Republicans Pounce Over Biden Rural Energy Policy

By Marc Heller

House Agriculture Committee Republicans yesterday bashed the Biden administration’s energy policies, saying the White House focus on long-term alternatives to fossil fuel ignores a more immediate crisis in rural America.

One by one, Republican lawmakers sidestepped the committee hearing’s focus on farm bill energy programs and questioned the Democratic administration’s commitment to rural communities, including farmers facing higher costs for fertilizer and diesel fuel.

“We have a crisis right now,” said the panel’s ranking Republican, Rep. Glenn Thompson of Pennsylvania, who predicted hunger and famine by fall tied to the war in Ukraine and its impact on wheat and other grains grown there and in Russia.