U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer with Over the Mountain Chamber leaders at the Washington Update Luncheon held at the Grand Bohemian Hotel in Mountain Brook last week.By Ana Good
U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer did not mince words when he spoke during a multi-chamber event April 13. Palmer, R-Hoover, spoke on his belief that the country must unite in the face of growing international tensions.
“We don’t have the option to fight each other,” Palmer said, during the Washington Update Luncheon held at the Grand Bohemian Hotel in Mountain Brook. “We’ve got to come together. We’ve got to realize we share this country together.”
Palmer, who serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and the Subcommittees on Energy, Environment and Climate Change, among others, said a top concern of his is China’s “aggressive” pursuit for influence in Central and South America.
According to World Economic Forum’s figures shared on the House Foreign Affairs Committee website, trade between China and Latin America grew from $12 billion to $315 billion between 2000 and 2020. Experts predict this number to double by 2035 to more than $700 billion.
In Central America specifically, China’s influence resulted in Panama, El Salvador and most recently Honduras breaking diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Belize and Guatemala are Taiwan’s remaining allies in Central America, according to multiple media outlets.
Palmer said the situation with Taiwan is “critical” because of its dominance in production of the world’s semiconductor chips that power everything from mobile phones to electric cars. The U.S., he said, imports approximately 60% to 80% of microchips from Taiwan – and up to 90% of the most advanced ones. Escalation of tensions between China and Taiwan would be catastrophic for the U.S., Palmer said.
China’s rapid global advancement is among the top reasons Palmer said he has been pushing for what he refers to as a Western Hemisphere Alliance between the United States, Europe, South America and Central America.
“China’s not our friend,” Palmer said. “Their objective is to be the dominant world power.”
Asked about potential economic options to help diffuse the situation, Palmer said the proposed alliance would rely on using “soft power.” The United States, he said, has become too dependent on an extended supply chain from other nations.
“I’m doing everything I can to rally the West to come together using soft power,” he said, “investing in sub-Saharan Africa, investing in Latin America and South America, particularly through building out their energy infrastructure predominantly through natural gas so that we can near-source our supply chain.”
Pro-Natural Gas and Next-Gen Nuclear
Recent global emergencies including the COVID pandemic and the war in Ukraine have brought to light the nation’s overreliance on other nations, he said.
“No nation should be reliant on an adversarial nation for something so critical as energy,” Palmer said.
Palmer described himself as a huge proponent of natural gas as well as next-generation nuclear energy and was critical of President Joe Biden’s administration policies on energy. Natural gas, he said, is key to bringing down energy costs and CO2 emissions.
Palmer also shared what he believes are the benefits and capabilities of next-generation nuclear energy over other sources of energy, including wind turbines. The United States, he said, has the ability to rely less on other countries for energy and must tap into that potential as a way to combat growing international tensions.
“The United States is literally an energy superpower,” Palmer said. “We need to unleash it.”
Informational handouts distributed at all the tables in the ballroom listed various “House Republican Accomplishments in the 118th Congress.” Top of the list was an outline of H.R.1, Unleashing American Energy and Lowering Costs for Americans. The resolution, which was in part authored by Palmer according to the handout, “increases domestic energy production, reforms permitting processes and reverses the anti-energy policies of the Biden Administration.”
Other accomplishments listed on the handout included Republicans’ efforts to nullify legislation to eliminate some mandatory minimums for crimes and to lower many maximum sentences. Also listed were efforts to repeal funding for 87,000 IRS agents as part of a bill under consideration in the Senate and establish a “select committee on the Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party.”
Palmer said the topics he discussed after lunch were heavy but real, and he stressed his belief that the nation cannot afford to remain divided.
“I know things that keep me up at night, that I can’t share,” Palmer said. “We don’t have the option to fight each other. We’ve got to come together.”
English (US)