OPINION:
On his first day in office, President Biden signed an executive order revoking the Keystone XL pipeline permit, a safe and efficient method of transferring crude oil critical to the future of North American energy independence, putting over 11,000 Americans out of work and raising energy costs for American families during our recovery from the global coronavirus pandemic.
Yet, the Biden administration recently announced it will waive sanctions on the Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline, the CEO of which is Putin crony and former East German intelligence officer Matthias Warnig. We just went through four years of Democrats screaming about the threat Russia posed to the United States and alleging (with no evidence) collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. The United States is now actively helping corrupt Russian oligarchs build a pipeline after cancelling our own, putting our European allies’ energy security at risk.
On top of this, we have seen gas prices skyrocket across the country, almost doubling in some states. The recent cyberattack on the Colonial Pipeline caused long lines at the pumps and gas shortages across the East Coast. How did the Biden administration respond to this? They all but denied the shortages by calling it a “supply crunch” (just like they denied the border crisis was a crisis), adding that they won’t get involved because it’s a private company issue, and then pushed Green New Deal propaganda. Mr. Biden’s own Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm later admitted that pipelines are “the best way” to transport energy. If that is the belief of this administration, why did they cancel the Keystone pipeline and put thousands of hardworking Americans out of a job? This willingness to appease anti-energy activists is just another example of Mr. Biden’s weakness as a leader as we’ve seen challenge after challenge during the last four months.
Mr. Biden’s appeasement agenda extends to all geographic areas of foreign affairs. We went from historic Middle East peace agreements between Israel and several Arab nations under the Trump administration to an all-out war between Israel and Hamas. Mr. Biden’s call for Israel’s “significant de-escalation” was met with indifference by Israel, which has every right to defend itself from terrorist attacks. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) doubled down and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said they will continue to target Hamas as long as they continue to fire rockets at Israeli civilians.
Elsewhere in the Middle East, Mr. Biden is still pushing to resurrect the Iran Nuclear Deal, letting Tehran off easy while supporting terrorism against the United States and our allies. Mr. Biden is apparently willing to let China off the hook as well, delaying a Trump-era executive order requiring Americans to divest from Chinese companies with close ties to the Chinese military and intelligence agencies. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is responsible for intellectual property theft against the U.S. through academic and corporate espionage, commits human rights abuses against Uighur Muslims, and is culpable for the worldwide spread of the coronavirus pandemic. We can’t afford to weaken our stance against the CCP.
We could soon see the serious consequences of appeasement both at home and abroad. The global energy industry will leave the United States behind if Mr. Biden continues to make it easier for Russia to develop and deliver fuel than America, and our adversaries will perceive continued appeasement as a sign of weakness and invite further aggression. President Biden would be wise to take a page from former President Trump’s bold, no-nonsense approach to foreign policy.
• Bob Gibbs is a Republican U.S. representative from Ohio.
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