State of the Union 2023: Cornyn says Biden ‘acknowledged reality’ on fossil fuels

President Joe Biden ‘s off-script remark that the United States will need oil and gas for years to come was met with praise from some Republicans and conservative Democrats following the president’s Tuesday night State of the Union address .

Biden’s assessment, which occurred twice in what was otherwise a climate-friendly speech, illustrates a major challenge the administration is facing between its climate and economic goals, balancing the push for lower gas prices with concerns from environmentalists who want to curtail the use of gas and oil.

“We’re still going to need oil and gas for a while,” Biden said after a long section of his speech mentioning the work the administration is doing to combat climate change.

“We’re going to need oil for another decade,” he said later.

STATES EYE NEW FEES AND TOLLS TO REPLACE LOST GAS TAXES FROM ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) , from the largest oil-producing state in the country, said he was glad the president is “acknowledging reality.”

“It’s going to be part of the energy mix as we try to look for cleaner energy, and it’s going to be part of the mix,” Cornyn told reporters following the address.

The Biden administration has had a tumultuous relationship with the country’s oil producers. Biden criticized them in his address for using record profits to buy back stock, “rewarding their CEOs and shareholders” instead of investing that money to increase production in an effort to “keep gas prices down.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) , a centrist Democrat from West Virginia, a state that is the second-largest coal producer in the nation, acknowledged the tension inherent in Biden’s energy policy and said there’s a long way to go for the U.S. to ensure energy security.

“He talked about oil and gas, and you got a little bit of jostling there because basically, words have not proven where they are in trying to help as far as implementing things in where we are totally energy secure,” Manchin said to reporters after the speech.

“He agreed we are going to need fossil for the next 10 years, but we have to be aggressive in making sure we are replacing the dirty fossil around the world with the cleaner fossil, which is here. So, I’m going to talk to him. I can’t wait to talk to him about that,” he added.