At Thursday's House Oversight Committee hearing, Rep. Michael Waltz (R-TX) questioned Energy Sec. Jennifer Granholm about inflation.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 [Mr. Gowdy] The gentleman yields back.
00:03 The Chair now recognizes Mr. Walts from Florida.
00:05 [Mr. Walts] Madam Secretary, thank you for coming in.
00:09 In preparation for the hearing, I rewatched or I watched your appearance on The View.
00:19 After one of the hosts was kind of condescending and insulting the intelligence of the 74 million
00:25 people that voted for President Trump, you talked about because they were talking about
00:32 how the prices of everything are so high.
00:37 You talked about, well, in response, what the American people need to do is take advantage
00:41 of tax credits to weatherize their homes and take advantage of credits to buy EVs.
00:50 I found it kind of astounding because I didn't hear anything in your response, and I want
00:54 to give you a chance today to talk about how the American people need to deal with this.
01:00 Energy and Federal Government spending are the two greatest drivers of inflation, and
01:05 it is eating Americans alive.
01:08 They can't afford rent.
01:09 They can't afford groceries.
01:11 They can't afford electricity right there in your wheelhouse.
01:15 They can't afford gas.
01:17 So how are we, with the energy prices so high, with spending so high on a lot of these credits
01:24 by the way, EVs only make up 1 percent of the cars on the road, how are we driving down
01:29 prices to help the American people?
01:33 We are really obsessed with reducing prices for people, too, and totally get it.
01:38 But, Madam Secretary, it is not working.
01:41 Inflation rates up almost 20 percent.
01:44 Gasoline is up 55 percent.
01:46 Gasoline is coming down.
01:48 When you say from what point is gasoline up 55 percent?
01:51 I don't know what your measurement is.
01:53 Is it from the start of the administration?
01:54 Gas prices are high.
01:55 I mean, look at where they were in the mid-2s to now the mid-3s.
02:02 The mid-2s were in the middle of a pandemic.
02:05 All those prices that you are talking about, they are in the middle of a pandemic when
02:08 prices are through the floor.
02:10 It is not a normal time.
02:12 However, let me say, we are obsessed with making sure we bring down prices for people.
02:16 Madam Secretary, I appreciate, I only get five minutes.
02:20 On behalf of the people I represent, I appreciate that you are obsessed with it.
02:25 What you are doing is not working.
02:27 These prices are still unacceptably high.
02:30 This is why the President has focused on every way possible to help reduce prices for people.
02:36 This means whether it is on prescription drugs or whether it is weatherizing your home to
02:41 reduce your electricity bill, whether it is helping people to be able to get an electric
02:46 car so they don't have to pay gasoline prices, whether it is reducing student loans.
02:52 Every pocket of way, the President is trying to reduce costs for people.
02:56 Except that he is doing that by printing money and throwing federal dollars at the problem.
03:03 You got one group of Americans paying student loans for another group.
03:06 You got one group of Americans paying through their taxes, EVs, for another group, which,
03:11 by the way, are not environmentally sound in terms of the materials that go in them.
03:16 I would encourage you to read the book Red Cobalt that talks about the 40,000 children
03:21 that work in the cobalt mines of Congo, some as young as six.
03:27 Let's just stick with prices for a moment.
03:29 Clearly hasn't worked here.
03:32 Let's talk about abroad.
03:34 The intelligence community has confirmed for me, and a number of analysts have confirmed,
03:41 obviously Russia fuels its economy on oil and gas.
03:46 Iran fuels its economy on oil and gas.
03:50 At about $55 a barrel, Russia can no longer fuel its war machine.
03:56 It actually goes into kind of economic survival mode.
04:00 So wouldn't it make sense to flood the global market with cleaner, you admitted in prior
04:06 testimony American gas is cleaner than what came through Nord Stream 2, correct?
04:10 Correct.
04:11 It's cleaner.
04:12 So why wouldn't we flood the world with cleaner, cheaper American oil and gas, drive down the
04:19 prices.
04:20 Now you've not only solved what's going on with the Iranian-supported terrorists in the
04:24 Middle East, you put Putin on his back foot as well in terms of the war in Ukraine.
04:31 You've now solved two global problems and the inflation problem here at home.
04:36 But instead the climate agenda is counter to all of that.
04:40 We're restricting our supply and then we're allowing Iran to pump to China, we're allowing
04:46 Venezuela to pump.
04:48 Russia is pumping more than it ever has to India and China for that matter into Europe.
04:53 How does this make sense?
04:55 This is so curious to me because we are the number one producer of oil and gas.
05:01 We are the number one exporter.
05:03 But we could be pumping so much more if we weren't tapping the brakes in ANWR, we weren't
05:08 putting a ban.
05:09 We have so fast pumped oil dominance.
05:10 We are doing more than the previous administration significantly by getting more.
05:14 How much more could we be doing, Madam Secretary?
05:17 How much more could we be doing?
05:19 Because the price of oil is still hovering around 80, demand is still out there.
05:23 That's why the price of oil and gas are still so high.
05:26 That's why everybody is still buying Russian oil and Iranian oil.
05:28 But it is not this administration that is hampering the production of oil and gas.
05:33 I mean you can make that face but we are number one in the world.
05:36 We are at record levels.
05:38 Okay.
05:39 We're at 13, could we be at 15 million a day?
05:43 Could we be at 16?
05:44 Could we be at 17?
05:45 Nobody is stopping.
05:46 Nobody is stopping.
05:47 Just a final question, Mr. Chairman.
05:49 I just had lunch with the Speaker of the Parliament of Lithuania.
05:56 She was in near panic mode.
05:57 Lithuania right on the front line, probably next after Ukraine with Russia.
06:03 She said, Congressman, we buy 85 percent of our gas through the terminals in Louisiana
06:08 and in Texas.
06:10 These are bought on very long-term contracts.
06:12 We're having to think 10 years out.
06:15 She said, I don't know what to do with the ban.
06:17 There is not a ban.
06:18 I'm going to have to start looking elsewhere.
06:21 We have spoken with our allies who believe it's a ban.
06:23 No, they don't.
06:24 We have spoken with them.
06:25 They do not believe it's a ban.
06:26 It is not a ban.
06:27 I encourage her to come talk to you.
06:28 This is a pause to be able to update an analysis of what's in the public interest.
06:34 Nothing is stopping from what is currently being exported.
06:40 Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
06:41 The gentleman's time has expired.
06:42 I'll now recognize myself for five minutes.
06:46 And Madam Secretary, let me go back and correct something.