House Republicans admonished President Joe Biden’s 60-day moratorium on new mining, oil and gas leasing, and permitting on public lands Tuesday, declaring the new administration’s executive orders to be “knee-jerk” policies signed off to appease the radical left.
“On the campaign trail, and in your inauguration speech, you spoke of unifying a fractured country that is reeling from the health and economic effects of COVID-19,” House Republicans wrote in a letter spearheaded by Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and signed by nine senior GOP colleagues. “Unfortunately, your actions have completely contradicted your words. Worse, in the middle of an economic crisis, your Administration is prioritizing virtue signaling and pink slips over paychecks.”
Biden passed a 60-day suspension of oil and gas permits on public lands and waterways last week as one of his first moves in office, where he has been aggressively pursuing a partisan, progressive agenda. This week, Biden officials reportedly told the Associated Press that the new president is preparing to sign a moratorium on new oil and gas leases on public lands Wednesday.
“Such an action by your Administration would be as extreme as it is radical, and it would only further divide our country,” House Republicans wrote. “It would put Americans with good-paying jobs in the energy industry out of work.”
Biden’s moratorium would follow the administration’s immediate revocation of the permit for the North American Keystone XL Pipeline at a cost of upwards of 11,000 jobs, 8,000 of which are union, earning scorn from a coalition of western senators.
