We still have time to learn from the Europe’s mistakes.
“This is an urgent time to wake up to the plain, clear lessons of the Putin’s invasion in Ukraine.
“We should embrace the path to a cleaner future by building on the success of our energy systems and energy supplies, not dismantling them.
“I urge my friends in the Democratic party to abandon this dangerous rush to green and join us in unleashing American energy and prosperity.”
