Source: United States Senator for Alaska Dan Sullivan
04.06.22
WASHINGTON—In a Senate Republican press conference this afternoon, U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) called out House Democrats for conducting a “show trial” with senior executives from America’s energy companies in an effort to shift blame for the energy crisis hurting working families.
SULLIVAN: “If you’re watching what’s going on in the House right now, it’s the closest thing you’ll see to a show trial. It’s kind of an annual rite of passage. They’re bringing forward energy, oil and gas executives, and you guys all know what a show trial is. The subjects of the trial being publicly flogged for being guilty of something that is usually the fault of the very officials conducting the trial. By the way, look at the transcripts of the last show trial in the House. They were getting the energy executives of America to commit to producing less energy. That’s what they were doing.
Joe Biden, when he campaigned, said, “I guarantee we’re going to end fossil fuels.” That is actually one campaign promise he has tried to keep. You keep hearing about it from us because these are the facts: On day one, they moved out to keep Joe Biden’s promise of stopping the production of American energy, particularly on federal lands, killing key infrastructure, like Keystone, slowing down other pipelines, going to our financial community and strong-arming them not to invest in American oil and gas, and begging dictators for more oil, while guys like John Kerry were going to our allies, including in Japan, encouraging them not to buy American LNG. Think about that. Whose side is that guy on? Remarkable. The predictable result, we’ve all seen it: dramatic increases in energy prices for working families, particularly gas at the pump, pink slips for American energy workers, and empowering dictators. That’s what’s happening. So, here’s the deal though. This is a real problem for the Democrats. You’re seeing it here in the Senate and in the House. No one is being fooled by these show trials. I was home over the weekend. I want my colleagues to see that. That’s my little poster board. Okay. I filled up my truck—my truck was actually three-quarters empty, so that was filling up my truck in Alaska for $109 bucks. Had it been fully empty, it would have been $142 dollars to fill up. The tank of one truck in America. Devastating to working families, but nobody’s being fooled. This is what literally was on the pump in my home state: Joe Biden. “I did that.” Right? Nobody in America is being fooled. This isn’t Putin, this is Biden. He did that. And if this show trial that is going on in the House right now was actually trying to find the culprits of rising energy costs, the witnesses wouldn’t be American energy executives. It would be [Joe Biden], it would be John Kerry, it would be Gina McCarthy, it would be Deb Haaland. Those are the people crushing the American working family with higher energy prices. Those are the people responsible for laying off patriotic American energy workers, like in my state, and those are the people who have been empowering dictators who produce energy as well. And, as we’re all seeing here, it’s got to stop.
So, it’s the kind of flipping back-and-forth policies and the show trial element of that hearing that, in many ways, it’s remarkable. They’re saying, you need to invest more in terms of capital. Six months ago these same House members were telling the executives, you need to commit right now to producing less oil and gas. Go read the transcripts. Then, the Biden administration is strong-arming financial institutions not to invest and then they’re appointing, some of whom get confirmed, some of whom don’t, federal officials whose focus is to starve the oil and gas industry of capital. Think about it. Raskin, she didn’t get confirmed. The comptroller of the currency, Omarova, said she wanted to bankrupt small oil and gas businesses, and now you have the SEC chairman some of us talked to him, hey don’t make your tenure all about starving capital to American energy companies. That was the one thing I focused on during his confirmation hearing. He said, I wasn’t going to do it. He did it. FERC, same thing. Go look at the hearing where Joe Manchin brought all five FERC commissioners three weeks ago in front of the ENR Committee. Every single Biden administration nominee confirmed or not focuses on starving capital from the American energy sector and then you have the House members audaciously saying, why are you not investing? It is, to Ted Cruz’s point, it is purposeful policy, and if you listen to Gina McCarthy and John Kerry, who by the way, they’ve kind of put in a closet. You ever notice that? Now that the Ukraine war has broken out, they’re like we really need to shut these guys up. Thank God, but if you listen to them prior to the war they were actually saying, increased energy prices will quote, ‘help us rapidly transition to a green future.’ This is purposeful and the Dems are going to pay big time in November.”
SULLIVAN: “In many ways it’s remarkable. They’re saying, you need to invest more in terms of capital. Six months ago, these same House members were telling the executives, you need to commit right now to producing less oil and gas. Go read the transcripts. Then, the Biden administration is strong-arming financial institutions not to invest and then they’re appointing, some of whom get confirmed, some of whom don’t, federal officials whose focus is to starve the oil and gas industry of capital. Think about it. Raskin, she didn’t get confirmed. The comptroller of the currency, Omarova, said she wanted to bankrupt small oil and gas businesses, and now you have the SEC chairman some of us talked to him, hey, don’t make your tenure all about starving capital to American energy companies. That was the one thing I focused on during his confirmation hearing. He said, I wasn’t going to do it. He did it. FERC, same thing. Go look at the hearing where Joe Manchin brought all five FERC commissioners three weeks ago in front of the ENR Committee. Every single Biden administration nominee confirmed or not focuses on starving capital from the American energy sector and then you have the House members audaciously saying, why are you not investing? It is, to Ted Cruz’s point, it is purposeful policy, and if you listen to Gina McCarthy and John Kerry, who by the way, they’ve kind of put in a closet. You ever notice that? Now that the Ukraine war has broken out, they’re like we really need to shut these guys up. Thank God, but if you listen to them prior to the war they were actually saying increased energy prices will, ‘help us rapidly transition to a green future.’ This is purposeful and the Dems are going to pay big time in November.”
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