Josh Hawley sits out State of the Union because he didn’t want to be tested for COVID-19
Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley announced he was skipping the State of the Union on Tuesday, saying on Twitter that he didn’t want to comply with the event’s COVID-19 policies.
In order to sit in the House Chamber for the speech, members of Congress and the press had to test negative for COVID-19. At least five Democrats — including Sen. Alex Padilla of California and Rep. Ted Deutch of Florida — announced they were positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday after being tested ahead of the speech.
“I hope Biden explains tonight why he surrendered America’s energy independence & apologizes for it,” Hawley tweeted. “I’ll be watching from home. I refuse to submit to a Covid test to sit in a room of fully vaccinated people in a Capitol ringed with barricades to satisfy Joe Biden’s Covid theater.”
The high-profile status of the speech — combined with the potential of protests from a caravan of truckers — led to an increased security presence at the U.S. Capitol.
Outside, the U.S. Capitol Police erected fencing surrounding the Capitol and maintained a heavy police and national guard presence, a specter of the January 6, 2021 insurrection.
Biden used his nearly hour-long nationally televised speech to rattle off a long list of his policy priorities, touching on issues ranging from measures to limit the spread of COVID-19, to voting rights, to police funding and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Early on, members of Congress in the chamber, many of whom were wearing blue and yellow in solidarity, stood to show their support for Ukranians as they fight back against attacks from the Russian military. Oksana Markarova, the Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S., was one of First Lady Jill Biden’s guests to the speech.
“Putin has unleashed violence and chaos,” Biden said. “But while he may make gains on the battlefield – he will pay a continuing high price over the long run. And a proud Ukrainian people, who have known 30 years of independence, have repeatedly shown that they will not tolerate anyone who tries to take their country backwards.”
Hawley is among a group of Senators using the war in Ukraine — and Russia’s status as a international leader in energy exports — as a pressure point to push Biden to loosen regulations on energy companies. It is part of a longstanding debate as politicians have attempted to balance the country’s energy needs and global environmental protections.
After the speech, Kansas and Missouri Republicans criticized Biden for not addressing their calls for increasing domestic energy production.
“President Biden had the opportunity tonight to announce a ban on U.S. imports of Russian oil but instead he continues to use Russia as America’s gas station,” said Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall. “Having done nearly 100 town hall meetings across Kansas, it’s clear we have a Commander-in-Chief who is not commanding and the state of our union is not what he painted it as this evening.”
Earlier Tuesday, Marshall and Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran sent a letter to Biden calling on him to stop purchasing oil from Russia and to reevaluate his domestic energy policy in order to make up for the economic cost.
“We should be seeking to end Putin’s conflict before it deteriorates even further,” the letter, which was also signed by Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole, said. “it is time to institute an embargo on Russian energy imports.”
Instead, Biden announced the release of 60 million barrels of oil from world reserves, including 30 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, in order to prevent an increase in energy prices. He did not say the U.S. would stop buying oil from Russia.
Marshall and Moran also introduced legislation to back up their letter, though a similar push by West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin was dismissed by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who said the priority was on preventing price gouging and monopolies, according to Bloomberg News.
Hawley introduced a bill on Monday he said would increase domestic energy production so that the U.S. would be less dependent on foreign oil imports. About 7 percent of the U.S. oil imports come from Russia, which is the third highest after Canada (52%) and Mexico (10%), according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
In 2020 the U.S. exported more oil than it imported.
After taking office, Biden’s administration stopped construction on the Keystone XL pipeline and attempted to block new leases for oil and gas drilling on federal land. Still, because there is a lot of land already leased, the actions have not stopped drilling on public lands and waters.
Hawley’s legislation, which faces an uphill battle in the Democrat controlled U.S. Senate, would require the administration to lift regulations on energy companies and restore the permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline from Canada to Texas.
It would also defund any U.S. attempts to meet the provisions in the Paris Climate Agreement, which is a global accord to lower carbon dioxide production in attempts to prevent catastrophic global temperature increases. A recent report by the United Nations unveiled a grim forecast of what the planet could look like should greenhouse gases go unchecked and urged immediate action.
This story was originally published March 1, 2022 at 8:55 PM with the headline "Josh Hawley sits out State of the Union because he didn’t want to be tested for COVID-19."