Republican Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming pressed a top Interior Department official Tuesday over President Joe Biden’s past statements on U.S. oil drilling.
Barrasso put up statements of Biden, one proclaiming that he would end drilling, the other denying that he was holding up energy production, during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing. (RELATED: ‘Absolute Madness’: Laura Ingraham Says Green New Deal Proponents Want To Make Americans Feel ‘Pain’)
“When was he lying, which was the lie? Because clearly the president is lying,” Barrasso asked Deputy Secretary of the Interior Tommy Beaudreau. “Which one?”
“So, Senator, I think, as you know, production on public lands both onshore and offshore has not stopped,” Beaudreau said in response. “In fact, in this administration, production levels — and this is just EIA information — has increased on public lands to over a billion barrels a year.”
WATCH:
Biden denied that he blocked energy production on federal lands on June 22, calling the claim “nonsense.” Months later, Biden said “there is no more drilling” during a Nov. 7 rally in New York.
Beaudreau also said the Biden administration was not blocking drilling on public lands.
The Biden administration cancelled a planned offshore oil and gas lease sale in May, announced new limits on offshore drilling on July 1 and revoked a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline in January 2021.
“So then the president is lying when he says ‘no more drilling, there is no more drilling.’ That’s a direct lie into the camera, to the American people by the president of the United States,” Barrasso said, pressing Beaudreau.
“So I don’t, you know, I can’t comment on a quote sort of out of context, but clearly there is ongoing drilling on public lands as well as production,” Beaudreau replied.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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