August Recess Recap

I always look forward to August recess when I am able to spend time traveling across the Fourth District visiting with constituents and local officials to hear directly from them about the challenges their families, businesses, and communities are facing. When I hear the unvarnished truth from the people who are living with the choices made in Washington, D.C., I can do a better job of making government work with you and for you, not against you.

Over and over again, folks expressed concerns about how high input costs, particularly energy prices, are still seriously hurting their businesses. While gas prices have dipped some, the Administration has not changed the same harmful policies that drove up prices to begin with. Natural adjustments in the market from people choosing to avoid driving in order to save money, paired with President Joe Biden’s order to release thousands of barrels of oil from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is meant for natural disasters and national security emergencies, not self-inflicted economic crises, has brough mild relief. Prices, however, are still 60% higher than when President Biden took office. Diesel prices are still extremely high. While diesel is not used by most Americans every day, diesel prices greatlyaffectfarmers, ranchers, producers, and loggers, which in turn affects everyone. No one understands better than Arkansans that farm input costs directly affect the price to the consumer. At a time where inflation has hit Americans at the grocery store the hardest, high energy costs will only exacerbate the crisis in the U.S. and across the world. 

It does not have to be this way. The United States is rich in natural resources that could easily meet our needs. Marcellus and Utica gas reserves in the Pennsylvania region make up the largest reserves in the world. When combined with gas reserves in Arkansas, Texas, and across the country, we could easily meet our needs and our allies needs for many years to come. There is no reason we should rely on dictators who hate the U.S. and everything we value. 

While the war in Russia certainly affected the supply of gas in the U.S. and Europe, we should never have given Vladimir Putin the power to affect our markets so drastically. President Biden’s and Congressional Democrat’s “not in my backyard” mentality when it comes to mining and energy development will never solve our energy crisis. We must start utilizing the natural resources we have here at home immediately. Not only will American energy production bring down prices for everyone, but it also will provide good paying jobs for countless families.