The Mississippi Senator, colleagues say more American production, not litany of anti-energy polices, would help Americans.
U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) today disparaged efforts by President Biden and Democrats to deflect blame for soaring energy prices, and pleaded for them to “do something that’s actually going to help the American people” like abandoning a devastating anti-American energy agenda.
Hyde-Smith participated in a news conference called to debunk Democratic efforts to blame record gasoline prices solely on Russia’s war on Ukraine—pointing out that gas prices rose 48 percent from President Biden’s inauguration to the eve of the unprovoked attack on Ukraine.
“President Biden and the Democrats, not only do they have to own this, they have to wear this. But the American people are having to wear it with them,” Hyde-Smith said. “After a year of these anti-energy policies and having their heads literally in the sand, they are finally turning their attention to high gas prices. They’re finally looking at, you know, whose fault is it.”
Hyde-Smith and colleagues also criticized Democratic proposals to address gasoline prices as election-year gimmicks. The Republican Senator instead endorsed reversing the litany of anti-American energy policies imposed after Biden took office that continue to contribute to higher energy costs. Among them:
- Cancelling the Keystone XL pipeline;
- Stopping new inland and offshore oil and gas leases, and failing to hold lease sales as required by law;
- Halting authorized energy exploration in Alaska; and
- Issuing a barrage of radical new rules and regulations from the Department of the Interior, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Environmental Protection Agency, and other federal agencies.
“We talk about taking $90 to fill up our cars, that’s just one time. It doesn’t last very long when you’re taking kids to school, when you’re going to work, and then you have to go to the pump and fill up again,” Hyde-Smith said. “We all drive. We all eat. We all have a car to get us to where we need to be, in most circumstances. In Mississippi, Mississippians are hurting just like the rest of this country.”
“It’s been far more than a year that the waged war on American energy has taken place, and the best they can come up with is an election driven political gimmick: A gas tax holiday, which by the way, it ends after the election,” she said. “I just plead and beg with this administration. Step up! Do something that’s going to actually help the American people instead of what’s going to help an election. Please just do that for the American people.”
Hyde-Smith authored the Domestic Energy Crisis Relief Act (S.3353) to restore commonsense to U.S. energy policies in a manner that would enhance job creation and energy security. It outlines a series of requirements to be taken by the administration to facilitate energy production, create American jobs, strengthen national security, and support energy-producing states like Mississippi.
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Release from Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith
