Every so often President Biden makes himself available to the press to ask a question—when he’s not walking to or from a helicopter—and we have a suggestion for the next opportunity:
“Mr. President, will you do everything in your regulatory power to make it easier for American companies to produce more oil and gas to make the U.S. and its allies in Europe and elsewhere less dependent on Russian energy?”
The question is straightforward, and the goal is to elicit a straight answer that gets to the heart of the current geopolitical moment. Oil and gas prices are soaring amid fears of reduced global supply. The Ukraine invasion has shocked Western Europe into recognizing that its reliance on Russian supplies has made it vulnerable to Vladimir Putin’s blackmail.
In the U.S., consumers are increasingly dismayed by rising gasoline prices, which are weighing on pocketbooks and could result in a Democratic Party wipeout in November. Mr. Biden has dispatched officials to cajole the Saudis to pump more oil, but they won’t take the President’s call. The mob bosses of Venezuela and Iran will have to be bribed with U.S. sanction concessions to be able to sell more.
Why not do everything possible to expand American energy production instead? The question will give the President a choice. If he says yes, we can hold him to that policy standard. But if Mr. Biden says no, we’ll know he’s siding with his climate emissary John Kerry and the progressive left against the urgent economic and strategic interests of the United States. The voters can judge accordingly.
The Wall Street Journal
