'We're at war': Steny Hoyer shocks social media with claim about Ukraine-Russia conflict
WASHINGTON (TND) — House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer stunned social media Friday when he claimed 'we're at war,' apparently referring to the U.S.'s position in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
The comments came when Sen. Hoyer, D-Md., was arguing on the House floor about the current energy crisis, which has led to record-high gas prices for Americans.
Read more: “Gas prices continue to skyrocket, with no end till fall, per AAA”
“The free market is one reason why this is happening. I’m for the free market because sound business judgements work ... Everybody’s happy, except the consumer of course, who, because supply on the world markets – and it’s a world market price – it’s not Biden’s price, it’s a world market price – have gone up because demand is up and supply is down. So, I don't know how the [Republican leader] rationalizes his comments about Biden constricting petroleum production, when the permits issued in one year are three times the number of permits that Mr. Trump issued in the first three years of his term.”
Hoyer then said he wished “we’d get off this and really focus on the enemy,” adding he knows “there’s a lot of politics here, but we’re at war.” He later repeated himself, saying, “we’re at war.”
“Perhaps when you have a political leadership almost uniformly in their late 70s and 80s, they become a tad more reckless -- borderline-indifferent -- about pursuing wars that could end humanity?” journalist Glenn Greenwald tweeted.
“That said, it remains indisputable fact - no matter how much you wish it weren't true - that Donald Trump remains the only US president in decades not to involve the US in a new war,” Greenwald followed up in another tweet.
Hoyer’s comments came as part of an argument against GOP claims the Biden administration is hindering domestic oil production.
Read more: “Biden admin not currently resuming oil and gas leases on federal land, despite reports”
Beyond domestic production, the Maryland senator also pointed to the actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as those of oil companies, for the current price hike.
“Biden does want a clean environment, Biden does want us to look at alternative energy, that’s what he was talking about in the campaign, that he wanted to look to that,” Hoyer said on the House floor. “But President Biden has made it very clear he understands that in the short term but particularly during the course of this war we need to have petroleum products, and we need to have them for ourselves and our allies.”
The U.S. has not declared war on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine, though U.S. leaders have shown support to Ukrainian defense efforts.
