(Headline USA) Even as gas prices soar to record levels, Congressional leftists continue to push a radical energy agenda and demonize oil and gas companies.
This week, the nearly 100-member Congressional Progressive Caucus sent President Joe Biden a slate of policy demands, one of which included declaring a national emergency for climate change via executive order. This order would allow him to implement parts of his so-called Build Back Better legislation without congressional approval, including the development of more green energy technologies and the implementation of restrictions on new fossil fuel production.
The leftists said they want Biden to both “declare a ban on new fossil fuel leases on federal lands and waters and in environmental justice communities” and “save taxpayers billions of dollars by ending both domestic and international federal fossil fuel subsidies.”
Republicans have alleged that policies such as these are the reason gas prices continue to soar. The Biden administration, however, has denied that its restrictions on domestic oil production are to blame, instead alleging that oil and gas companies are hiking prices to increase their profits.
“The oil companies are making quite a profit,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said this week.
“There is concern about whether there is profiteering happening at the gas station level as well as at the oil company level and I think the oil companies must be sensitive to this,” she opined.
Energy @SecGranholm: “The oil companies are making quite a profit. […] There is concern about whether there is profiteering happening at the gas station level as well as at the oil company level and I think the oil companies must be sensitive to this.” https://t.co/djuBYBwzw8 pic.twitter.com/dS1MOfuDje
— The Hill (@thehill) March 17, 2022
Granholm has also dismissed the severity of the hike in fuel costs, telling Americans they need to accept the higher costs while the Biden administration transitions to “green” energy alternatives.
“We’re working through an energy transition,” she claimed, “and we’ve got to start by adding energy.”
