Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy told Newsmax on Tuesday that the Alaskan oil drilling plan known as the Willow Project is "better late than never," while criticizing President Joe Biden for not allowing it earlier.
When asked about the project on "John Bachman Now," Ramaswamy said, "I would say better late than never, but we're a couple of years late to this party. They should have actually relieved permitting long ago, the administration waited as long as they could politically, it took this war in Russia and Ukraine, and finally realizing that we actually have oil and gas limitations from the rest of the world, begging dictators around the world after [Russian President Vladimir] Putin invaded Ukraine, to produce oil in every other country except the United States. Now, finally getting the United States as a source of energy."
He later added, "we need to take this to the next level … one of the core aspects of my domestic policy agenda in my presidential campaign, and hopefully our presidency, is unleashing the American economy, but the critical ingredient to do that is to first unleash American energy security and energy independence itself.
Ramaswamy also commented on the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, saying, "this is cronyism all the way down."
He went on to claim that the Biden Administration "applies two different rules to two different kinds of people," and claiming that the administration would not bail out "an oil and gas bank in Oklahoma."
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Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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