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Floor Speech
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Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, most of my people in Louisiana, I think, are probably much like your people in Maine. Most of my people--most of our people--they just get up every day and go to work. They obey the law. They pay their taxes. They try to do the right thing by their kids, try to teach their kids morals. And they try to save a little money for retirement as they enjoy living in what they believe is the greatest country in all of human history. But many of my people, Mr. President, are struggling.
President Biden took office on January 20 of last year. So--what are we?--we are in day 490 of Build Back Better. From where many of my people sit, nothing has been built and nothing is back and nothing is better. There is not a more appropriate example of that than the cost of living, inflation.
When President Biden took office, the cost of gasoline in my State was $2--$2 a gallon. It is between $4.15 and $4.25 right now. And it is not just gasoline, Mr. President. I mean, I don't need to tell you. A dozen eggs now costs $2.52. Ground beef is $5.41. A pound of chicken is $4.10.
The price of oil, the price of gasoline affects so much in terms of our economy. I mean, most of our food and our clothes and our plastics, the things we use every day, are delivered by air, by van, by tanker, all of which use gasoline. Pharmaceuticals are affected by the price of oil.
I don't think it is any secret that the Biden administration is trying to disrupt the production of oil in America. I think that is just a fact. We see it in the President canceling leases on Federal lands in the Gulf of Mexico, in ANWR. We see it from the difficult regulatory environment for oil and gas producers.
The President has just promulgated new rules for the National Environmental Policy Act. If those new rules come to fruition, it will be impossible to open a new pipeline in America, and I think we have to be honest about that.
Now, to be fair, the Biden administration is trying to disrupt the production of oil and gas, especially oil, for environmental reasons, of which we are both aware. But, instead, the Biden administration-- this seems curious to me--wants us to buy oil from foreign countries. And those foreign countries deliver their oil in tankers that use 2,000 gallons of fuel an hour and emit 8 tons of carbon dioxide into the environment per hour. The irony of this is rich.
Inflation and oil--once again, I think so much of our inflation in all of the products that we need to maintain our standard of living today starts with the price of oil. Now, President Biden has said he has no control over the price of oil and, therefore, the price of gasoline. But, Mr. President, you can't have regulatory control over the drilling, the transporting, the storage, the refining, the trading, and the taxation of oil as the President does and say you have no control over the price of the commodity. I mean, that is just not true.
Here is what most people in my State see, Mr. President. The President, in March of last year, sent every American a $1,400 stimulus check. And they were grateful, but then the Biden administration, for its next trick, crashed their 401(k)s, increased their food bills by as much--for some as much as $3,000 a year; increased their rent, for many as much as $2,000 a year; and increased their gas bills for many as much as $1,000 a year.
And they don't see that as a good trade, Mr. President. And it is all derived from President Biden's energy policy, which is--here is his energy policy: wind, solar, and wishful thinking. It is just not realistic. And among other things, it is hurting our country. It is hurting my people in Louisiana desperately because of the rise in gasoline prices.
I was very disappointed to see this week that the President has changed his approach to inflation and the price of gasoline. He has said we are now in a transition period, and he said it as if that were a positive thing. He said we are on a transition, and when we get through this transition, we are going to be stronger than ever because we are not going to have to rely on fossil fuels.
And I am thinking, you know, I respect the President; but honestly, what planet did he parachute in from?
I had just finished reading JPMorgan's energy report; and JPMorgan, looking out until 2030--not 2050, 2030--just 8 years from now--said, in 2030, at the rate we are going, the demand for energy in America will be 20 percent greater than the supply. You know what that is going to do to the price, Mr. President. The JPMorgan energy report said that, at a minimum, in 2030, 8 years from now, the demand for oil is going to be 10 percent higher in America and the demand for natural gas is going to be 18 percent higher. You know what that is going to do to prices. And the President is talking about this glorious transition as if this is going to last forever.
I don't know about the good people of Maine, but the good people of Louisiana, they just can't afford it. And my people deserve better.
Now, what is the answer? Here is my opinion: We have got to stop spending. The Federal Reserve has got to be given a chance to do its job. The U.S. Congress has a budget that we have set for the United States of America. We need to live within our budget. Except for defense spending, we need to freeze spending. We need to freeze it and give the Federal Reserve a chance to get this inflation under control.
Thank you, Mr. President. My people deserve better. The people of America deserve better.
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