[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 147 (Tuesday, September 13, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4552-S4553]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                 Energy

  Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I come to the floor today to talk 
about the rising costs of American energy, and this morning we found 
out that inflation continues to burn very hot.
  Prices continue to go up and up and up. Last month, they actually 
went up faster than even any of the economists had predicted. Since Joe 
Biden took office, the prices have risen now by more than 13 percent 
across America. That is what families are facing. And prices have been 
rising faster than wages for the last 17 months. So people are feeling 
the heat and falling further and further behind.
  Today, gas prices are still nearly a dollar and a half a gallon 
higher than they were the day Joe Biden took office, but Democrats are 
patting themselves on the back because gas prices have come down from 
the stratospheric $5 a gallon during the peak this summer. Well, gas is 
still over $4 a gallon in lots of States, including Nevada and 
Washington State, and, of course, at $5 a gallon, very few people can 
afford to drive. So it is no surprise the prices fell as demand 
plummeted.
  But yet many of the Democrats are at the White House this afternoon, 
apparently in the thousands, to celebrate a law that just got passed 
here.
  These price hikes, these increases in costs, this is nothing to 
celebrate. And so in 15 minutes, at the White House, Joe Biden is going 
to lead a celebration--a party--for a bill that passed along party 
lines.
  We have a crisis of food, a crisis of energy, a crisis of rent. 
People cannot afford the cost of living. In terms of energy, after 2 
years in power--I come today to the floor as the ranking member of the 
Senate Energy Committee--after nearly 2 years in power, Democrats still 
haven't lifted a finger to produce a drop of additional American 
energy, specifically oil.
  Supply is down below the prepandemic peak. Joe Biden has leased the 
fewest acres of Federal land for energy development of any President 
since World War II--World War II. The Biden economy is hitting record 
numbers--40-year record-high inflation. Food prices are up higher in 
terms of costs of feeding your family; the rise in prices is up higher 
than in 40 years--and now shutting down American energy with the fewest 
acres of Federal land for energy development since World War II.
  Now, Joe Biden had a plan. His plan was to invite dictators to sell 
us oil. Officials from the Biden administration went hat in hand, just 
a little over a year ago, to Vladimir Putin in Russia, to Iran, to 
Saudi Arabia, to Venezuela. The President actually went personally to 
Saudi Arabia to ask for more energy and more production. He went to 
Riyadh to beg the Saudis to sell us more oil. It didn't work.

  Actually, the Saudis and the OPEC cartel announced last week that 
they are actually going to slash production by 100,000 barrels a day.
  When President Obama was in the White House, he went on an apology 
tour to the Middle East. This summer, Joe Biden went on a begging tour 
to the Middle East. Both were a failure. Both were a waste. Both were 
an embarrassment to the United States.
  That is delusional Democrat diplomacy for you.
  Gas prices are still a dollar and a half a gallon higher since the 
day Joe Biden became President. Earlier this summer, people were 
actually driving less than they did in the summer of 2020, during the 
peak of the pandemic, during the lockdown. That is why prices have 
dropped for gas.
  But prices for everything else have gone up so high that people are 
still hurting all across the country, and we have Democrat policies and 
Democrat spending to thank for it.
  People can't afford to drive. They can't afford to stay home either. 
That is because natural gas prices have more than doubled since Joe 
Biden took office.
  Well, half of American homes are powered by natural gas. One expert 
predicted utility bills could jump 40 percent just this year.
  Already, more than 20 million Americans have fallen behind on paying 
their electric bills because they don't have the money. This is another 
record. In total, the American people owe more than $16 billion in 
unpaid electric bills. That is nearly double the amount they owed 
before the pandemic.
  So you have 20 million Americans facing the possibility of having 
their power shut off. This is a moment of anxiety and anguish for 
families, and it is caused by the policies of the Biden administration.
  Democrats think everything is fine because they just passed what they 
tout as the largest climate bill in history. I would expect to see the 
Secretary of Energy up there on the stage leading the cheers: Rah, rah. 
Look what we have just done.
  They don't care about affordability, availability, the reliability of 
energy. Oh, no, they are focused on something very different.
  So in about 15 minutes, Democrats are throwing themselves a party at 
the White House to celebrate--to celebrate a bill that is not going to 
bring down inflation. Oh, no, no, it is going to raise it.
  And it is not going to bring down the temperature either. According 
to one estimate, it will only reduce global warming by--I want to make 
sure I have this right--0.0009 degrees. The most expensive climate bill 
in history, taking our Nation from energy dominant to energy dependent, 
for 0.0009 degrees.
  And the centerpiece of this law is, of course, the $300 billion slush 
fund.
  People say: What is it for?
  Well, it is going to give taxpayer dollars to well-connected Silicon 
Valley elites. That is what it is going to do. It is going to be given 
to them so that so-called clean energy startup companies can do things 
with it. Supposedly, they are going to spend it on new forms of energy. 
We will see.
  If it sounds familiar, it is because Democrats tried this the last 
time Joe Biden was in the White House, as Vice President. The Obama 
administration spent $90 billion on a similar program. So this one is 
over three times as large.
  Who was in charge of running that failed program at the White House 
back in the Obama administration?
  Well, it is the guy in the White House today. Joe Biden was in charge 
of running it, and what was the end result? It was a national 
embarrassment. It was a disaster. Ninety percent of the jobs that Joe 
Biden promised America back then never materialized--not at all.
  According to Bloomberg, Democrats spent over $725,000 for each job 
that ultimately materialized. And, again, it wasn't Democrats' money 
that they were spending. It was taxpayer money.
  Most famously, Democrats gave half a billion dollars to a company 
called Solyndra. They became a laughing stock in the news and late-
night comedy. They were supposed to make solar panels. Two years later, 
Solyndra went bankrupt. The taxpayer money was gone, all to waste. And 
now the Democrats are saying: Let's go back to that same playbook and 
let's just reload with cash. Load up the money cannon and fire away.
  At a much bigger scale this time, instead of $90 billion last time, 
it is $300 billion this time.
  Democrats have also just gone on and extended another giveaway for 
people buying electric vehicles. Now, many of them are high earners, 
there is no question about it. At a time of record inflation, Democrats 
are robbing the middle class to give the money to the rich. Three out 
of four electric vehicle owners make over $100,000 a year. It is not 
just unfair; it is unsustainable because electric vehicle prices are 
soaring right now.
  The average price is now $66,000 for each electric vehicle, and, I 
will tell

[[Page S4553]]

you, it is funny. The price of electric vehicles rose by $8,000 per 
vehicle just recently, just a couple of weeks ago, just as soon as the 
Democrats crammed through their new giveaway.
  And what was the giveaway--7,500? And the price of electric vehicles 
went up by $8,000? Do you think that is a coincidence? I ask the body. 
Is that a coincidence, that the price goes up by 8,000 the day that 
government passes a bill to give a $7,500 subsidy?
  And, of course, to make matters worse, there is a shortage of 
batteries that are needed to kind of produce the electric vehicles to 
receive the subsidy. There aren't enough charging stations.
  Electric vehicle technology is not ready for prime time. The only 
reason electric vehicles are on the road today is because of massive 
government giveaways. Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to compete.
  Sometimes it is said a picture is worth 1,000 words. Here is a 
picture of West Virginia coal miners. West Virginia coal miners right 
here. What are they doing? They are pushing an electric vehicle that 
has run out of power. They have run out of electricity, and they are 
trying to push an electric vehicle. These coal miners, with coal under 
attack by this administration, they are pushing the electric vehicle to 
a place the vehicle can plug in.
  Well, you know, the people of West Virginia say: How did they get 
there? Well, you might see down here that this is a Washington, DC, 
license plate.
  The vehicle being pushed by the coal miners were tourists from 
Washington, DC, and they ran out of power on the road in West Virginia. 
Fortunately, there were still some West Virginia coal miners nearby who 
were willing to lend a helping hand.

  This electric vehicle was pushed by coal miners and then recharged by 
electricity generated by West Virginia coal--coal, public enemy No. 1, 
according to the Democrats.
  Where do Democrats believe the electricity comes from to power 
electric vehicles? Electric vehicles are charged on the power grid. 
Nearly two-thirds of that energy is still fossil fuels. It is still 
traditional energy.
  The extreme climate policies the Democrats are pushing are 
delusional. Yet Democrats are imposing these delusions on tens of 
millions of people.
  Last month, the State of California announced a couple things. It 
announced that it is going to require all new cars sold in the State to 
be electric by 2035. Secretary of Energy Granholm gave it a big stamp 
of approval. She said it is the model for the rest of the country.
  Just days later, California began experiencing blackouts. This is 
what Secretary Granholm says is the model for the rest of the Nation. 
This is the path to the future, she says.
  Joe Biden is giving a speech tomorrow on electric vehicles. I am sure 
he is going to endorse what they did in California. No matter what Joe 
Biden says, the painful truth is this: California is mandating electric 
vehicles when their electric grid already can't keep up today.
  In California, gas costs more than $5 a gallon. Meanwhile, you are 
not even allowed to charge your electric vehicle for much of the day--
not allowed to charge it. You have got to buy one, but you can't charge 
it--what a solution.
  Oh, and you can't turn your thermostat below 78 degrees in a heat 
wave.
  The mandates are coming out for people who live in this mandate 
society, where California is leading the way and the Democrat Secretary 
of Energy says is the future we should look forward to. If the 
Democrats remain in charge, I believe this is an ugly glimpse at 
America's energy future.
  Now, maybe Governor Newsom thinks he can run a modern economy this 
way in California, but it takes energy to run a modern economy. It 
takes affordable energy, reliable energy, available energy, and that 
means traditional forms of energy.
  Now, Warren Buffet is known as one of the best investors in history. 
So what is he investing in today? Well, he is buying an American oil 
company. Why? Because in contrast to the leftwing fantasies, oil isn't 
going away anytime soon.
  Renewable energy cannot yet meet demand. Only traditional energy can. 
It is simply a fact. Whether the environmental extremists partying at 
the White House today like it or not, these are the facts of life. 
There is still an enormous difference between renewable energy and 
reliable energy. There simply is no renewable energy that, all in, is 
cost competitive with oil, gas, or coal.
  But Democrats are doubling down on expensive energy and waging war on 
affordable energy at a time when inflation continues to soar--record 
high inflation, 40-year highs--and the impacts on American families 
have been punishing and painful.
  In Colorado, the local utility company actually took control over 
people's thermostats. You wouldn't think they could do that? The 
capacity is there to do it today. And why? Because of what they 
describe as an energy emergency. It was an unprecedented intrusion into 
the homes of 22,000 people.
  If Democrats remain in charge, this is another glimpse of our energy 
future and of our freedom and independence--more blackouts, more 
restrictions on energy production, more restrictions on energy use, 
more price hikes, all in service of their climate religion.
  And as one of the headlines in the New York Times said last week, 
``California muddles through another day.''
  Joe Biden needs to reverse course. We are a country that doesn't want 
to muddle through anything.
  The Democratic Party needs to reverse course unless we are looking at 
that kind of a future. This energy crisis is a crisis of Joe Biden's 
choosing. We have plenty of American energy. We have it in the ground. 
The Democrats won't let us get it out. All we need is for Democrats to 
get out of the way and let us use American energy.
  America's energy future must be powered by American producers. If we 
want available, affordable, reliable, secure energy, we need more 
American energy.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SANDERS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.