[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 106 (Wednesday, June 22, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H5739-H5740]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               DEMOCRATS' ENERGY POLICY HURTING AMERICANS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. LaMalfa) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LaMALFA. Madam Speaker, on President Biden's first day in office, 
he canceled the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. It was a campaign 
promise.
  This would have brought 700,000 barrels of oil per day into the 
United States. Instead, this move has cost thousands of Americans their 
jobs as well as much of their income.
  Continuing his attack on our energy industries, he halted all oil and 
natural gas leases on Federal lands, despite a judge's ruling against 
this illegal ban.

[[Page H5740]]

  His administration has also shut down the congressionally authorized 
oil and gas program in the 1002 Area of the Arctic National Wildlife 
Refuge in Alaska and has threatened industry with regulation and 
increased royalties, which will significantly impact investment in new 
energy production. Indeed, the large financiers are already backing 
away due to their ESG idealism and the intimidation by the government 
to do so.
  ANWR is actually 19.6 million acres. The 1002 Area is a small 
fraction of that total area, and the actual drilling itself will take 
place on an even smaller fraction of that, as well.
  Most recently, the Biden administration has scrapped a court-ordered 
offshore 5-year lease in the Gulf of Mexico. This could likely spell a 
complete ban on offshore leases until the end of his whole term.
  What does he expect is going to happen? Well, we are seeing it, and 
the people are feeling it: $5 gas nationally; $6, $6.50 in California, 
where everything is more expensive; $7 for diesel.
  How do they expect that trucks are going to deliver items to the 
store or trucks are going to bring things from manufacturing facilities 
to distribution centers or from the field to the dryer, to the mill, 
the fertilizer brought to the field, the seed brought to the field? All 
these things, how do they expect they are going to happen with $7 fuel 
and higher?
  The expectations are it is not going to get better anytime soon. We 
have seen proposals by the Biden administration to relieve the gas tax 
and diesel tax, which is about 18.4 cents per gallon on gas and 24.4 on 
diesel. I think we would always be happy to take a reduction in taxes, 
whether it is temporary or not, but it is not going to make but a tiny 
impact on $5, $6, $7 fuel.
  What we need is production. Production will alter the market. When 
they are hesitant or reluctant or just flat saying no to increasing 
production, especially in a worldwide market where we had been relying 
on Russia for some reason for about 8 percent of our oil consumption, 
yes, we need to replace that.
  We shouldn't buy anything from Russia. We shouldn't really be buying 
anything from China. Why do we want to be dependent on them for 
anything? Solar panels? Our energy policy in this country needs to be 
turned on its ear and put back to something that favors Americans.
  They are blaming everything under the Sun for these rising costs 
except for the policies they are putting in place. The President is 
blaming MAGA Republicans. What does that even mean? How does that make 
sense?
  Washington, D.C., has been under one-party rule for the last couple 
of years. It is clear: The price hikes we are seeing at the gas pump 
are caused directly by the Biden administration's anti-American, anti-
energy policies. His exact words while campaigning were: ``No more 
drilling on Federal lands. No more drilling, including offshore. No 
ability for the oil industry to continue to drill, period. It ends.''
  Well, you are seeing the effects, and it is unaffordable for people. 
Normal folks don't have discretionary income to even get through an 
emergency, in a lot of cases, within their family, and we keep heaping 
this upon their backs, for their energy needs, driving their vehicles, 
and heating their homes.

  We are taking away natural gas. There are areas moving to do that. 
Cities and certain other jurisdictions want to say no more natural gas 
for your stoves, heaters, and such. They want it to be all electric.
  These hostile actions are, indeed, creating long-term uncertainty. We 
are seeing the futures contracts for energy are staying high.
  How much longer can we do this? How long will they be in place that 
way? Less drilling results in higher oil prices, which means higher gas 
prices for consumers. It is that simple. It is not rocket science.
  Instead, the President is traveling to Saudi Arabia to beg for them 
to send more of their oil to us. We have the reserves in many States in 
our own country that we can be tapping into and doing it more 
ecologically soundly and certainly more economically soundly. He would 
rather, I guess, lie in the pockets of OPEC oligarchs than create the 
high-paying jobs we have right here and do it well.
  We know that American energy is the cleanest and safest in the world. 
It is much cleaner than natural gas that Russia was sending to Western 
Europe and now is cutting off from them. Well, that is a surprise, 
isn't it? Germany gets rid of their nuclear power plants and cuts back 
on other forms of energy, and now instead, because they cannot rely on 
Russian gas coming in through the big pipe, they are having to restoke 
their coal-fired plants.
  Isn't that amazing? You actually go backward on environmental issues 
when you don't plan, when you can't foresee what might happen with what 
Russia would do.
  We could be a major exporter, and we should be a major exporter, 
helping our European allies and helping Americans have jobs and 
decently priced energy that comes from our own country.

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