Source: United States Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND)
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WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Senate Environment and Public Works and Banking Committees, joined CNBC’s Squawk Box to discuss the global need for American energy production and rising inflation rates. Excerpts and full video are below.
On American Energy Production:
“What’s detracted a lot of investment in the oil industry, gas industry, and other fossil industries is the long-term prospects of a return on that investment. You can send the right price signals today, and you’ll get investment. We know how to produce a lot more oil and gas and we can get back at it, but investors have to see a long-term return.”
“On the one hand, the easiest thing is to lift the prohibition on federal leasing and then get about the business of reviewing these applications for permits to drill on federal land. There are thousands of them waiting. So when the President says ‘well, we’ve got a record number of leases but nobody’s drilling on them,’ that’s because the Bureau of Land Management is sitting on these applications for permits to drill. That would send a strong signal. I think some permitting reform would send a signal where you knew there was an end to the litigation for a pipeline that would move product to market for example.”
“Just the attitude coming from the Administration that the bridge to a transition can’t be a short bridge, nobody invests in short bridges they invest in long bridges…. Attitude sends signals to the markets. We can do a whole lot better and we ought to be doing a lot more.”
“I think [we need] a better trade policy that recognizes that American energy, in concert with our allies, particularly in Europe… Instead of seeking help from OPEC+, Venezuela, or Saudi Arabia, let’s get back to what we know and that is American energy is cleaner than most. We know how to produce it. We become the exporter.”
On Federal Government Overreach in Banking:
“The federal government seems to always try to find ways to mess up what would otherwise be a pretty good thing. So taking as an example, the Comptroller of the Currency, the FDIC, the Federal Reserve itself, and the CFPB, we’re always looking to them for some sort of guidance. Yet what they generally send into the marketplace is alarm. Nominees that come before the Banking Committee [which] I sit on, have anywhere from strong to radical views that send again bad price signals. Treating every bank as though they’re all JPMorgan Chase. I come from a state that’s largely community banks and credit unions, and [these agencies] just add more and more layers of bureaucracy and compliance and regulation that is stifling. I worry a lot about over consolidation and overregulation.”
On Soaring Inflation:
“I’m in the camp—and I don’t even know that it’s a debate anymore—that the Federal Reserve was way too slow and way too dramatic. Had they started sooner with more modest increases I think that we could have avoided where we are. The problem is we are where we are. I have some sympathy for the Fed’s moves, these 75 basis points moves, to try to curb inflation. I would prefer that we look at the supply side of the ledger. Work more on the supply side which gets us again back to energy and American energy jobs providing a better supply chain, if you will… it seems that inflation and the federal response is helping lead to some form of a recession.”
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