Stephen Moore to Newsmax: Biden Has 'Declared War on American Energy'
By Sandy Fitzgerald
President Joe Biden's call to release 50 million barrels of crude oil from the nation's strategic reserves may be, on balance, a good idea, but it doesn't solve anything or change the fact that he's "declared war on American energy," Stephen Moore, a former senior economic adviser under President Donald Trump, said on Newsmax Wednesday.
"He does not want to produce oil and gas and coal in this country," Moore said on Newsmax's "American Agenda."
"That's where we get 80% of our energy and so he is wrong when he says that his policies have not contributed to higher gas prices."
Moore, who called Biden's plan a "band-aid," further pointed out that the United States' oil production is down 2 million barrels a day from where it should be and from where it was at its peak when Trump was in office.
"We killed the Keystone XL pipeline," said Moore. "There are two major pipelines in the Midwest that are necessary to get home heating fuel into people's homes. I'm really worried about this winter … I'm from Chicago. It gets to 10 degrees below zero at night. You know you need your home heating, and there are real questions about whether we'll have a reliable supply for people to keep warm in the winter."
Meanwhile, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm was not able this week to answer a reporter's questions concerning how many barrels of oil the United States consumes daily, and Moore said that is a concern.
"[She] knows about as much on energy as Pete Buttigieg knows about transportation," said Moore. "Biden has a lot of incompetent people in positions of major influence on our economy, and I just mentioned two of them. Yes, she should know that number."
The United States, he added, is now producing 11 million barrels of oil a day, when it should be at about 13 million barrels.
"At the price of $80 a barrel, that's about $160 million we're losing every day in terms of U.S. economic output," said Moore. "That's $50 billion a year we're losing, so these are policies that are hurting American families."
But, he added that there are "climate change fanatics" in the administration who "want high oil and gas prices."
"That's because they don't want people to use oil and gas because they say it destroys the environment," said Moore. "It's not like a hurricane blew out our energy supply. It's the policies by the administration by not building pipelines, not allowing drilling on federal lands, and putting in place environmental rules that make it extremely expensive to produce American energy."
Moore on Wednesday also said that the nation's supply chain issues won't end unless the administration quits paying people not to work.
"We have 100,000 openings in truck drivers, and they make $50,000, or $60,000, in some cases $100,00 a year," said Moore.
