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Scalise to Biden: Turn to American Energy Companies, Not Dictators, to Lower Gas Prices

Washington, DC, April 4, 2022
Today, House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) joined Fox Business Network’s Kudlow to discuss how President Biden’s war on American energy has made the United States and our allies more reliant on hostile foreign nations for oil. Additionally, Whip Scalise called on President Biden to ramp up U.S. energy production to reduce the cost of gasoline instead of raiding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve or relying on dictators.
Click here or on the image above to watch the interview.
On gas prices rising because of President Biden’s failed energy strategy:“You know, you go down to South Louisiana, especially near Port Fourchon, which is the hub of all the deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. There’s a lot of oil and gas activity, including the Loop Facility, which is a little bit to the west of that facility, out in the Gulf where you have the ability to tie into pipelines and bring in oil or send it out, which, by the way, under President Trump, we were exporting oil because we had such an abundance. What a difference a year and a half and a failed Biden policy on energy makes in our ability of what we’re paying [for gasoline.]”On President Biden once again tapping into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve:“Raiding [the] SPR is nothing more than a sugar high – you might get a couple of days, and then the price goes back up. Again. We’ve seen it before. This is the third time that President Biden has raided the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. It’s supposed to be there for a national emergency. You get a hurricane that comes through and shuts down [your oil] supply or something like that. It’s not supposed to be used to mask bad, failed policies, which is what we’re seeing under [President] Biden.“The answer is to open up production in America. You want to lower prices? Increase [our oil] supply in America. Every other country out there, they’re cartels. They want to limit supply. You know, when [President] Biden was begging Putin just a few months ago to increase production, he didn’t want to because he benefits from $100 a barrel [of] oil. Why don’t you take away leverage from all these dictators and produce energy here? “By the way, it’s great for jobs. It lowers carbon emissions globally. And you, ultimately, end up lowering the price of gasoline, which is a kick to the gut of hardworking families who are already struggling under all the other high prices from inflation with [President] Biden’s massive spending here in Washington.”On the need to reverse Biden’s war on American energy:“Think about this, [President] Biden, right before the build-up, when you know, right before Putin moved into Ukraine. You saw him building up, and yet, America was still asking Putin to produce more [oil]. Between America and Europe, we were sending Putin $700 million a day in oil sales. It might be more now because the price is higher, even with some of these moves to try to stop taking in Russian oil. We haven’t increased [the] supply in America. We still have a demand.“And so, Putin was pocketing huge amounts of money – a huge windfall that Putin was getting to finance the war against Ukraine. Many of us were saying this back then. And yet, [President] Biden continued to double down and beg Putin to produce more oil, giving him more money. Why don’t we stop begging dictators for oil?
“The answer is beneath our feet. It’s right here in America, the cleanest producing oil in the world. You’re going to have to get fossil fuels from somewhere, even if you want to go buy an electric vehicle. Great, go get it. Except you got to plug it into something, and it’s not going to be a tree. It’s going to be probably something that’s fueled by natural gas, by coal, by nuclear power. You [have] to get the energy from somewhere. Stop making it harder for families in America to meet the already increasing costs from Biden’s inflation. Make more energy in America.”On President Biden’s misplaced priorities:“What’s good for Zelenskyy and Ukraine is bad for Putin, and we should be helping Zelenskyy more. He still hasn’t gotten the MiGs he’s been asking for. [President] Biden is still finding ways to say no. But yet, Putin is still getting the things he wants.“Again, stop helping Putin. Cut off Putin’s supply. Cut off all these other dictators’ supply and make more [energy] in America. And stop raiding [the] SPR. They’ve raided almost half this SPR since [President] Biden’s been in office. It’s not there to be a piggy bank to go tap into when Biden has failed policies. Fix the policy, and the price will go down.”