Biden Administration

Floor Speech

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Mr. HOEVEN. Mr. President, I rise today to talk about the harmful impacts that President Biden's policies are having on the global supply chain and consumer energy prices.

Americans today are facing the highest increase in costs for goods and services in over a decade, with inflation now more than 5 percent and rising. Similarly, our workforce participation rate is stagnant. There are still 4.3 million fewer workers today than there were in February of 2020. Nationally, there are more than 10 million job openings--more than in any other year.

Record high job openings, coupled with rapidly increasing consumer demand, is causing disruptions to global supply chains and further increasing costs, increasing inflation. Rather than working to spur economic growth, encourage workforce participation, and return our economy to growth, as we saw with the last administration, President Biden and the Democrats in Congress are focused on raising taxes and enacting harmful, job-killing policies.

A prime example of what I am talking about--harmful policies being pushed by the Biden administration--is the Green New Deal that will hinder domestic energy production and increase the expense for every American household.

Affordable and reliable energy is foundational to our economy, quality of life, and national security. Across the country and in my home State of North Dakota, we are seeing energy prices rise across the board. Drivers are paying more for fuel at the pump, and homes and businesses are prepared for record high heating costs as we go into the winter months.

Because the cost of energy is built into virtually every product we consume, we are seeing the inflationary pressures of higher prices on goods across the entire economy, all the way to the dinner table. For an energy-rich nation such as ours, the situation we find ourselves in is unacceptable, and it is certainly avoidable.

In the first week of his administration, President Biden yanked the permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline and halted new oil and gas leases on Federal lands and offshore. President Biden's party has also called for new taxes and fees on American energy production.

In addition, the Biden administration is promoting foreign energy production as he stifles energy production here at home. He has allowed completion of Russia's Nord Stream 2 Pipeline while calling on Russia, Saudi Arabia, and other OPEC nations to increase more oil production. Think about that. At a time when he is holding back energy production in our country--oil production in our country, he is asking OPEC, Saudi Arabia, and Russia to increase oil? It defies common sense. Think about it.

If the Biden administration continues down this path, it will not only cause further increased prices for consumers, but it will undermine our energy independence and harm our national security by forcing reliance on foreign energy production.

It is time we recognized the fact that our country's vast oil, gas, and coal resources are a strategic national security and economic asset. As we have seen over the past decade, greater U.S. energy production has strengthened our national security and lowered energy prices for hard-working American families.

The fact is, we should be focused on increasing economic growth, encouraging workforce participation, and restoring our economy to its prepandemic highs. Support for our domestic energy production is a vital step to bringing down prices for consumers, and we need to do it.

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