One of the bills I will introduce in 2023 is a bill to move the headquarters for the Game and Parks Commission to Sidney. I believe moving the headquarters to Sidney would be advantageous for Western Nebraska and it would put the Commission right where they need to be.

Current state law says that the headquarters for the Game and Parks Commission has to be in Lincoln, but having the headquarters in Lincoln makes little sense, especially when it comes to wildlife. There is very little wildlife in the City of Lincoln, so those who work for the Commission seldom ever encounter the same kinds of problems with wildlife that we see in Western Nebraska.

Wildlife populations have become a major problem in the Panhandle. Herds of antelope, deer, and elk have grown out of control in Western Nebraska, where they damage crops, destroy fences, and pollute hay. Relocating the headquarters to Sidney would put the management right where these problems lie. This would enable those working for the Game and Parks Commission to see firsthand what kind of damage these animals do to farmers and ranchers. Game and Parks needs to get these herds under control or consider reimbursing landowners for the damages these animals do to property.

State parks in Western Nebraska do not get the same kind of special treatment that state parks get in Eastern Nebraska. For example, Mahoney State Park offers glamping, an aquatic center, an indoor playground, a treetops ropes course, an observation tower and even an indoor rock-climbing wall. Similarly, the Platte River State Park offers a wide range of glamorous outdoor activities, including horseback riding, a water spray park, and canoeing and kayaking just to name a few. We seldom ever see these kinds of amenities at our state parks in Western Nebraska.

The fact of the matter is that the camping fees collected at state parks in Western Nebraska end up getting used to spruce up state parks on the eastern side of the State. And that’s not right. For far too long the Commission has favored parks on the eastern side of the State. By moving them to Sidney, maybe they will begin to see how our parks fare compared to those in the Eastern part of the state.

Moving the Game and Parks Commission would give an added boost to Sidney’s economy. Those who work for the Game and Parks Commission would have to relocate to Sidney, where they would purchase housing, buy their groceries, fuel their vehicles, and pay for entertainment. All of this would be a big bonus to Sidney’s economic recovery ever since Cabela’s abandoned them.

I introduced a similar bill back in 2021. However, LB 562 never advanced out of committee and was indefinitely postponed at the end of the session. For whatever reason the Natural Resources Committee was not yet ready to commit to the idea. Because it often takes several years to get a good bill passed into law, I will try again.

One of the bills that I will introduce next year is the result of an interim study that I conducted with our State’s Natural Resources Districts (NRD’s) back in 2021. LR23 was a Legislative Resolution I introduced in 2021 to investigate some of the practices of our NRD’s. While the interim study surveyed all 23 NRD’s, one particular issue especially stood out for needed legislation. That issue involved land being held by N-CORPE.

Few Nebraskans have ever heard of N-CORPE. N-CORPE stands for the Nebraska Republican Platte Enhancement project. N-CORPE is an augmentation project which was created by way of an interlocal agreement by the Upper Republican NRD, the Middle Republican NRD, the Lower Republican NRD, and the Twin Platte NRD.

During a public hearing, which was part of the interim study, a concern arose over property taxes paid by N-CORPE. N-CORPE owns 19,000 acres of land. When asked if it would be fair to say that N-CORPE pays no property taxes on its land, Kyle Shepherd, N-CORPE’s General Manager, said, “Yes.” However, N-CORPE’s 2019 annual report showed that they paid $145,000 in lieu of taxes. Lincoln County feels that some of the acres are not for public use. Therefore, N-CORPE pays property taxes on those acres of land.

Complicating matters even more is the fact that two-thirds of the land owned by N-CORPE is closed to public access. N-CORPE rents out these lands for farming and draws income from the rents. That income is used to pay N-CORPE’s operational expenses.

N-CORPE’s operations have been highly suspect for quite some time. For example, N-CORPE’s annual reports for the years 2018 and 2019 consisted of only a single page.

Getting a copy of N-CORPE’s budget has been another problem. N-CORPE has made it a habit of not making their budgets readily available to the public and they do not submit a budget to the State Auditor. They do not submit their budget to the State Auditor because of a loophole in the state law which says that they do not have to submit a budget to the State Auditor as long as they never impose a tax levy.

For these reasons, I believe the best course of action is for N-CORPE to sell its land. Once N-CORPE sells its land, the land will go back on the tax rolls. By selling the land, it will put it back on the tax rolls and result in property tax relief for the residents of Lincoln County. Having the land farmed as dryland will also be an economic advantage for the local economy.

Nebraska’s governmental entities have made it a bad habit of taking more and more lands off the tax rolls. Whenever that happens, other landowners have to make up the difference, and that is hardly fair to those property owners who have to make up the difference. The time has come to reverse this trend, and I believe that process should begin with N-CORPE leading the way by selling its land.

One of the bills that I will introduce next year is a bill to put posters displaying our national motto, “In God We Trust” in all of Nebraska’s public schools just like we have in all of our courthouses. Actually, I will be re-introducing this bill. I have introduced this bill in each biennial legislative session ever since I became a State Senator six years ago, but the bill has never advanced out of the Education Committee.

The bill is a simple bill. All that it says is that each public school must display a poster displaying the national motto in a common area where students are likely to see it on a daily basis; otherwise, schools may choose to display it in every classroom. That is all that the bill requires of the public schools.

The reason this bill is necessary, relates to the current trends in education we’ve been witnessing to eradicate God from the classroom and to erase or re-write America’s religious heritage. The fact of the matter is that our predecessors in the last century changed our nation’s motto in 1956 from E Pluribus Unum (Latin for: Out of many, one) to “In God We Trust” in order to preserve our nation’s religious heritage and values. At a time when atheistic communism was rapidly spreading around the world, these Congressmen felt the need to differentiate the United States of America from the rest of the world as a nation where faith in God was not only welcomed, but was still the norm.

Faith in God continues to be the norm in American society today. A Gallup Poll released in May of this year shows that 81 percent of Americans continue to believe in God. So, trust in God remains strong in America today.

Percentages don’t matter. Even if that percentage were to somehow fall below 50 percent someday, it would not change the fact that faith in God has been essential to the foundation of our American values and to our State. Whether we are talking about the U.S. Constitution or the Nebraska State Constitution, the right to worship God freely has always been a foundational component of our values as Americans and as Nebraskans. For example, Article 1, Section 4 of the Nebraska State Constitution says, “All persons have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences.”

This most basic right of religious freedom has been under attack by atheists for many years now, and this is the time of year when they most prefer to launch their attacks. For example, every year atheists reserve space in the Capitol rotunda in Lincoln for the week of Christmas in order to show their anti-God displays.

This movement to eradicate God and Christ from American society now permeates our educational institutions. For example, today our students are taught to write history in terms of “before the common era” and “after the common era” instead of by Anno Domini (B.C & A.D.), which places the birth of Christ at the center of world history. The history behind Anno Domini (B.C & A.D.) is important for our school children to know, because it came about as a protest against Christian persecution by the Romans. Nevertheless, it is being systematically eradicated from our schools today.

Placing our national motto back in our public schools is a small step towards educating our school children about our religious heritage and the faith in God which formed the foundation of our American values.

As you celebrate Christmas this year, be reminded of how important the birth of Christ has been in the history of the world. At the first Christmas a baby was born who would become the Savior of the world. King Herod tried to kill the baby Jesus and Roman emperors tried to stamp out his followers. As a man, Pontius Pilate had him crucified, buried, and guarded his tomb, yet no one has ever been able to account for the body or bones of Jesus. That he rose from the dead and appeared to more than 500 of his followers is an event forever recorded in history and this is why so many people celebrate his birth today.

One of the bills I will introduce in January will affect the way properties get valuated once an appeal has been filed with the Tax Equalization and Review Commission. The current process is a mess and always leaves property owners holding the short end of the stick. So, before I reveal my solution, let me first explain what the problems are.

The first problem relates to time. The appeal process takes too much time. Once an appeal is filed with the Tax Equalization and Review Commission, it can take several years for a hearing to get scheduled and to take place. After the hearing takes place, it can take months or even years for the commissioners on the Tax Equalization and Review Commission to make a decision on the case.

The idea for this bill first came to me from Brenda Bickford, a resident of Lincoln, who has appealed the valuation of her home for several years now. When Brenda first came to me, she had unresolved appeals with the Tax Equalization and Review Commission which were more than three years old. In other words, after three years the commissioners still hadn’t made up their minds about what the actual value of her home should be. Three years is simply too much time!

The second problem is one of fairness to the taxpayer. Once an assessor raises the value of a person’s property and the property owner files an appeal, the property owner is expected to continue paying the property taxes on that newly assessed value while they wait for the commissioners on the Tax Equalization and Review Commission to make up their minds about what the actual value of the property should be. In Brenda’s case, this meant that she had to continue paying property taxes on the inflated valuation of her home for the next three years while she waited for the commissioners to make up their minds.

So, how do we fix this problem? New legislation is needed that will discourage the commissioners on the Tax Equalization and Review Commission from dragging out these appeals for several years, and the new legislation needs to protect property owners from having to pay property taxes on inflated valuations until a decision can be made. It is unfair to a property owner to have to pay more property taxes than what he or she rightfully owes.

Therefore, in January I will submit a bill that will accomplish these two objectives. The bill I will introduce will encourage the commissioners on the Tax Equalization and Review Commission to reach a decision before the property owner receives his or her next tax bill in the mail. Whenever the commissioners fail to reach a decision by the date when the first half of the next year’s property taxes become delinquent, the value of the property will get reset to the previous year’s valuation and remain at that value until a decision has been reached.

Property taxes in Nebraska continue to be out of control, and it does not help matters when property owners have to pay more money in property taxes than what they rightfully owe. It has been a long-standing tradition in our country that American citizens have a right to a speedy trial, and that right also implies that a decision should be made in a timely fashion.

One of the bills that I will introduce next year is a damaged property bill. Although I introduced this bill during the last legislative session, the bill’s language got grafted into the Revenue Committee’s Christmas tree bill. This meant that those with destroyed properties during the first half of the year could now apply to have their properties reassessed for property tax purposes.

The language that was adopted by the Revenue Committee pertained to properties that were destroyed by fire or by a natural disaster. Damages initiated by the owner were not permitted. The passage of that language in the Christmas Tree bill was quite timely because that was the year of the spring floods, which destroyed thousands of acres of agricultural lands and homes all across Nebraska. As a result, many landowners were able to have their properties reassessed for property tax purposes, so long as the damages done to the property constituted twenty percent or more of the property’s value. However, there remained an unresolved problem with the language of that bill.

A problem later arose with the particular language that was used for this bill. LB 482 as well as the language that was grafted into the Revenue Committee’s Christmas tree bill made use of the words “destroyed property.” And these particular words would prove to become problematic for future implementations of the bill.

When the Black Lives Matter riots swept through the City of Lincoln during the summer of 2020, several buildings were torched along the Lincoln Mall and on H Street near the State Capitol Building. When some of those businessowners applied to have their properties reassessed for property tax purposes, they were denied on the grounds that their buildings had not been destroyed, but only damaged by the fires.

Indeed, this was the very problem with the bill which had been earlier identified by Doug Peterson, Nebraska’s Attorney General. In 2019 I wrote a letter to Doug Peterson, asking his opinion about the language of the bill. In his response, he said, “…the term ‘destroyed’ would likely be read to mean completely uninhabitable or unfit for customary use.” And that is exactly how the county commissioners and the courts interpreted the language of the bill.

By changing the language from “destroyed property” to “damaged property” this will correct the problem that was created two years ago. Although I tried to correct the language during the 107th Legislature with LB 165, that bill never became a law. The bill advanced out of committee and onto General File, but because the bill lacked a priority status, the Legislature never took the time to advance the bill any further. As a result, the bill died by being indefinitely postponed on April 20 of this year, which was the last day of the of the 107th Legislature.

Therefore, I will reintroduce this bill next year for the 108th Legislature. No one who has had the value of his or her property lessened by twenty percent or more during the first half of the calendar year because of a fire or some other natural disaster should ever have to pay property taxes on the assessed value of that property as it was on January 1 of that same year. Such a practice is unfair to the property owner, and it is time for the State of Nebraska to finally fix this problem.

Did you enjoy your Thanksgiving dinner this year? Perhaps, you noticed that this year’s menu may not have include deviled eggs. That’s because grocery store shelves have been empty and grocers have been struggling to find eggs to sell.

Nebraska has been the second hardest state hit by the avian bird flu this year. We are second only to Iowa. Because a new outbreak of the avian bird flu was detected in Dixon County in Northeast Nebraska last Saturday, the State will now have to euthanize another 1.8 million egg-laying hens.

According to Wells Fargo, the price of eggs has already jumped 32 percent this year. That’s a very significant increase, especially when you compare the price of eggs to the price of fruits and vegetables which have only risen seven percent this year.

Grocers are blaming their egg shortages on the avian bird flu, which continues to wipe out millions of Nebraska’s chickens. Prior to the current outbreak in Dixon County, Nebraska had already euthanized some 6.8 million chickens. But the egg shortage is also a national crisis. So far this year 50 million chickens have had to be euthanized in 46 states. Iowa had to put down 15.5 million birds.

But blaming the egg shortage entirely upon the avian bird flu doesn’t exactly tell the whole story. In recent years it has become popular for states to ban the sale of eggs from caged hens; thus, reducing the number of eggs for sale. Seven states have already passed laws to ban the sale of eggs from caged chickens and Colorado is set to go next.

Colorado legislators passed HB20-1343 a couple of years ago, which is an Act forbidding the sale of eggs from caged hens beginning January 1, 2023. Because Colorado is home to some six million egg producing hens, the law had to be modified to allow farm owners more time to make the transition to cage-free housing. Farm owners in Colorado now have two years to install scratch areas, perches, nesting boxes, and areas for dust bathing in order to comply with their new state law. Nevertheless, by 2025 all eggs for sale in Colorado will come from cage-free hens.

Because seven states have already enacted these kinds of new cage-free egg laws, it is difficult to know how much this kind of legislation has contributed to the current egg shortage. Those states which have already enacted laws against selling caged-eggs are Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. What we do know, though, is that these new laws are not helping the current situation.

Adding insult to injury, is the fact that some people have already begun to hoard eggs. Some people are buying eggs in order to hoard them for later consumption. The current egg shortage is rapidly turning out to look very similar to the toilet paper shortage of 2020, and that is not good.

Eggs are an important staple in the American diet. Eggs have always been cheap. They are also an excellent source of protein and other important nutrients, such a B and D vitamins. So, whenever the price of eggs goes up, it affects those with low incomes the most. Many Americans simply cannot afford to pay exorbitant prices for a carton of cage-free eggs.

Some of you can still remember the old television detective show, Dragnet. Sgt. Joe Friday’s most famous line on that TV show was, “just the facts ma’am!” The implication of that statement was that good police work derives its conclusions from facts, not from opinions. In the same mentality of Sgt. Joe Friday today I would like to share with you “just the facts” about what some like to refer to as the nonpartisan Unicameral Legislature.

When the Unicameral Legislature was created back in 1937, George Norris convinced State legislators that the success of a Unicameral Legislature would depend upon legislators working together harmoniously in a nonpartisan way. But Sen. George Norris’s desire for the Unicameral Legislature turned out to be nothing more than wishful thinking. The Unicameral Legislature has been partisan ever since its inception and it will continue to be partisan in the future.

That the Unicameral Legislature is a partisan body, and not a nonpartisan body, is not something that you have to take from me. All you have to do is open up and read the headlines of any Nebraska newspaper following the election on November 8. Nearly every newspaper referred to the Unicameral Legislature in partisan terms. For example, On November 9 the Scotts Bluff Star Herald ran a story entitled, “Balance of power in Nebraska Legislature tips in favor of Republicans.” On November 9 another article written by Paul Hammel appeared in the Nebraska Examiner with the headline, “Republicans may have gained a filibuster-proof majority in Nebraska Legislature.” Then, on November 11 an article written by Martha Stoddard in the Omaha World Herald contained the headline, “Lead Change in Omaha legislative race jeopardizes GOP hopes of filibuster-proof majority.” Perhaps, someone forgot to tell the media that the Unicameral Legislature is nonpartisan! For once the media may have got it right.

As you can see, not one of these headlines gave any indication whatsoever that the Unicameral Legislature is a nonpartisan body! Instead, each headline insinuated the partisan nature of the Unicameral Legislature. If the Unicameral Legislature really is supposed to be a nonpartisan body, then its political make-up should be of no concern to those in the press. But, as you can clearly see, journalists in Nebraska care deeply about the political make-up of the State Legislature because they know that political Parties matter in the State Legislature.

To be sure, there really is no such thing as a nonpartisan Legislature no matter what George Norris ever said. No nonpartisan Legislature has ever existed anywhere in America. This is a political fact, and it remains a fact even though some people like to say otherwise.

If you read each of the news articles mentioned above, you will see how concerned our reporters are about how many Republicans and how many Democrats get elected to the State Legislature. The idea that any Political Party should ever gain a filibuster proof majority only matters when one truly believes that the State Legislature is a partisan body.

So, if it is true that the Unicameral Legislature really is a nonpartisan body, then the orientation for the newly elected senators, which occurred last week, would not have had to spend a significant amount of time trying to explain what the word “nonpartisan” really means. Something that is true by way of definition or by nature should not have to be explained, but what really happened last week was a matter of indoctrination. Those who presented the talks during the orientation hoped to convince our newly elected Senators that it is an unpardonable sin to act in a partisan ways.

Let’s just say that the real number of those who believe that Nebraska has a nonpartisan Legislature is less than those in Pennsylvania who voted for John Fetterman for the U.S. Senate! The reality is that the Unicameral Legislature is a partisan body and it has always been a partisan body. It is time for State Senators to admit that fact, to pull up their big boy pants or big girl pants, and move on with the business of the State!

If you wonder why we can’t pass very simple legislation like placing our national motto which appears on our coins and on our currency as “in God we trust” in our schools, the answer is that the Unicameral Legislature is a partisan body which is controlled in many ways by a 35 percent partisan minority! And, those are “just the facts, ma’am.”

When it comes to Nebraska’s tax incentive programs, the costs outweigh the benefits. What the State of Nebraska needs is total tax reform, not more incentive programs for businesses. So, today I would like to shed some light on how much Nebraska’s tax incentive programs have been hurting the taxpayers of our State.

The Nebraska Advantage Act was passed back in 2005 primarily as a means for keeping Con Agra headquartered in Omaha. The program did not work. In 2015 the State of Illinois wooed Con Agra to their state by offering the company an even better tax incentive program through their state’s Economic Development for a Growing Economy (EDGE) program. Illinois offered Con Agra $630,000 per year in tax credits if it moved at least 150 jobs to Illinois for the next 15 years.

The Nebraska Department of Revenue recently released a report on Nebraska’s tax incentive programs and the numbers do not look good. From January 1, 2006 through June 30, 2022 businesses have earned almost $1.8 billion in tax credits through the Nebraska Advantage Act. During that same period of time businesses have cashed in on almost $910 million in tax credits. According to the report, there remains about $850 million in outstanding tax credits yet to be used. That’s a lot of money out of the State’s coffers.

Whenever businesses cash in on these kinds of tax credits, taxpayers always feel the pain. The incentives offered through the Nebraska Advantage Act and the ImagiNe Nebraska Act come in the form of tax credits. So, whenever businesses use their tax credits, it leaves a gigantic hole in the amount of revenue coming into the state. Whenever that happens the State has to fill in the gap. Theoretically, these businesses could cash in all of their remaining $850 million in outstanding tax credits in a single year and devastate our State Budget.

These tax incentive programs make it difficult to create a state-wide budget. Because I serve on the Legislature’s Appropriations committee, I see first-hand what kind of havoc these incentive programs wreak on our state budget. Because those of us who serve on the Appropriations Committee never know when businesses plan to use their tax credits, crafting the state budget always becomes a kind of guessing game for lawmakers in Lincoln.

Those who advocate for these kinds of incentive programs for businesses like to tout about how many new jobs they bring into Nebraska each year. But the number of new jobs created by these incentive programs does not justify the expense. For example, the report indicates that these tax incentive programs have created 1,754 new jobs each year. If we estimate that each new worker would pay the State roughly $4,000 annually in income taxes and sales taxes, it would take the State the next 21 years for these new jobs to finally pay for themselves.

According the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Nebraska has the fourth lowest unemployment rate in the nation set at 2.2 percent. Businesses are begging for employees and we see help wanted signs everywhere we travel around the State. Nebraska does not have enough workforce to sustain our current workforce needs. So, even if these incentive programs were to create another 1,754 new jobs, there is no guarantee that there would be qualified employees waiting in line to fill these jobs.

What Nebraska really needs is total tax reform. People living in Nebraska continue to suffer under our State’s heavy tax burden and broken tax system. Tax incentive programs for businesses, such as the Nebraska Advantage Act and the ImagiNE Nebraska Act do absolutely nothing to help the average taxpayer and they leave businesses worrying about when they might have to move to another state with a better tax incentive program. I believe businesses will want move to Nebraska once Nebraska adopts the best tax code in the nation, and the EPIC Option Consumption Tax remains the best answer to Nebraska tax problem.

Veterans Day is November 11. Veterans Day is a special day Americans set aside every year to honor those who have served our country faithfully in the armed forces. However, Veterans Day does not end on November 12. Honoring our veterans is something that should be done every day.

Unfortunately, not all Americans see it this way. In recent years there has been a surge in discrimination cases against our military personnel, so today I would like to take some time to expose what has been going on and offer some insight about how to counter it.

The last place one would ever expect to find discrimination against military personnel and veterans is in the military, yet that is what is occurring right here in Nebraska! The U.S. Air Force has been ordered to pay David Bighia of Bellevue, a 16-year Army Reserve veteran, one million dollars plus back pay and lawyer’s fees by November 29 for unlawfully denying him a job as a military historian.

Bighia’s finances have been completely destroyed. An EEOC judge ruled back in December of 2021 that the U.S. Air Force violated the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 when it reneged on a job offer and refused to make “reasonable accommodation” for Bighia’s medical condition. Although Bighia won his lawsuit, the U.S. Air Force decided to stall on paying him out even though a second judge ruled in Bighia’s favor in June of this year. As a result, Bighia’s house, which he purchased with a VA loan, is in foreclosure and he has had to file for bankruptcy.

The situation is worse with civilian employers. Between 2004 and 2020 the Justice Department filed 109 lawsuits against civilian employers for discriminating against military personnel. Walmart settled a class action suit for $14 million in 2021. During this same period hundreds of more complaints were filed with the U.S. Justice Department under the Uniform Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994.

Employers have been paying out millions of dollars in recent years in order to settle these cases out of court, and it has cost the federal government hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend our military personnel and veterans. According to Diedre Brou, an assistant U.S. attorney for the Justice Department’s Service Members and Veterans Initiative, 80 percent of these cases get resolved informally while other employers choose to dig in their heels and fight. Unfortunately, some employers have found that it is more lucrative to discriminate against our military personnel and veterans than to abide by the law, and that is just unamerican.

Those who get deployed to defend our country should not have to face discrimination at home. So, if you are a serviceman or servicewoman who has been discriminated against in the workforce because of your military status, know that help is available. The place to begin is at the U.S. Department of Justice. Just visit their website at: https://www.justice.gov/servicemembers/how-we-can-help.

When you see a soldier or a veteran this week remember to thank him or her for their service to our country. Without their service in the armed forces none of us would be free. They protect our way of life. There is no one more noble in America than the one who has risked both life and limb for the cause of our country. Remember this about our veterans: All gave some, but some gave all.

America’s diesel supplies are running dangerously low. As of October 14, the United States had only 25.4 days left of its diesel supply, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Then, on October 21 stockpiles of diesel reached their lowest point ever for this time of year, at least ever since the EIA began tracking this kind of data back in 1982.

Western Nebraska runs on diesel. The trains that cross our state all have diesel engines, the trucks that haul our goods on I-80 all have diesel engines, military vehicles run on diesel, and much of our farm equipment runs on diesel. Diesel is preferable to gasoline because its density means that it puts out more energy per unit than gasoline.

Prices for a gallon of diesel have already begun to skyrocket. Texas has the lowest average price per gallon in the nation at $4.76. The average price per gallon in Nebraska is $5.14, but in California it is $6.39. On average, diesel fuel is $2.00 more per gallon than it was a year ago, but if this trend continues the price will go much higher.

The diesel crisis has put the United States in a vulnerable position. Earlier this month OPEC decided to cut oil production by 2 million barrels per day beginning in November despite pressure from the Biden Administration to do otherwise. OPEC’s decision prompted the Biden Administration to announce their intention to release another 15 million barrels of oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve in order to alleviate the current crisis. But the Biden Administration had already released 180 million barrels. So, releasing another 15 million barrels of oil from our Strategic Oil Reserves will only further weaken us as a nation. This action will put our Strategic Oil Reserves at a 40-year low and put our country in a very vulnerable position against our enemies.

The future does not look good. President Biden has indicated that he has no intention of replacing the oil in our strategic reserves until the price falls to $70 per barrel. At the close of last week, Brent crude oil was selling at around $96 per barrel. Don’t expect the diesel crisis to be solved anytime soon either. Futures prices for ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) delivered in New York Harbor for the month of December are already trading at 61 percent higher than a year ago.

The American people will suffer from the diesel crisis, not the oil companies. Shell Oil, for example, announced last Thursday that its third quarter profit nearly broke the company’s record at $9.45 billion. Shell boosted its dividend to shareholders by 15 percent and announced plans to buy back another $4 billion worth of company stock over the next three months.

The diesel crisis means that Americans will continue to see higher prices at the store. The federal government’s preferred way of measuring inflation is through the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, which climbed 6.2 percent in September. Even if you strip out food and fuel, which can be volatile, prices still climbed by 5.1 percent over the past year. Because the Fed’s target for inflation is set at 2 percent, we are now running 4.2 percent higher than where we need to be. When added into the equation, the diesel crisis becomes a ticking timebomb for out-of-control inflation down the road.

This economy could soon be worse than the 1970’s. If there is a difference between the oil embargo of the 1970’s and the current diesel crisis in America, it is that we were busy stocking our Strategic Petroleum Reserve in the 1970’s. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve was created in 1975 in order to protect the United States against another oil embargo, but now that our supplies are dwindling, OPEC is cutting oil production, and the Biden Administration is not replenishing our oil supply, our situation could soon be worse than it was in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. Elections have consequences.