Responding to Rep. Smith

I just read the arguments that Congressman Jason Smith wrote in his latest newsletters. It continues the distortion of facts that have become a hallmark of his writings.

Congressman Smith correctly condemns Putin's invasion of Ukraine. He then manages to justify blaming all adverse impacts on Biden. Take his argument about rising gas prices in the U.S.

He presents three reasons:

• Biden canceled the Keystone XL pipeline. True, but even if it had proceeded, it would not be operational yet. There were multiple reasons for the pipeline's demise.
• The U.S. will become a net oil importer in 2022 after being a net exporter in 2020. True, but the U.S. only became a net oil exporter when domestic demand in 2020/2021 dropped due to COVID. With a U.S. economic recovery underway, domestic demand is way up. So we will again become a net importer. Temporarily -- it is forecast the U.S. will become a net exporter in 2023.
• The U.S. will import 239,000 barrels more daily in 2022 than while Trump was President. That gives Putin an extra $22 million a day. True (sort of), but the argument would make sense only if it all was imported from Russia -- which it isn't. Most comes from Canada.

We are not even halfway through clarifying "facts" in Congressman Smith's newsletter, but have reached the maximum word-count.

Congressman Smith, how about telling the full story instead of just cherry-picking fragments? Voters deserve complete facts.

PETER GORDON, Cape Girardeau