[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 144 (Thursday, September 8, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4498-S4499]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 ENERGY

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, now on a completely different matter, I 
have been talking all week about the ways that liberal policies hurt 
American families in their daily lives.
  After 2 years of total Democratic control in Washington, we have seen 
how reckless spending comes home to roost in the form of decades-high 
inflation and shrinking paychecks for working Americans.
  We have seen what happens when one of our two major political parties 
decides in its rhetoric, in its personnel, and in its policies that 
keeping our streets safe, our border secure, and

[[Page S4499]]

criminals behind bars are simply not their priorities. And despite 
multiple glaring cautionary tales both at home and abroad, we are 
seeing the early warning signs of our Democratic colleagues' hostility 
to an all-of-the-above American energy strategy.
  In Europe, some of America's closest allies are reaping the painful 
effects of years of shortsighted green policies. By swapping affordable 
and reliable domestic power for half-baked fads, our friends have 
placed themselves at the mercy of Vladimir Putin to meet demand ahead 
of another cold winter.
  Working families and small businesses are taking this tradeoff on the 
chin. I saw one shop owner in Ireland explain she has just had to pay 
almost as much for 2 months of electricity as she did throughout all of 
last year. Unfortunately, millions of Americans can sympathize. An 
estimated 20 million U.S. households are already behind on their energy 
bills thanks to Democrats' runaway inflation.
  And out in California, State and local Democrats have wasted no time 
taking things even further--even further--in the wrong direction. 
Democrats have made California's electrical grid into a giant 
experiment to try out all of their misunderstandings about energy 
policy. It is not going well. With hot weather demand surging, 
California authorities are sweating political shortfalls of up to 5,000 
megawatts. California's love affair with fickle, unreliable green 
energy could force its residents to put up with rolling blackouts just 
to conform to wealthy liberals' preferences.
  The government had to send out an emergency message begging citizens 
to ration power. Ironically, just weeks after announcing a future ban 
on gas-powered automobiles, the State is now begging folks not to 
charge their expensive electric cars to avoid crashing the grid.
  So California Democrats don't want you putting gas in your car; they 
don't want you to plug in your car either. That is exactly where their 
war on energy would leave the American people: Going nowhere fast.
  President Biden's Secretary of Energy, Secretary Granholm, literally 
said less than a week ago that:

       California is in the lead--

  In the lead--

     and can show the rest of the nation how it is done.

  So at home and abroad, our Democratic colleagues have been given 
sobering warnings of what not to do on energy. They have seen what 
happens when you wage war on abundant fossil fuels, abandon nuclear 
power, and go all in on the least--the least--reliable energy sources.
  But this all-Democratic government has spent 2 straight years running 
head-on toward these bright red flashing warning signals. They have 
frozen new domestic energy leasing, canceled new pipelines, and 
reinstated a maze--a maze--of redtape designed to strangle entire 
domestic industries.
  As gas prices skyrocketed on President Biden's watch, his 
administration approved less new oil drilling than any since Harry 
Truman was in office. Our Democratic colleagues have doubled and 
tripled down. Last month, while they rammed through their reckless 
taxing-and-spending spree, they voted in lockstep multiple times 
against Republican amendments that would have helped shore up American 
energy and rebuild our independence.
  Europe in thrall to Putin's gas supply, California talking about 
rolling blackouts--exactly what further warning do our Democratic 
colleagues actually need?

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