Biden administration cancels new oil leases as gas prices hit record highs
President Joe Biden canceled three pending oil and gas drilling leases in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico this week as gas prices hit record highs. Biden has taken heavy fire for blocking new leases and pipelines as energy costs have surged but has defended his record. This latest development intensified that criticism. “It’s day 477 of the Biden administration, we have record gas prices, and they have still not leased one acre of land to drill oil,” Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, said. The Department of Interior announced the decision late Wednesday, saying there was not enough industry interest in the areas. Experts argue the Biden administration’s fight to cancel all oil and gas leasing has made it risky and unappealing for the oil and gas industry to begin new investments in the U.S. The Alaska lease had difficulty receiving interest at certain points in the past before Biden took office. “Canceling oil and gas leases is part of Biden’s ongoing punishing of the industry including threatening banks for lending and investment,” said Daniel Turner, executive director of the energy workers advocacy group, Power the Future. “We are all living the consequence: outrageously high prices and growing shortages.” The decision comes just days after the U.S. hit record-high gas prices. According to AAA, the national average gas price is currently $4.42, up from $3 per gallon the same time last year, when prices had already begun to rise. Federal inflation data released Wednesday also showed a slight decline in energy costs in April but still overall a major increase in energy prices in the past year. Biden blocked all new oil and gas leasing on federal lands via executive order shortly after taking office, but a federal judge overturned that decision. Earlier this week, the White House defended Biden’s work on energy costs. “He’s also taken steps that are definitely smaller but meant to do anything possible, including issuing a waiver for E15 so that thousands of pumps in the Midwest could have gasoline that – and make it available to Americans so that that’s 10 cents less,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said. “He also has noted … that oil companies should also do their part in ensuring they’re not price-gouging customers at the pump. As oil prices come down, so should gas prices at the pump. And that’s also something that we are going to continue to watch closely and continue to call on steps to be taken.” Meanwhile, many Republicans blasted Biden for the decision. “As gas prices hit an all-time high in the USA, [the president] canceled a vital round of oil and gas lease sales this morning,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said. “High gas prices are preventable. Democrats are putting woke politics ahead of American families.” They also pointed to the record-high gas prices. “Yesterday Americans paid the highest price for gasoline in history,” Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said. “At the same time Biden just cancelled our largest pending American oil [and] gas lease sale” Critics say Biden’s green agenda has Americans paying the price. “Biden has repeatedly said he is doing everything in his power to lower gas prices, but then he pushes policies like this which cripple the industry’s ability to produce,” Turner said. “It also scares off any investment. Joe Biden made it clear in his campaign that he believes fossil fuels are the enemy. By making them scarce and expensive he creates a narrative to push his green agenda.” Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
Florida judge voids U.S. mask mandate for planes, other travel
A federal judge in Florida struck down the national mask mandate covering airlines and other public transportation Monday, and the Biden administration said the rule would not be enforced while federal agencies decide how to respond to the judge’s order. The ruling appeared to free operators to make their own decisions about mask requirements, with several airlines announcing they would drop mandates but New York City’s public transit system planning to keep one in place. The Association of Flight Attendants, the nation’s largest union of cabin crews, has recently taken a neutral position on the mask rule because its members are divided about the issue. On Monday, the union’s president appealed for calm on planes and in airports. “The last thing we need for workers on the frontlines or passengers traveling today is confusion and chaos,” union leader Sara Nelson said. Nelson said it takes airlines 24 to 48 hours to put new procedures in place and tell employees about them. She said passengers should check with airlines for updates about travel requirements. The decision by U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle in Tampa, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, also said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention failed to justify its decision and did not follow proper rulemaking procedures that left it fatally flawed. In her 59-page ruling, Mizelle said the only remedy was to vacate the rule entirely across the country because it would be impossible to end it for the limited group of people who objected in the lawsuit. The judge said “a limited remedy would be no remedy at all” and courts have full authority to make a decision such as this — even if the CDC’s goals in fighting the virus are laudable. The Justice Department declined to comment when asked if it would seek an emergency stay to block the judge’s order. The CDC also declined to comment. The White House said the court ruling means that for now the mask order “is not in effect at this time.” “This is obviously a disappointing decision,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters. “The CDC is recommending wearing a mask on public transit.” The CDC had recently extended the mask mandate, which was set to expire Monday, until May 3 to allow more time to study the BA.2 omicron subvariant of the coronavirus now responsible for the vast majority of cases in the U.S. In New York, Metropolitan Transportation Authority communications director Tim Minton said the system was “continuing to follow CDC guidelines and will review the Florida court order.” The MTA operates New York City buses and subway trains as well as two commuter rail lines. Face coverings have been mandatory on all trains and buses since early in the pandemic. United Airlines said in a statement that, effective immediately, masks would no longer be required on domestic flights or certain international flights. “While this means that our employees are no longer required to wear a mask – and no longer have to enforce a mask requirement for most of the flying public – they will be able to wear masks if they choose to do so, as the CDC continues to strongly recommend wearing a mask on public transit,” United said. The federal mask requirement for travelers was the target of months of lobbying from the airlines, which sought to kill it. The carriers argued that effective air filters on modern planes make transmission of the virus during a flight highly unlikely. Republicans in Congress also fought to kill the mandate. Critics have seized on the fact that states have rolled back rules requiring masks in restaurants, stores, and other indoor settings, and yet COVID-19 cases have fallen sharply since the omicron variant peaked in mid-January. There have been a series of violent incidents on aircraft that have mainly been attributed to disputes over the mask-wearing requirements. The lawsuit was filed in July 2021 by two plaintiffs and the Health Freedom Defense Fund, described in the judge’s order as a nonprofit group that “opposes laws and regulations that force individuals to submit to the administration of medical products, procedures, and devices against their will.” Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who was not directly involved in the case but has battled against many government coronavirus requirements, praised the ruling in a statement on Twitter. “Great to see a federal judge in Florida follow the law and reject the Biden transportation mask mandate. Both airline employees and passengers deserve to have this misery end,” DeSantis tweeted. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Second bus of illegal immigrants arrives at U.S. Capitol from Texas
A second bus carrying immigrants who illegally crossed the border in Texas arrived near the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C. early Thursday. The first group of illegal immigrants bused from Texas to the nation’s capital arrived Wednesday, one week after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced he was expanding the state’s border security initiative, Operation Lone Star. The second bus dropped immigrants off a block from Union Station. “As the federal government continues to turn a blind eye to the border crisis, the State of Texas will remain steadfast in our efforts to fill in the gaps and keep Texans safe,” Abbott said in a statement Wednesday. “By busing migrants to Washington, D.C., the Biden Administration will be able to more immediately meet the needs of the people they are allowing to cross our border. Texas should not have to bear the burden of the Biden Administration’s failure to secure our border.” Last week, Abbott announced he was expanding Operation Lone Star to include busing illegal immigrants released from federal custody into Texas to the U.S. Capitol building. “We are sending them to the United States Capitol where the Biden administration will be able to more immediately address the needs of the people that they are allowing to come across our border,” Abbott said. “With the end of Title 42 expulsions looming next month, Texas will immediately begin taking unprecedented action to do what no state has done in American history to secure our border. … We will use any and all lawful powers to curtail the flow of drugs, human traffickers, illegal immigrants, weapons, and other contraband into Texas.” Title 42 is a public health authority that allows CBP and Border Patrol agents to quickly expel illegal immigrants during a public health emergency. Because of the Biden administration’s open border policies and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas drastically curtailing most enforcement actions, Title 42 has been seen as the last measure in place holding back a deluge of illegal immigrants from entering the U.S. from over 150 countries. The Centers for Disease Control announced it was ending the policy May 23. The Texas Department of Emergency Management is overseeing the busing operation, which began April 7. TDEM Chief Nim Kidd said at least 900 charter buses are available for use. The state is transporting illegal immigrants who mostly would have been denied entry or deported if current immigration laws were being enforced. Instead of being denied entry and remaining in Mexico for their immigration process to be completed, as was ordered by the Supreme Court, illegal immigrants are being released into the U.S. The two buses were carrying people from Colombia, Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, Abbott said. Because Texas shares the largest border with Mexico and has the busiest CBP sectors, Texas is bearing the brunt of Biden’s immigration policies, Abbott said. The governor said last week that Texas is chartering buses or commercial flights to transport illegal immigrants released into Texas to Washington, D.C. After Abbott announced the plan, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters last week, “I think it’s pretty clear that this is a publicity stunt. I know that the governor of Texas, or any state, does not have the legal authority to compel anyone to get on a bus.” According to the governor’s office, transportation is voluntary. “A migrant must volunteer to be transported and show documentation from DHS,” the governor’s office said. “Mayors and county judges can notify TDEM of any DHS-facilitated drop-off of migrants in their communities so that the agency can provide appropriate transportation.” Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
Dan Sutter: War, policy, and high gas prices
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent already rising oil prices even higher. Record gas prices are fueling the highest inflation rate in forty years. President Joe Biden blames high gas prices on Mr. Vladimir Putin, but administration policies are hampering U.S. oil production. Markets are forward-looking and incorporate new information almost instantaneously. Anticipated events will affect commodity and stock prices before they occur. Experts’ surprise at the full-scale invasion suggests that this likely explains the price rise from $90 to $120 per barrel over the next two weeks. But the increase from $40 in October 2020 to $90 in February seems hard to blame on Mr. Putin. The Institute for Energy Research (IER) maintains a scorecard on Biden energy policies. Mr. Biden canceled the Keystone XL pipeline on Inauguration Day. The XL segment was not going to be completed until 2023, so White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki is correct that this is not reducing oil supplies today. But by foreshadowing administration policies, it could easily have driven up prices. The Biden administration has stopped development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Alaska National Petroleum Reserve and halted new leases on Federal lands and waters. A court ruling blocking a large Gulf of Mexico lease has not been appealed. Ms. Psaki repeatedly cites 9,000 unused Federal leases as demonstrating industry culpability for high prices. As IER explains, oil production involves two steps: leases and drilling permits. Companies first sign leases for exploration and then apply for drilling permits where oil is found. A near doubling of the permit approval time under President Biden has produced a backlog of 4,000 applications. President Biden has reversed President Donald Trump’s reforms of the National Environmental Protection Act and the Clean Water Act. The policy process previously allowed environmental groups to endlessly litigate required environmental reviews, tying up production and pipelines for years. Wise policy should balance environmental costs and economic benefits and proceed when we decide that the benefits outweigh the costs. Prior to the Trump reforms, environmental groups nearly possessed veto power. Mr. Biden is simply, in IER’s view, delivering on his 2020 election pledge: “No ability for the oil industry to continue to drill period. It ends.” And now the President is asking Iran, Venezuela, and Saudi Arabia to pump more oil. Everyone, it seems, except America. Anyone believing that climate change poses an existential threat to humanity must advocate such policies. Meeting the new goal of limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius will require an end to the use of fossil fuels within ten or twenty years, not the distant future. Prices and quantities are related. At a sufficiently high price, the quantity consumers are willing and able to purchase (the textbook definition of demand) will be zero. Banning gasoline pushes the quantity to zero but can also be interpreted as driving the price to infinity. High and rising gas prices are not a flaw of fighting global warming, they are the plan. The only glitch is perhaps that the Ukraine invasion gave us 2023’s price of gas in March 2022, resulting in more pain sooner than intended. California Governor Gavin Newsome, who wants to ban the sale of gas-powered cars by 2030, now generously proposes rebates to Californians as relief from $6 a gallon gas. We may be approaching a point of no return for domestic oil and natural gas production. Developing oil and gas involves enormous capital investment in wells, storage, transportation (pipelines or railroads), and refining or processing. These investments require years of use to recoup. I do not support ending fossil fuel use to fight global warming, and you may wish to discount my investment insight. But how can drilling oil or natural gas wells to be used for only twenty (or perhaps now fifteen or ten) years be profitable? A four-year reprieve from a Republican president may soon be irrelevant. A credible commitment not to ban fossil fuels may soon be necessary to significantly increase production. Daniel Sutter is the Charles G. Koch Professor of Economics with the Manuel H. Johnson Center for Political Economy at Troy University and host of Econversations on TrojanVision. The opinions expressed in this column are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the views of Troy University.
Nancy Pelosi positive for COVID-19, was at White House with Joe Biden
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has tested positive for COVID-19, a day after appearing unmasked at a White House event with President Joe Biden. Pelosi, D-Calif., received a positive test result for COVID-19 and is currently asymptomatic, her spokesman Drew Hammill said Thursday in a tweet. He said she had tested negative earlier in the week. “The Speaker is fully vaccinated and boosted and is thankful for the robust protection the vaccine has provided,” Hammill said. Pelosi, he said, will “quarantine consistent with CDC guidance, and encourages everyone to get vaccinated, boosted and test regularly.” The White House said Biden and Pelosi had only “brief interactions over the course of the last two days” and that the President was not considered a close contact of the speaker by CDC guidance — sustained unmasked contact within 6 feet for more than 15 minutes over a 24-hour period. “Last night, as a part of his regular testing cadence, the President tested negative,” the White House said in a statement. “He will continue to be tested regularly. The President wishes Speaker Pelosi a speedy recovery.” The 82-year-old Democratic leader’s announcement came ahead of her weekly press appearance on Capitol Hill, which was abruptly called off. The House is set to start a two-week spring recess. Pelosi also postponed a planned congressional delegation trip to Asia she was scheduled to lead. Washington has experienced a rush of new COVID-19 cases as restrictions have lifted and more events and gatherings are happening across Washington, D.C. On Wednesday, Attorney General Merrick Garland and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo announced positive tests. The officials were among more than a dozen attendees of the Saturday night Gridiron Club dinner to test positive for the virus. Pelosi did not attend the dinner, her spokesman said. Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser also announced Thursday that she tested positive for COVID-19 and would “work at home while following isolation protocols.” Several lawmakers have announced positive test results and are isolating, including Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. Collins’ office announced she had tested positive late Thursday, shortly after the Senate voted to confirm Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. The CDC says people vaccinated and boosted against COVID-19 are much less likely to suffer adverse outcomes, including serious illness and death, from the virus compared to those who are unvaccinated. White House press secretary Jen Psaki has faced a flurry of questions in recent days about the COVID-19 protocols surrounding Biden, as more members of the administration and others in Washington have tested positive for the coronavirus. Psaki said Biden planned to continue with his public schedule despite the uptick in cases, including hosting large events, such as one on Friday celebrating Jackson’s confirmation to the Supreme Court. “The most important message we’re sending to the public is that we have steps in place that we can take to continue to address it, and even as we’re continuing to fight COVID, we can, for the most part, return to our normal routines,” she said Thursday. Asked whether there was a concern that the Friday event could be a “super-spreader” for the virus, like President Donald Trump’s Rose Garden ceremony announcing the nomination of now-Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Psaki emphasized that the risks from the virus are now much lower now because of vaccinations and treatments. “At that point in time, vaccines were unavailable; people were not vaccinated; it certainly puts us in a different space,” Psaki said. Biden has not been identified as a close contact by the White House Medical Unit, despite being photographed hugging and kissing Pelosi, because they did not spend more than 15 minutes in close proximity over a 24 period — the CDC’s standard. Psaki said if he was ever identified as a close contact, Biden would follow the CDC’s guidance, including wearing a mask when around other people. “If he is in close contact, that is exactly what he will do,” she told reporters. Psaki also defended Vice President Kamala Harris’ decision not to wear a mask in the Senate chamber while presiding over the Jackson vote, despite being identified as a close contact of a staff member who tested positive for COVID-19. CDC guidance recommends close-contacts who are fully vaccinated wear a tight-fitting mask when around other people. “I know that she was alone kind of on the dais for most of that, but of course, she’s been wearing a mask otherwise,” said Psaki. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Trans youth medication ban passed by Alabama lawmakers
Alabama lawmakers approved sweeping legislation Thursday to outlaw gender-affirming medications for transgender kids and advanced a separate measure prohibiting early classroom instruction on sexual and gender identity, a bill critics have dubbed “Don’t Say Gay.” The Alabama House of Representatives voted 66-28 for legislation to make it a felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, for a doctor to prescribe puberty blockers or hormones or perform surgery to aid in the gender transition of people under age 19. The bill now goes to Republican Gov. Kay Ivey for her signature as Alabama becomes the latest red state to promote legislation and policies aimed at trans youth. Ivey has not indicated whether she will sign it. The topic of transgender and LGBTQ identity has become one of the GOP’s “wedge” issues aimed at securing votes because they are popular with the party’s base. Rep. Neil Rafferty, the only openly gay member of the Alabama Legislature, appeared to struggle to hold back his anger and maintain composure as lawmakers headed to the vote. “This is wrong,” Rafferty said. “Y’all sit there and campaign on family being the foundation of our nation … but what this bill is doing is totally undermining that. It’s totally undermining family rights, health rights, and access to health care.” Republican Rep. Wes Allen of Troy, sponsor of the House version of the bill, argued during debate Thursday morning that transgender youth are not old enough to make decisions about gender-affirming medication. “Their brains are not developed to make the decisions long term about what these medications and surgeries do to their body,” Allen said. Rep. Chris England, who serves as chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party, said the measure targets already vulnerable children and essentially tells them they are not welcome in Alabama. “You’re saying this is about children. It’s not. What it is about is scoring political points and using those children as collateral damage,” England said. The bill would also require school counselors, nurses, and others to tell parents if a child discloses they believe they are transgender. A spokeswoman for Ivey did not immediately reply to a text message asking if the governor will sign the measure. “I want the governor to know that she doesn’t have to sign this, she can veto it,” Jeff Walker, whose 15-year-old daughter, Harleigh, is transgender, said Thursday afternoon. “All you are doing is hurting Alabama families with these bills.” Arkansas approved a similar law in 2021, but it was put on hold by the courts. Advocacy groups in Alabama have vowed to quickly challenge the measure if Ivey signs it into law. In a written statement, Chase Strangio, deputy director for Trans Justice with the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project, called the Alabama measure “the most deadly, sweeping, and hostile law targeting transgender people in the country.” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters Thursday that the U.S. Department of Justice has warned states such laws and policies may violate the Constitution and federal law. “Today’s vote in Alabama will only serve to harm kids,” she said. The Alabama Senate advanced separate legislation Thursday related to public school bathrooms and discussions of gender and sexual identity in early grades. Senators voted 26-5 to approve legislation mandating that K-12 students can only use multiperson bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond with the gender on their original birth certificate, rather than their current gender identity. Republicans in the Senate also added language similar to a law in Florida that critics called the “Don’t Say Gay” measure. The Alabama language would “prohibit classroom instruction or discussion on sexual orientation or gender identity” for students in kindergarten through the fifth grade. The Alabama proposal goes further than Florida’s law, which includes grades K-3. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Democratic, GOP Senate bargainers reach $10 billion COVID agreement
Senate bargainers reached an agreement Monday on a slimmed-down $10 billion package for countering COVID-19 with treatments, vaccines, and other steps, the top Democratic and Republican negotiators said, but the measure dropped all funding to help nations abroad combat the pandemic. The compromise drew quick support from President Joe Biden, who initially pushed for a $22.5 billion package. In a setback, he ended up settling for much less amid administration warnings that the government was running out of money to keep pace with the disease’s continued — though diminished — spread in the U.S. “Every dollar we requested is essential, and we will continue to work with Congress to get all of the funding we need,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki. “But time is of the essence. We urge Congress to move promptly on this $10 billion package because it can begin to fund the most immediate needs.” Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., his party’s lead bargainer, also ended up agreeing to abandon Biden’s request to include $5 billion to help countries — especially poorer ones — where the disease is still running rampant. But the two sides could not agree on enough budget savings to pay for the larger amounts. Schumer said the pact would provide “the tools we need” to help the country recover from the economic and public health blows that COVID-19 has inflicted for the past two years. But he said while the $10 billion “is absolutely necessary, it is well short of what is truly needed to keep up safe” over time. He said members of both parties want to craft a second spending measure this spring that could include funds to battle COVID-19 and hunger overseas and more assistance for Ukraine as it continues battling the Russian invasion. The fate of such a measure is uncertain. Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, the lead GOP bargainer, hailed the accord as one that would address “urgent COVID needs.” He also trumped the measure’s savings, which he said meant it “will not cost the American people a single additional dollar.” Romney also suggested an openness to considering future money. “While this agreement does not include funding for the U.S. global vaccination program, I am willing to explore a fiscally responsible solution to support global efforts in the weeks ahead,” he said. The agreement comes with party leaders hoping to move the legislation through Congress this week, before lawmakers leave for a two-week spring recess. It also comes with BA.2, the new omicron variant, expected to spark a fresh increase in U.S. cases. Around 980,000 Americans and over 6 million people worldwide have died from COVID-19. At least half the compromise would have to be used to research and produce therapeutics to treat the disease, according to fact sheets from Schumer and Romney. The money would also be used to buy vaccines and tests. At least $750 million would be used to research new COVID-19 variants and to expand vaccine production, the descriptions said. The deal is also a reduction from a $15 billion version that both parties’ leaders had negotiated last month. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., abandoned that plan after Democratic lawmakers rejected proposed cuts in state pandemic aid to help pay for the package. Some people said the fate of the new agreement remained uncertain in the House, where Pelosi and liberal Democrats have expressed opposition to dropping the money for helping other countries. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, leader of the House Progressive Caucus, said it is “a big problem” to erase the global assistance from the package. “It’s really shortsighted to not spend money on making sure this virus is contained around the world,” Jayapal, a Washington state Democrat who worked in global public health for a decade, told reporters. The agreement will need to attract at least 10 GOP votes to move through the 50-50 Senate. The others said the needed Republican votes would be there. The measure is fully paid for by pulling back unspent funds from previous pandemic relief bills that have been enacted, bargainers have said. Romney’s fact sheet says those savings include $2.3 billion from a fund protecting aviation manufacturing jobs; $1.9 billion from money for helping entertainment venues shuttered by the pandemic; another $1.9 billion from a program that helps states extend credit to small businesses; and $1.6 billion from agriculture assistance programs. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Joe Biden says remark on Vladimir Putin’s power was about ‘moral outrage’
President Joe Biden said Monday that he would make “no apologies” and wasn’t “walking anything back” after his weekend comment that Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power,” attempting to turn the page on a controversy that clouded his recent trip to Europe. The president also insisted he’s not calling for regime change in Moscow, which would have represented a dramatic shift toward direct confrontation with another nuclear-armed country. “I was expressing the moral outrage that I felt toward this man,” Biden said. “I wasn’t articulating a policy change.” The president’s jarring remark about Putin, which came at the end of a Saturday speech in Warsaw that was intended to rally democracies for a long global struggle against autocracy, drew criticism in the United States and rattled some allies in Western Europe. Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, said he believed Biden’s comments Monday were “an effective way for the president to move beyond what was an unforced error.” Haass had originally been concerned that aggressive American rhetoric could “make Putin feel like he had little to lose by hanging tough or even escalating.” Biden rejected the idea that his comment could escalate tensions over the war in Ukraine or that it would fuel Russian propaganda about Western aggression. “Nobody believes … I was talking about taking down Putin,” Biden said, adding that “the last thing I want to do is engage in a land war or a nuclear war with Russia.” He said he was expressing an “aspiration” rather than a goal of American foreign policy. “People like this shouldn’t be ruling countries. But they do,” he said. “The fact they do doesn’t mean I can’t express my outrage about it.” Biden’s remark in Warsaw ricocheted around the globe despite the White House’s swift attempts to clarify that the president only meant that Putin “cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region.” On Monday, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres responded to Biden’s speech by saying that “we need de-escalation. We need military de-escalation and rhetoric de-escalation.” Although Biden has frequently touted American unity with European allies since the invasion of Ukraine began, he appears to have caused some discomfort by targeting Putin in Warsaw. French President Emmanuel Macron said Sunday he “wouldn’t use those terms, because I continue to speak to President Putin, because what do we want to do collectively? We want to stop the war that Russia launched in Ukraine, without waging war and without escalation.” Secretary of State Antony Blinken was forced to continue clarifying Biden’s speech during a trip through the Middle East, where he had intended to focus on solidifying American partnerships as the administration seeks a renewed nuclear agreement with Iran. Speaking at a news conference in Jerusalem, Blinken said Biden meant that “Putin cannot be empowered to wage war or engage in aggression against Ukraine or anyone else.” Biden has previously gone further than expected when speaking about Putin, describing him as a “war criminal” at a time when administration officials were saying they were still conducting a review of the matter. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said then that Biden was “speaking from the heart” rather than articulating a legal conclusion. Republicans questioned why Biden decided to go off-script in Warsaw when dealing with a combustible conflict. Some said his provocative rhetoric was strange given his otherwise cautious approach, such as refusing to facilitate the transfer of Polish fighter jets to Ukraine’s military. “If we’re so worried about provoking him that we couldn’t even send MiGs into Ukraine, how is this any different?” Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “In fact, I would say it’s more provocative than sending MiGs into Ukraine.” The U.S. has been rushing weapons like anti-tank missiles into Ukraine and is considering providing anti-ship missiles to make it harder for Russia to mount an amphibious offensive along the Black Sea coast. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy remains exasperated with the pace of military assistance, accusing Western leaders of cowardice and repeating his request for tanks and fighter jets. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
White House: Joe Biden will travel to Europe for Ukraine talks
President Joe Biden will travel to Europe next week for face-to-face talks with European leaders about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced Tuesday. Biden will meet with European leaders at an extraordinary NATO summit in Brussels on March 24. He will also attend a scheduled European Council summit, where efforts to impose sanctions and further humanitarian efforts are underway. “While he’s there, his goal is to meet in person face-to-face with his European counterparts and talk about, assess where we are at this point in the conflict in the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. We’ve been incredibly aligned to date,” Psaki said. “That doesn’t happen by accident. The president is a big believer in face-to-face diplomacy. So it’s an opportunity to do exactly that.” The White House announced the president’s travel shortly before Biden on Tuesday signed a bill providing $13.6 billion in additional military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine as part of a $1.5 trillion government spending measure. Biden said at the bill signing ceremony that the U.S. was “moving urgently to further augment the support to the brave people of Ukraine, as they defend their country.” The trip follows Vice President Kamala Harris’ visit to eastern flank NATO countries of Poland and Romania last week to discuss with leaders the growing refugee crisis in eastern Europe sparked by the Russian invasion and to underscore the Biden administration’s support for NATO allies. Poland’s foreign minister Zbigniew Rau said Tuesday that a visit by Biden to Poland was “very probable” when he comes to Europe. More than 1.8 million Ukrainians have fled to Poland since the start of the war, according to the United Nations. More than 3 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion. “It would be hard to imagine a better place for the United States and for the entire alliance to stress their position than the brightest link on the eastern flank, that Poland is,” Rau told Polish state TVP INFO. Psaki said she did not have additional details about whether Biden would visit Poland during the trip. The White House’s announcement of Biden’s visit to Brussels came on the same day that leaders of Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovenia set out for Kyiv by train despite the security risks to show their support for Ukraine. It was a visit EU officials said was not sanctioned by other members of the 27-nation bloc. Daniel Hamilton, a former deputy assistant secretary of state for European affairs, said Biden’s trip to Europe comes as the White House looks to continue to maintain what’s been a largely unified western opposition to Russia since the invasion. “As the war continues, it’s important that the president show he is not sitting comfortably across the Atlantic, but that he is part of the coalition meeting with European colleagues in Europe and that the United States is a European power,” said Hamilton, non-resident fellow at Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Daniel Savickas: Oil windfall tax makes a bad situation worse
Gas prices are in the news again for all of the wrong reasons. According to data from AAA, the national average price for regular gas is now roughly $4.33 per gallon. In some states (like California), the average is as high as $5.74 per gallon. These figures represent a 51 percent increase from this time last year. Part of this has been attributed to the impact of the war in Ukraine. However, U.S. government policies toward spending and energy have no doubt been a major cause. And, the response of some members of Congress is to make the cost of gas even higher with a new tax. U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) have introduced legislation that would impose a steep “windfall” tax on American oil companies. The proposal would create a tax on profits that oil companies make above $66 per barrel. Those profits would be taxed at the staggeringly high rate of 50 percent. The proceeds from that tax would then be used to create another stimulus check – $240 for individual filers and $360 for joint filers. This proposal is a disaster for a number of reasons and reflects the fundamental misunderstanding many Washington policymakers have about soaring gas prices. The first is the disregard for the role government policy has had on price inflation. The U.S. federal government has spent as much money in the last five years as it did in the prior eight years. The U.S. also imposed strict sanctions after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which impacted global supply. To attribute price hikes to “corporate greed” as Sen. Whitehouse and Rep. Khanna did, is to ignore the impact of their own policymaking and to miss the point entirely. This view of economics supposes that the relatively low prices for a barrel of oil until now have been because of corporate altruism on the part of the same companies now being maligned as greedy. The true explanation is a tad more complex than policymakers would care to admit. Oil companies are responding to global economic forces, which at the moment are making it more costly to bring supply to the market. Prices are rising, producers are incurring greater costs and markets are anticipating the need for new sources of supply. Another contradiction in the way Washington Democrats are approaching this issue is in their discussion of supply. In a public comment, White House press secretary Jen Psaki accused the oil industry of purposely refusing to drill so prices would go up. Psaki cited the fact that there are 9,000 permits not in use. This also misses the mark. While there are unused permits, the federal government has paused leases on federal lands for oil companies. Permits and leases are only one part of a longer production process where the federal government has erected and maintained barriers to increased production. At a time where U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm has pushed oil companies to produce more oil, the administration has a pause on leases and Congress is trying to further dissuade more production. Rapidly ramping up production would create millions of dollars of risk for these companies. Costs will rise, and prices usually follow. Bills like the Whitehouse-Khanna proposal would obliterate the incentive to assume such risks. The messaging is not in sync with actual policy coming from Capitol Hill. Further, the guidelines set in the Whitehouse-Khanna bill are arbitrary at best. The $66 per barrel threshold is based on “the average price of oil between 2015 and 2019.” No justification was given for why that metric was used or why such a short window of time was used to generate it. In the midst of rampant inflation, a waning pandemic, and conflict in Eastern Europe, the current global market price sits at just under $100 per barrel. A $66 benchmark is out of touch with clear and present realities in the market. The solution to the lagging global oil supply is to incentivize production wherever possible, not to seek out ways to punish those who might. Higher prices are part of incentivizing said production. The solution to rising inflation is to cut government spending, not to create a new entitlement on the back of that aforementioned punishment. The Khanna-Whitehouse proposal on oil “windfalls” manages to consolidate much of what has gone sideways in Washington in recent years. Not only will it fail to address the current issues, it will exacerbate those problems. Daniel Savickas is Government Affairs manager at the Taxpayers Protection Alliance. Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
Steve Milloy: Joe Biden’s America-wrecking climate agenda
President Joe Biden is driving fossil fuel-powered America into a wall so that he can replace it with a “green energy”-powered America. The Biden administration euphemizes this as a “transition.” It is not. It’s just a collision that will result in America being totaled. Since Biden became president, he has done everything in his power to de-power America. On Day 1, he killed the Keystone XL Pipeline, halted new oil and gas drilling on public lands, and rejoined the Paris climate agreement, which commits America to cutting our greenhouse gas emissions but not China’s. Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency reinstated Obama-era rules to make it more expensive to produce oil and gas, issued rules to make internal combustion engine-powered cars more expensive, and gave “green” California the unprecedented (and probably unconstitutional) authority to dictate what kind of cars all Americans can drive. Biden has empowered the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission with the authority to block new oil and gas pipelines on the basis of climate concerns and is continuing to halt new oil and gas drilling on federal lands in defiance of a federal court order. These and many other anti-fossil fuel actions have raised gasoline prices roughly one dollar per gallon since Biden took office. Then Russia invaded Ukraine, exacerbating an ongoing global energy crisis (worsened by European climate policies). Gasoline prices have increased another 60 cents since the Ukraine invasion and are not likely to stop rising any time soon. Normally in response to such an energy crisis, a U.S. president might at least temporarily put aside an unpopular political agenda to ease supply issues and alleviate pain at the pump. Not Joe Biden. He is doing anything but that. Biden first announced during his State of the Union address that he and other allied nations were going to release 60 million barrels of oil from national strategic petroleum reserves around the world, including 30 million from the United States. While that sounds like a lot, it isn’t. Given that the world burns about 100 million barrels of oil per day, it’s hard to see how a 15-hour supply of oil is going to accomplish anything other than fooling people who don’t know any better. Instead of encouraging the American oil and gas industry to produce more gasoline – remember that the U.S. essentially controlled global oil prices under President Donald Trump’s “America First” policies – Biden has gone hat in hand to despotic regimes in Iran and Venezuela and to the unreliable governments of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, asking them to produce more oil. Faced with the problematic politics of skyrocketing gas prices in a midterm election year, the president is desperately lashing out. He has falsely accused the U.S. oil industry of profiteering. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki has incorrectly blamed the oil industry for failing to utilize existing leases on federal lands to produce more oil. Biden is even trying to point the finger at Vladimir Putin by promoting the Twitter hashtag #PutinPriceHike. The reason for not embracing the normal and reasonable solution to the current situation – allowing the U.S. oil and gas industry to produce as much as possible, as soon as possible – is that the Biden administration intends to use the gasoline crisis to advance its elitist climate agenda. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, for example, are touting electric cars (average price $56,000) as the solution to rising gas prices. Biden’s green supporters are advocating more wind and solar as the solution to the ongoing energy crisis because, well, “never waste a crisis.” Adding insult to injury, John Kerry said he hoped, despite the invasion of Ukraine, that Putin would keep his eye on the climate ball. The result? Americans are made to suffer unnecessarily, and national security is imperiled, all for an agenda that is junk science-fueled and impractical, regardless of how you feel about United Nations’ “climate science.” This is not rational policy. It is intentional nation-wrecking. Steve Milloy publishes JunkScience.com and is the author of “Scare Pollution: Why and How to Fix the EPA.”
U.S. hits Vladimir Putin’s allies, press secretary with new sanctions
The Biden administration ordered new sanctions blocking Russian business oligarchs and others in President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle on Thursday in response to Russian forces’ fierce pummeling of Ukraine. Those targeted by the new sanctions include Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, and Alisher Burhanovich Usmanov, one of Russia’s wealthiest individuals and a close ally of Putin. The U.S. State Department also announced it was imposing visa bans on 19 Russian oligarchs and dozens of their family members and close associates. “The goal was to maximize impact on Putin and Russia and minimize the harm on us and our allies and friends around the world,” Biden said as he noted the new sanctions at the start of a meeting with his Cabinet and Vice President Kamala Harris. The White House said the oligarchs and dozens of their family members will be cut off from the U.S. financial system. Their assets in the United States will be frozen, and their property will be blocked from use. The White House described Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, as ”a top purveyor of Putin’s propaganda.” The property of Usmanov and the others will be blocked from use in the United States and by Americans. His assets include his superyacht, one of the world’s largest, and his private jet, one of Russia’s largest privately-owned aircraft. The Usmanov superyacht, known as Dilbar, is named after Usmanov’s mother and has an estimated worth of between $600 million and $735 million, according to Treasury. Dilbar has two helipads and one of the world’s largest indoor pools ever installed on a yacht and costs about $60 million per year to operate. The jet targeted is believed to have cost between $350 million and $500 million and was previously leased out for use by Uzbekistan’s president. Others targeted Thursday include Nikolai Tokarev, a Transneft oil executive; Arkady Rotenberg, co-owner of the largest construction company for gas pipelines and electrical power supply lines in Russia; Sergei Chemezov, a former KGB agent who has long been close to Putin; Igor Shuvalov, a former first deputy prime minister and chairman of State Development Corp.; and Yevgeniy Prigozhin, a Russian businessman with close ties to Putin. Prigozhin, who is known as “Putin’s chef,” was among those charged in 2018 by the U.S. government as being part of a wide-ranging effort to sway political opinion in America during the 2016 presidential election. According to the indictment then, Prigozhin and his companies provided significant funding to the Internet Research Agency, a St. Petersburg-based group accused of using bogus social media postings and advertisements fraudulently purchased in the name of Americans to influence the White House race. Deputy U.S. Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said Thursday that the Biden administration would continue to target Russian elites as it builds sanctions against the country. He said elites are already “attempting to get their money out of Russia because the Russian economy is shrinking.” “We’re going to make it hard for them to use the assets going forward,” Adeyemo said at an event hosted by The Washington Post. He added, “Our goal then is to find that money and to freeze that money and to seize it.” The Biden administration has been unveiling new sanctions targeting Russian individuals and entities daily since the start of last week’s invasion, with officials saying they want to make certain Putin’s decision to attack Ukraine will come with enormous cost to Russia’s economy. A notable aspect of the latest sanctions is the extent to which the U.S. penalized the family members of oligarchs and those closest to Putin. Recently passed anti-money-laundering legislation passed by Congress has helped Treasury unveil and target such people. For example, the oil executive Tokarev’s family members — including his wife, Galina Tokareva, and daughter, Maiya Tokareva — have benefited from his proximity to Putin and the Russian government and were hit by the sanctions. Maiya Tokareva’s real estate empire has been valued at more than $50 million in Moscow, according to Treasury. Russian elites that have yet to be targeted by the U.S. or other Western countries have taken notice of the sanctions. Faced with the threat of financial sanctions targeting Russians, Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich announced Wednesday he is trying to sell the Premier League soccer club that became a trophy-winning machine thanks to his lavish investment. Abramovich made his fortune in oil and aluminum during the chaotic years that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Biden had thus far been reluctant to hit the Russian energy sector with sanctions out of concern that it would hurt the U.S. and its allies as well as the Russians. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said, “We don’t have a strategic interest in reducing the global supply of energy.” Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
