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Floor Speech

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Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I just want to echo what was said by my colleague from Alaska because what we are now hearing from the administration are ideas that they think will help ease the pressure on gas prices in this country, but they are all gimmicky. I mean, it is all rebates--gas card rebates or doing away with the gas tax temporarily until September, like that is going to do anything meaningful long term to address this supply-demand crisis that the Senator from Alaska just alluded to.

I have to say that this administration, from the time they came into office, has demonstrated an open hostility to oil and gas production in this country--energy production, more generally.

The Senator from Alaska was talking about the oil pipeline. We have one in South Dakota--that was going to run through South Dakota--the Keystone XL Pipeline, which was killed the first day in office by the Biden administration and, again, sent signals to those who produce energy in this country that we are not interested in what you have to offer. We want to move in a different direction. And that different direction, of course, is electric vehicles, which I am not against. Everybody might want an electric vehicle. It is a free country. But the fact of the matter is, we will be dependent upon liquid fuels in the foreseeable future. Since that is the case, we ought to produce it right here in Alaska. We have vast resources.

It is an issue, fundamentally, of supply and demand. As the Senator of Alaska pointed out, you look at Alaska, now we are talking about getting oil from Saudi Arabia, from Venezuela, from countries, other places around the world--in some cases run by dictators--instead of producing it right here in the United States of America. That is just tragic. It is just tragic, and the American people are paying the price for it.

Why? Because in places like Alaska where we have abundant resources, they shut it down. They shut down Federal lands. They started denying permits to drill, and they killed the infrastructure that supports, in many cases, energy production in this country.

A pipeline, for example, is not only the most efficient, but the safest way to transport liquid fuels in this country. We need liquid fuels. We know that. It is a fact, and we have the supply--abundant supply is right here in the United States. All we have to do is simply access that. Instead, we are talking about gimmicks like rebates, gas card rebates or temporary suspension of the fuel tax in this country which, by the way, would rob the Highway Trust Fund of the resources that we need to build out the infrastructure in this country and to maintain it.

There are just so many reasons and on so many levels why these are bad ideas--so bad, in fact, that Speaker Pelosi in the House of Representatives has previously referred to this kind of idea that the administration is now proposing as a gimmick and something that isn't going to provide long-term relief.

It is fundamentally an issue of supply and demand, and all we simply have to do is turn it on. We have to get the energy producers in this country off the sidelines, back into the game, producing oil and gas in America in a way that will meet Americans' daily needs when they fill up their cars and trucks with gasoline at the pump, which right now they are being punished unnecessarily by an economy where we have constantly rising gas prices. The average price is around $5 nationwide, literally a doubling of the gas price since this President took office. There is a direct correlation--direct correlation--connect the dots--to policy decisions this administration has made, which they are now realizing and trying to come up with these gimmicky ideas to try to deal with an issue that fundamentally could be fixed simply by sending the right signals and encouraging and incentivizing the type of energy production in this country that we ought to be encouraging.

And the energy producers in this country are up to it. They will meet the demand if we simply give them the opportunity. That is what needs to change. That is what this administration needs to be focused on, not on shutting down gas and oil and energy production here in the United States. Pro-Life Movement

Mr. President, the Dobbs case will be decided by the Supreme Court in a matter of days now. I pray that it will be decided in favor of life and that Roe v. Wade, a case that even pro-abortion constitutional scholars criticized, will be overturned.

But however Dobbs is decided, the work of the pro-life movement will continue. That work, of course, includes advocacy--attempts to change laws that ensure that human rights of unborn human beings are protected.

But perhaps most of all, it includes the daily work of providing help to moms in need. Helping moms and their babies are central to the pro- life movement. Pregnancy resource centers and other pro-life organizations provide a variety of resources to help women in challenging circumstances. They provide supplies for moms and their babies. They offer prenatal and parenting classes. They assist moms with housing. They help them connect with State and local resources, and they provide friendship and support and a listening ear to mom going through a difficult time.

They provide agency referrals for mothers who choose to make an adoption plan for their babies. They provide places for moms and their babies to live while they complete their education or get back on their feet.

During the current formula crisis, pregnancy resource centers have helped moms struggling to find what they need to feed their babies by providing them with free formula.

You would think that helping out moms would be pretty uncontroversial. You would think that everyone, including individuals who are pro-abortion, could get behind helping a struggling mom find housing or access to prenatal care. But apparently the pro-abortion movement finds providing material help to moms in need and letting them know they have alternatives to abortion somehow to be pretty threatening.

Pregnancy resource centers have frequently been a target of pro- abortion politicians in the pro-abortion movement, which have sought to undermine their work. But things have gotten very serious in recent weeks. Since a draft of a possible opinion in the Dobbs case was leaked in May, pro-abortion extremists have conducted a campaign of vandalism and violence against pregnancy resource centers and churches. Just a few blocks away from here, one pregnancy resource center was egged and graffitied and had its door covered in red paint. A number of others have faced similar vandalism, and multiple pregnancy resource centers have been the victim of arson.

A group claiming responsibility for a number of the attacks, Jane's Revenge, released a chilling letter last week in which it declared ``open season'' on pregnancy centers and stated:

We promised to take increasingly drastic measures against oppressive infrastructures. Rest assured that we will, and those measures may not come in the form of something so easily cleaned up as fire and graffiti.

Well, perhaps it is not entirely shocking that some members of the extreme abortion movement have responded to the possibility of Roe being overturned with vandalism, arson, and threats of further attacks.

This wave of violence is deeply troubling, and these attacks need to be taken seriously. I hope Attorney General Garland is developing a strategy to confront this wave of vandalism and violence and to prevent future and more serious attacks.

Earlier this month, I joined a number of my Republican colleagues in sending a letter to the Attorney General asking about his plans for dealing with these attacks and preventing future ones. I am disappointed that we have yet to receive a reply to our letter. And the President--not merely his spokesperson but the President himself-- should be out there strongly condemning these attacks and letting everyone know that violent responses to the Dobbs decision will not be tolerated.

After one pregnancy resource center was vandalized, its director said:

We are not going to let intimidation change what we are doing. It failed. It was pretty unanimous from the volunteers and staff here that this is not going to change how we will do business here one bit at all.

I know that attitude is reflected at other pregnancy resource centers, and I know that, despite threats of violence, the work of helping moms and their babies will continue.

The work of the pro-life movement represents the best of our American tradition: providing a voice to the voiceless, standing up for the human rights of those who have been denied them, and providing a helping hand to neighbors in need. I am grateful to all the pro-life Americans standing up for the human rights of unborn human beings and helping moms and their babies get the resources they need, and win or lose at the Supreme Court, I know that work will continue.

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