-9999

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, America is facing a perfect storm of inflation, unsustainable energy costs, and supply chain chaos. Russia and Iran are circling the wagons.

Joe Biden is still finding new ways to put the American people last. In fact, when it comes to getting gas prices under control, he has chosen to unleash a China-first policy rather than unleashing the power of American energy.

I have spent the past 18 months laying out in great detail how Joe Biden and the Democrats have damaged our credibility and enriched our adversaries. They undermined our economic recovery. They abandoned the border. They destroyed American energy independence. The list goes on and on, unfortunately. It appears that everything they have done makes life worse for ``we the people.''

Unfortunately, it is emboldening the axis of evil--Russia, China, Iran, North Korea. Under normal circumstances, Vladimir Putin's trip to Iran this week would be a cause for concern, but with the Biden administration in charge, it appears it could be just the tip of the iceberg because although Russia and Iran are competitors, especially in the energy sector, they are absolutely united in their hatred of the United States and in their desire to undermine Western interests.

When they look at the United States, they see a country whose President got a head start undermining those interests on day 1 of his administration, and you better believe they are ready to take advantage of this. They are ready for it. This week, look at what they have done. You had Gazprom, which is the Russian energy giant, and the National Iranian Oil Company come together and announce a $40 billion agreement to work together on oil and gas development and pipeline construction. They are reading the writing on the wall, and what they see is hesitation from the U.S. President to move us back to energy independence, where we were on day 1 of his administration, so they are making plans as to how they will work together and dominate the energy sector.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden has also sold about a million barrels of oil from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve to the Chinese Communist Party. When I have spoken with Tennesseans about this, they are furious. They cannot understand why he would make a choice to do this. The left has done their best to provide cover for the President, claiming that a million barrels is really nothing to worry about, but you know it is something to worry about. Our SPR has about 750 million barrels in it. We are drawing it down at about a million barrels a day. Plus, the President is now selling to our adversaries--selling it.

We did a little bit of research into what China can get out of a barrel of oil, and here is what we found: That gives you 20 gallons of gasoline; 12\1/2\ gallons of distillate, which is what we use for diesel fuel; and about 3\1/2\ gallons of jet fuel. To Tennesseans, this makes a big difference.

I really agree with my fellow Tennesseans about this. When they look at this picture and they think about the President's big sale to Hunter Biden's friends in Beijing, they don't see a gallon of gas here and there. What they see is 20 million full tanks of gas. They see diesel fuel that our farmers need. Right now, with the price of diesel doubling, we have farmers in Tennessee who cannot get crops planted. They chose not to plant crops because of the cost of diesel, fertilizer, chemicals, pesticides. They see sabotage of their hopes and their dreams and their plans--their plans--for their family, for their business, for their farm.

As I have been out and about around the State and talked to Tennesseans, they have a message for this President, this administration, my Democratic colleagues. This is more than just a political disagreement. In their minds, and I agree, this is a national security risk--a national security risk.

We are making ourselves vulnerable. Giving any aid or advantage to our adversaries is wrong, and this has got to end. Joe Biden and the Democrats must abandon this China-first energy policy and return to an America-first policy.

Restart the Keystone Pipeline. Approve more energy infrastructure. Hold more lease sales. Approve drilling permits that are waiting for approval.

Let's get the regulators out of the way. Stall some of these 42 regulations that the President has put on the oil and energy sector this year. Let's do this. Let's advantage ourselves with American energy before it is too late.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source