CLAIM: House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) claimed on Friday that America is at war with Russia and therefore needs to “produce energy.”
VERDICT: False. Congress has not declared war against Russia, nor has President Joe Biden engaged combat troops with Russia.
Hoyer took to the House floor, disputing the Republican claim that the Biden administration has “clamped down” on domestic energy production.
“The Biden administration approved more drilling permits in 2021 than the Trump administration approved in the first three years they were in office. I don’t know how the [Republican leader] rationalizes his comments about the Biden constricting petroleum production,” Hoyer said. The Democrat House leader then said that America is at war with Russia.
“It is unfortunate that in a time of war, that we spend all the time blaming our own president,” Hoyer said. “It is unfortunate that when the Europeans put themselves over the objections of numerous administrations in a place where they had a dependence on Russia, Russia has no leverage over us.”
“I wish we’d get off this and really focus on the enemy. I know there’s a lot of politics here, but we’re at war. We need to produce energy,” the Maryland lawmaker said.
Despite Hoyer’s rhetoric, Congress has not declared war against Russia, nor has it passed a resolution for the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) to allow for engagement with Russia.
Instead of declaring war on Russia, Congress has been working on a $40 billion aid package to Ukraine.
In fact, an AUMF proposed by Never Trumper Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) has received zero cosponsors in Congress.
Kinzinger’s AUMF resolution would give President Joe Biden the authority to wage war with Russia if he has determined Russia used chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
“I’m introducing this AUMF as a clear red line so the Administration can take appropriate action should Russia use chemical, biological, and/or nuclear weapons,” Kinzinger said in a statement in early May. So far, the bill has no cosponsors.
Biden has also rejected calls for a no-fly zone and has consistently said he would not send troops to Ukraine to fight Russia directly.
Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3
MARGARET BRENNAN: Do you think we’re headed towards recession?
LLOYD BLANKFEIN: We’re certainly heading — it’s a very, very high risk factor. There’s a path, a narrow path, but I think the Fed has very powerful tools. It’s hard to finely tune them and hard to see the effects of them quickly enough to alter it. But I think they are responding well. It’s definitely a risk. If I was running a big company I would be very prepared for it. If I was a consumer, I would prepared for it. But it’s not baked in the cake.
The White House claimed President Joe Biden’s administration made the baby formula shortage crisis a top priority as early as February, even though the president claimed ignorance of the problem on Thursday.
“This is something he is focusing on very acutely and again I said 24/7 we’ve been working on this since we have learned about this back in February,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during the daily briefing about Biden, calling the issue “one of the presidents top priorities.”
Biden bristled when asked by reporters on Friday if he could have acted sooner to fix the crisis.
“If we had been better mind readers, I guess we could’ve, but we moved as the problem became apparent to us,” Biden said.
The president did not even personally mention the crisis until Friday, despite weeks of reports highlighting the problem.
“I’ll answer the baby formula question because, all of a sudden, it’s on the front page of every newspaper,” Biden grumbled on Friday.
He announced the launch of a new government website to help parents locate baby formula in stores, but it was beset by extremely long hold times and unhelpful information.
Jean-Pierre alluded to a comment from Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Bacerra claiming the Biden administration had been working on the issue since February and even as early as last year in 2021.
CNN: “You are satisfied with the government’s response throughout [the baby formula shortage]?”
HHS Sec. Xavier Becerra: “FDA has kept me apprised of this from LAST YEAR. We have been moving as quickly as we can” pic.twitter.com/5WRZa5chYg
“You’ve heard us talk about this, you’ve heard colleagues talking about what we have done since February,” Jean-Pierre said. “We’ve been working on this 24/7.”
Jean-Pierre refused to offer a timeline for when supplies of baby formula would return to normal.
“What I can say is there are a lot of dates floating around out there,” she said.
President Joe Biden struggled Monday with the correct pronunciation of the name of Aaron Salter Jr., a heroic ex-cop and security guard who died Saturday confronting the Buffalo mass shooting suspect.
“We pay tribute to all law enforcement officers and their families who understand what it takes, what’s at risk, to save and protect all of us,” Biden said. “That includes paying tribute to the Buffalo police officer Aaron Salder — Slater, excuse me — who gave his life trying to save others.”
Biden spoke about Salter during a Public Safety Officer Medals of Valor ceremony at the White House for law enforcement and public safety officials.
Salter was a Buffalo police officer for 30 years before retiring in 2022 and taking a security job at the Tops Friendly Market where the shooting took place.
Salter hit the alleged shooter with at least one round from his pistol, but it was blocked by the alleged shooter’s bulletproof armor. Salter was later shot and killed during the attack.
“You’re the heart and soul and very spine of this country and communities,” Biden continued, praising the public safety officials in the room.
During the ceremony, Biden also botched the name of Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a Democrat congressman from New York.
“Excuse me. You can call me ‘Bidden,’” Biden joked, mispronouncing his own name. “We’ve known each other so long and I still stumbled. I apologize.”