‘For the first time in decades, we were energy independent’
Republicans on Capitol Hill came out swinging Wednesday against President Biden's latest energy policies, claiming his efforts to combat the climate crisis are killing American jobs.
Biden signed new executive actions to eliminate federal subsidies for oil and other fossil fuels and halt new oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters. His Wednesday action also commits to conserving at least 30 percent of federal lands and waters by 2030 and to double renewable energy production from wind by 2030.
"It's a full-out assault on the oil and gas industry -- on the 10 million people in the United States who work in the industry [and] the 2 million Texans," GOP Rep. August Pfluger told Fox News.
Previously, Biden said he'd replace the federal government's roughly 645,000 vehicles with an all-electric federal vehicle fleet. And on his first day in office, Biden revoked the approval of the Keystone XL oil and gas pipeline project on environmental grounds and committed to rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement aimed at reducing global greenhouse gas emissions.
Pfluger is an Air Force veteran and was a national security adviser to former President Trump. His Texas district includes the oil-producing Permian Basin. He blasted Biden's "gross overreach" from the Oval Office to issue orders that he said will cost jobs, raise energy prices and take a big step backward on American energy independence.
"Energy security equals national security," Pfluger said. "This is weakening our national security. I mean for the first time in decades, we were energy independent at the end of 2019, beginning of 2020. And when you export more than you import and you're not dependent on foreign countries for your own energy needs, that's a lever of national security."