After taking actions to scale down sanctions on Venezuela’s authoritarian regime last month, the Biden Administration is now authorizing permits to pump oil in Venezuela while sitting on permits to expand energy production here in the United States.
Instead of increasing production at home, Biden’s Department of the Interior instead rolled out additional restrictions last week on federal oil and gas leasing previously signed into law through Democrats’ Inflation ‘Reduction’ Act, including higher royalty and rental rates.
The White House continues to push the misleading claim that there are 9,000 approved but “unused” leases and permits, known as Applications for Permits to Drill (APDs). Instead, the Biden administration is currently sitting on over 4,400 pending APDs, which must be approved so American workers can produce more and lessen the dependence on foreign adversaries for our energy resources. Instead of unleashing American-made energy – President Biden chooses to fund authoritarian dictators. Furthermore, this administration has made it abundantly clear that they want to completely terminate fossil fuel production in America. With that very clearly stated agenda, why would anyone even think about investing money in new possible sources of oil and gas when the Biden Administration, including the President himself, has announced their desire to terminate the oil and natural gas industries?
It doesn’t have to be this way.
America produces the cleanest oil and gas in the world. By unleashing the resources we have available to us, we can lower energy costs and bring much-needed relief to American families. As I look ahead to the 118th Congress, I am committed to pursuing an “all of the above” approach to energy production and usage in our country. This starts with tapping America’s abundant oil and natural gas resources.
