It's ironic that President Joe Biden would say he wants to be a job creator and is seeking equality and start out his presidency by attacking the energy industry, Sen. Kevin Cramer said Tuesday.
“There is no group of people more negatively impacted by higher energy costs and lower — fewer energy jobs than the middle class and lower-income Americans," the North Dakota Republican said on Fox Business' "Mornings With Maria," while discussing Biden's executive order to cancel the construction of the Keystone Pipeline and planned orders to stop oil and gas leases on federal lands without a review.
Cramer noted that his state is second in the country only to Texas in oil production because it does not have many federal properties. However, he added, there is a great deal of drilling in the heart of the Bakken Formation that is on federal land and has a "major impact" on the country's ability to remain energy independent and create middle-class jobs.
“So it's a big deal, to say the least, and then you have things like the executive order on the Keystone XL pipeline or the removal of the presidential permit. That means we're going to be more dependent on foreign oil, foreign oil from someplace other than Canada."
He added that he voted against confirming Janet Yellen as the new Secretary of the Treasury because he believes it's important to challenge nominees on issues including energy security and development, as well as job creation and tax policy.
"We have to, I think, hold them to account and not just roll over like a lot of Republicans frankly are in supporting Joe Biden's nominees that are anti-energy, anti-jobs," he said. "She advocates for a $40 a ton carbon tax. So that raises the cost of everything that we produce, everything we develop, everything we grow, everything we manufacture in this country. And it starts with a $40 a ton tax on energy development."