Scalise: If Biden is Going to Raid SPR, He Needs to Come Up with a Plan to Replace It
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) delivered a speech on the House Floor in support of the Strategic Production Response Act, which would require the Biden Administration to stop their abuse of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) and increase oil and gas production to offset any additional drawdowns. Leader Scalise slammed the Biden Administration’s reckless decision to raid the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and for issuing a veto threat on the bill. Additionally, Leader Scalise highlighted how President Biden’s radical climate policies have raised gas prices and made the United States more reliant on foreign countries for oil.
Click here or on the image above to view Leader Scalise's remarks.
Leader Scalise's remarks:
“I want to thank the gentlelady for yielding and for the great job she's doing as Chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee to bring forward important bills that will increase America's national security and energy security. There is absolutely no reason that we have to be reliant on foreign countries for our energy. We’ve actually got the energy here in America.
“In fact, for those people that are concerned about carbon emissions – you know, for all those carbon footprint warriors that got on their private jets and fly to Davos last week to lecture the rest of the world about not using fossil fuels – they didn't take commercial flights. They had to take their private charters – not with solar panels on the wings of those airplanes, [but] using jet fuel. So, they lecture about getting rid of fossil fuels in America [but] not in other countries.
“You saw President Biden, himself, get on Air Force One and fly to Saudi [Arabia] and beg Saudi princes to produce more energy as he’s shutting down production in America. Limiting leases, limiting pipelines, killing Keystone and other pipelines, [and] limiting the ability to get permits and do basic exploration in America. He’s greenlighting pipelines in Russia. [He’s] greenlighting pipelines and drilling in other places – urging and begging drilling in other places.
“Well, by the way, if you’re concerned about the carbon footprint, no country in the world that produces energy does it better than America. We should want to be doing more in America. But then, as production goes up and goes down based on good or bad policies, as we are seeing today with bad policies. The nation, back in the 1970s, said, ‘We’re going to have a Strategic Petroleum Reserve.’ In essence, an American piggy bank to protect our country in case there is a major disruption in world markets in energy production in America. Maybe there’s a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico that limits our ability to produce energy for a brief period of time. That’s why we have a Strategic Petroleum Reserve. It’s not there to go mask your bad policies.
“Yet, that’s what we’ve seen from this President. As you can see, this President has raided more than 40 percent of America's strategic reserve, our piggy bank. He’s just taken it away. In some cases, he actually sold that oil to China! We came together last week, Republicans and Democrats – the press actually said it was going to be a partisan exercise. Why even waste the time? But what they found out is, not only did every Republican say it’s wrong to raid our piggy bank in America and sell it to China, a majority of Democrats actually agreed with us and sent that bill to the Senate. I urge the Senate to take up that bill that’s important to America’s national security.
“But then today, we go even further and say, ‘Mr. President, with this bill, H.R. 21, if you're going to raid our reserves, won't you at least put forward a plan to show how you will replace it? And don’t worry, I know the White House gets nervous when you tell them that you’ve got to produce energy in America. They don't have a problem, again, with foreign countries producing energy. They just don't want it made in America.
“They use the tagline a lot. You hear it all the time, ‘Made in America.’ Except when it comes to making energy, they don't want to make it in America. They make it harder to make it in America. They beg foreign countries to make our energy.
“This bill gives an exemption: ‘Except in the case of a severe energy supply interruption.’ So the President still [has] the ability, if there’s some actual emergency, to use the Strategic Petroleum Reserve the way it was intended in the 1970s. All this bill says is if your bad policy is leading to higher gas prices, and people are getting angry about that, as they should. You can’t go and raid it unless you show a plan. As the bill says, ‘the development of a plan to increase oil and gas production under oil and gas leases of federal lands here.’
“So, this would make a lot of sense, except if you're at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. In fact, yesterday, the President actually issued a veto threat on this bill. Now, a veto threat should be a rare exercise that you reserve for [a] policy that might hurt the country. Well, let's read why the President issued the veto threat. In his veto threat, he said, ‘The administration's use of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve has been essential to protecting our energy security and to lowering gas prices for Americans.’
“I hope I'm not the one that breaks this news to the White House, but, Mr. President, your policies have not lowered gas prices for Americans. Maybe the calculator's broken at the White House, but we did the math. Let’s do some fact-checking. Since [President] Biden took the oath of office, gas prices have not lowered. They have increased [by] 50 percent.The veto threat says, ‘We don't want to do this because our policies have lowered gas prices.’
“Maybe the President, when he realizes that gas prices have gone up 50 percent, they have not lowered for families, he might reverse the veto threat. So we'll wait during this debate. Maybe we'll get a reversal of this veto threat once he realizes gas prices have gone up, not a little, but a lot.
“Fifty percent increase for a low-income family who is struggling already under the weight of President Biden's spending that's led to inflation and higher prices everywhere you go. The grocery store, supply chain increases – this is crushing middle class families. It's crushing lower-income families. And so what we say is, ‘Let's just use our resources.’
“The President actually goes on to say – and this might be the most perplexing part of the President's veto threat, probably explains the most why the President is so misguided on energy policy. He says, because H.R. 21 will jeopardize our energy security and increase gas prices for working families, the administration strongly opposes the bill. So somehow, some of the energy experts at the White House – again, some of the same people that fly around in private planes to Davos telling you not to use fossil fuels – they think that by increasing American energy production that will somehow raise gas prices.
“Well, guess what? We’ve checked the record. These are the same experts whose policies have increased gas prices, not a little, [but] 50 percent. So the White House has been wrong on this issue over and over again to the point where we had such a strong bipartisan vote last week. Let's put up another strong bipartisan vote and maybe wake the people up at the White House to what's happening in the real world.
“When families who are struggling go to fill up their gas tanks, they’re not paying less as the President suggests. Again, the President actually thinks in his veto threat that his policies have lowered gas prices – a 50 percent increase is not a lower gas price. It's actually a kick to the gut of those families who are struggling, and we’ve got to stop having Washington kick them in the gut.
“And so, if you look at the moniker, right above the Speaker's rostrum, there is a plaque that says, ‘Let us develop the natural resources of our land.’ Why don't we actually do that? Why don't we actually do what's proven to work over and over again? If we open up American energy, it's the cleanest in the world. Don't beg foreign dictators to do it. They don't do it as clean as us, by the way.
“It also lowers prices. It also creates good American jobs. Let's actually make it in America again. If you are going to raid the piggy bank, at minimum, show the country your plan for how you plan to replace it. That's the least this President should do. Let's pass this bill with a strong vote over to the Senate and get this on the President's desk, and maybe he'll reconsider and recognize just what his policies have done to hurt families over these last two years. With that, I urge [the] adoption of H.R. 21, and I yield back the balance of my time.”