U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has made waves by attacking private companies as the main culprit for the high energy prices that Americans are paying, deflecting blame from the Biden administration for its energy policies and implementing Green New Deal policies, including halts on oil and gas exploration.
On “The Brian Kilmeade Show” Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Tuberville (R-Alabama) argued that Buttigieg is “way out of his league” and is joining in the blame game because he has "zero plan" for transitioning America's energy economy to the greener sources favored by the radical environmental left.
“This guy's way out of his league, right?” Tuberville said. "You know, I've sat through the last year of nominations of Joe Biden's people that he's put in office. You wouldn't put some of these people in as dogcatcher. It's embarrassing. This guy running our Transportation Department and working with Energy, is this the best we got? If this is the best we got, we are in trouble. But you can't transition the country's energy unless you have a plan. There is zero plan. Nuclear has got to be one of the options that we go to, not just in the near future, but for the long term. And if we don't do this, we're not going to be able to survive as a country or as a world. It's just not going to happen.”
Buttigieg made his comments in an interview with Fox News’s Neil Cavuto.
"Well, look, the one group of people that we see who are actually happy about what is happening with gas prices are oil company executives and owners," Buttigieg said. "We’ve seen them out there saying they’re not going to increase production. Why would they when they’re this profitable?"
"Are you blaming the oil companies for this?" Cavuto asked.
"What I’m saying is, when it comes to these sky-high gas prices, drivers are mad about it, I’m mad about it,” Buttigieg said. “The president is mad about it. Oil companies are thrilled because this is good news for them. And I think when the incentives are that divided between them and the American people, it’s very important for Congress to do everything it can to ensure the consumers are protected. That’s all we’re saying with this use it or lose it idea.”
Republicans insist that if the Biden administration was serious about energy prices, they would open up ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) to oil and gas production, allow private industry to build the Keystone XL Pipeline connecting Canadian oil fields with American markets, allow fracking, and restore the oil and gas exploration fields offshore. President Joe Biden signed controversial executive orders blocking all four measures shortly after coming into office, at a time when fuel prices were less than $2 a gallon.
“Biden needs to unleash the American production of energy,” said Congressman Mike Rogers (R-AL03).
Buttigieg is the former Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and was a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate.
Tuberville is in his first term representing Alabama in the United States Senate after over four decades as a college and high school football coach, including head football coach at Auburn University.
To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandon.moseley@1819News.com.
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