Biden Energy Policy Explained
By: John Semmens
With many in Congress urging a u-turn from President Biden's extraordinarily costly energy policy, the Administration has opted for seeking foreign sources to diminish the impact of boycotting Russian petroleum supplies. The heaviest efforts are focused on Venezuela and Iran as the favored options.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla) lambasted the idea of looking to Venezuela as a solution to America's energy needs, pointing out that “relying on the cruel dictatorship running that country is a mistake. First, Venezuela is ideologically aligned with Russia. The notion that any negotiations with them could produce an acceptable resolution is far-fetched. Even if a deal is reached any money we pay will strengthen Maduro's tyranny. Is aiding tyranny in our hemisphere a rational price to pay for efforts to deter tyranny in Ukraine?”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex) challenged the belief that buying oil from Iran could be a good alternative. “Iran is the world's foremost sponsor of terrorism. It is an implacable enemy of the United States and Western Civilization. We should be starving them of resources that could be used for their evil plans. The best way to do this is to undo the energy suppression actions taken by President Biden during his first month in office. I have introduced legislation to repeal those actions.”
Press Secretary Jen Psaki made an effort to rebut these GOP initiated objections to the President's policies, saying “the President is taking a long-term approach to the energy question. Of necessity, this requires pain and sacrifice be endured by every American. It is absolutely essential that the US energy industry be throttled down. It poses the greater long-term threat to the environment that any temporary purchases we may make from Venezuela or Iran. Addressing this threat takes priority over everything else.”
“Though providing funds to these unfriendly regimes will have some undesirable consequences, the President deems these consequences as more tolerable than the alternative,” the Secretary explained. “Likely as the money flowing to Iran would bankroll terrorist attacks in our country, the thousands of lives that could be lost are dwarfed by the millions or billions of lives that climate change would claim.”
“Finally, it will be easier to stop buying oil from foreign sources after the Ukraine crisis is over than it would be to reverse the kind of expansion in domestic production Sen. Cruz is pushing,” she added. “An economically robust domestic energy sector would pose a more serious threat to the election of Democrats needed to ensure that the transition to green energy remains on track. Meanwhile, Russia, Iran and Venezuela would be stuck with the obsolete infrastructure of fossil-fueled economies. It is a win-win scenario for America.”
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) defended Biden's policy by pointing out that “relying on domestic energy production would still let these companies profit from exploiting the consumers' need for their product. Buying oil from Iran and Venezuela circumvents this pernicious practice. Any profiteering that occurs would be at the hands of foreigners. Our hands would be clean.”
