The Biden administration’s search for foreign partners has led to backlash among Americans who say we should produce more domestic oil instead of requesting this from foreign nations.
This comes as Senate Democrats, including Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), voted to block the Keystone XL Pipeline extension in February 2021. In a Washington Free Beacon report, Super PAC 34N22 member Stephen Lawson claimed this has led to a spike in Georgia gas prices and a loss in energy independence.
“I think we need to be moving away from an economy that’s based on fossil fuels, that’s the way of the past and we need to be moving toward the future,” Warnock said in an interview during his campaign in 2020.
According to a recent poll from the American Petroleum Institute (API), nine out of 10 U.S. voters support American energy production over foreign energy reliance. Metrics from the poll further revealed that 92% of Democrats and 90% of Republicans support the U.S. developing its own domestic sources of energy.
In 2019, the U.S. became a net total energy exporter for the first time since 1952, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports. The country maintained that position in 2020, though the country is not energy independent.
“We consume roughly 20 million barrels of crude oil each day,” economist Edward Hirs told Houston Public Media in January 2020. “We only produce about 12.5 million barrels of crude oil each day.”
Restoration PAC launched a TV ad recently highlighting Democrats’ positions on domestic energy production and alleging these have contributed heavily to skyrocketing gas prices throughout the state of Georgia and the rest of the country.
The ad highlights supporters of Biden’s energy policies.
“American energy production kept gas prices down,” the ad states. “More and more, we are going overseas for oil that is right under our feet. That’s the Democrat green energy plan. High gas prices? Joe Biden did that. And with his support for Biden’s policies, Raphael Warnock did that, too.”
Congressman Dan Newhouse of Washington State believes the Biden administration is to blame for where the country stands today amid high energy prices.
“By effectively shutting down our own supply of critical oil and gas, the Biden administration increased our reliance on foreign countries for our energy needs, increased global emissions and increased gas prices for American families,” Newhouse wrote.
