Billy Long: The U. S. was energy independent when Donald Trump was president

(From Seventh District Congressman Billy Long)

Energy independence is of great importance to our national security. President Trump realized that and pursued policies that made America energy independent. The United States became a net exporter of energy under President Trump. That was until noon on January 20, 2021, the date and time that President Biden was sworn into office. 

He wasted no time implementing a series of policies designed to dismantle President Trump’s legacy as quickly as humanly possible. This included halting the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline and a regulatory assault on American energy production. 

Sadly, we are once again a net importer of energy. Just this week gas prices have escalated higher than ever. It is simply unfathomable that it took a war in Europe for the president and his Green progressive cronies to realize the importance of energy independence, but here we are. 

At the time, the soon to be fired KeystoneXL pipeline workers tried their best to warn the White House of what they could expect if we headed down this foolhardy road. It didn't take a PhD from M.I.T. to realize what the future would hold.

It’s a simple fact – the more oil we produce here in the United States, the less we are dependent on foreign oil. This is especially important when considering that President Biden’s policies led to the United States having to buy over 600,000 barrels of oil a day from Russia. 

It took nearly two weeks of the war in Ukraine for President Biden to finally ban Russian oil imports to the United States, something Republican lawmakers were calling for since before this ruthless former KGB agent invaded Ukraine. 

Don't forget the Biden Administration also lifted the sanctions on Nord Stream 2, which is Putin's natural gas pipeline to Germany – sanctions that had been put in place by President Trump.

Congressional Democrats added insult to injury by blocking our Republican bill to reimpose the sanctions on Nord Stream 2. Thankfully, Germany has suspended Nord Stream 2 in the wake of the invasion, but it is too little too late. Removing these sanctions gave Putin exactly what he wanted, control over Europe’s energy sector.

Putin knows that any severe sanctions against his energy sector would mean sky high gas prices for the rest of us. That’s the reason President Biden has given for not sanctioning Russian oil. Putin of course can turn off the tap in retaliation for the other sanctions levied against him and his cronies. That’s another reason we should never have been relying on oil from Russia. It’s a lesson President Biden took too long to learn.

You would think that the war in Europe would jolt President Biden awake and that he would allow more drilling in the United States, but sadly that is not the case. It seems that President Biden is so afraid of the radical left in his own party that he won’t do anything to renew American energy independence. 

Our European allies are starting to get the point, but the Biden Administration has continued to lag behind them. Or as former President Obama called it “leading from behind.” Just this week, the average price of gas in the United States went above $4 a gallon, cresting at an all time high, with no end in sight. Instead of opening up our own oil production, the Biden Administration is in talks to buy Venezuelan oil, shifting our reliance from one dictator to another.. The Green New Deal dreamers are creating a devastating impact on agriculture, our pocketbooks and our national security. It’s high time we unleash American energy production, once again become a net energy exporter and end our energy reliance on dictators. Everyone in their right mind wants clean air to breath and pristine water to drink, so why would Joe Biden rather buy oil from people that hate us as opposed to us producing our own oil? Oh by the way, we produce oil a lot more climate friendly than Venezuela or Iran does. Go figure.