“Since day one, President Biden and the Democrats have been shutting down American energy.”

House Energy & Commerce Committee Republican Leader Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) spoke with Fox Business’ Elizabeth MacDonald Tuesday evening about the high gas prices American families are facing because of the rush-to-green agenda that is shutting down American energy. Leader Rodgers also described how Energy and Commerce Republicans are leading an investigation into possible Russian influence over U.S. based environmental groups.

Watch her interview here and check out the key excerpts below.

We should be saying YES to American energy. Let's #FlipTheSwitch & help lower gas prices for hardworking Americans. ? pic.twitter.com/Zf7Bqo0DkB

— CathyMcMorrisRodgers (@cathymcmorris) March 16, 2022

ON RISING ENERGY PRICES

“Gas prices were going up before Russia and Ukraine. It hurts everyone when they go to the pump.

“I’ve talked to a truck driver who isn’t sure what his future is going to be because of rising gas prices. What we’re seeing is [the Left] doubling down on their political agenda instead of doing what’s best for hard-working American families, what’s best for our economy, our competitiveness, and our security.

“National security should be at the forefront of our decision making right now. Energy security is national security. Energy is everything.”

ON FLIPPING THE SWITCH ON FOR MORE AMERICAN ENERGY

“We should be saying ‘yes’ to American energy.

“Since day one, President Biden and the Democrats have been shutting down American energy. They shut down the Keystone pipeline. They’ve been saying they’re going to shut down oil and natural gas, even though it’s the cleanest in the world here in the United States of America.

“We should be saying ‘yes’ to North American energy. The Keystone pipeline was thousands of jobs as well as us being able to import from our friend and ally, Canada, versus Russia.

“And what we saw in the last year was, under the Biden administration, Russian imports of crude oil had increased nearly 25%.

“We need to flip the switch. Energy dominance is so important. It’s important to families. It’s important to our economy.

“We cannot be a diplomatic power without being a military power. We cannot be a military power without being an economic power, and energy is foundational to all of that.”

POSSIBLE RUSSIAN COLLUSION

“Republicans are leading an investigation as to whether United States environmental groups have been influenced through President Putin’s dark money to shut down American energy.

“When I visited Ukraine in 2015 with the Energy and Commerce Committee, the Ukrainians as well as NATO warned us that President Putin and Russia was funding the NGOs, the non-governmental organizations as well as other environmental groups that were opposed to fracking in Europe.

“Today, Europe gets 40% of its natural gas from Russia. It’s what funds his economy and ultimately his military.

“We are asking questions of U.S. environmental groups due to a suspicious foundation in San Francisco, and their ties to this foundation, as to whether Putin also has been influencing American environmental groups to shut down American energy.”

EXPORTING LNG TO HELP OUR ALLIES

“We should be exporting natural gas right now. This administration is shutting down the export permits. They are saying ‘no’ to us being able to export natural gas and to not just Ukraine, but to Eastern Europe, so that they wouldn’t be dependent upon Putin and continuing to fund his war chest and his war machine.”

NOTE: Energy & Commerce Committee Republicans sent letters to the League of Conservation Voters, Natural Resources Defense Fund, and the Sierra Club questioning whether they were influenced by Putin to shut down American energy.

Earlier this month, Leader Rodgers and Energy Subcommittee Republican Leader Fred Upton (R-MI) sent letters to Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm and to the Commissioners of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) urging them to immediately approve delayed permits for natural gas pipelines and liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facilities.