[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 27 (Thursday, February 9, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S276-S277]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                            American Energy

  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to talk about 
the Biden administration's war on American energy.
  Over the last 2 years, Joe Biden's energy policies seem to have been 
based on two principles. One is restricting American energy production, 
and the second, regrettably, is a policy that benefits China.
  Time and again, Joe Biden's energy policies have hurt America and 
have helped China. On Joe Biden's first day in office, he shut down the 
Keystone XL Pipeline, and I think he did it for spite. It would have 
brought 800,000 barrels of oil to this country every single day.
  Joe Biden then stopped all new energy leases on Federal land, and in 
Wyoming we have a lot of Federal land. He did it in a way that was 
blatantly illegal. A Federal judge actually ordered Joe Biden to follow 
the law, to sell energy leases.
  Follow the law, Mr. President.
  As of today, Joe Biden has leased fewer acres of Federal land for 
energy than any President in modern times, and he raised the royalty 
rate for oil and gas development on Federal lands. Now, this is the fee 
that the government collects for energy that is produced on Federal 
lands. He raised it by half, and he did it overnight. These higher fees 
will get passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices, and--oh, 
by the way--people are noticing the price at the pump is going up--
again.
  Joe Biden also raised taxes on natural gas by billions of dollars. He 
raised taxes on coal by $1 billion as well. As a nation today, we are 
still producing about 2 million barrels of oil less than was projected 
we would be producing every day, a number of years ago, before the 
pandemic.
  With lower production and higher taxes, it is no wonder that energy 
prices have been painful for the American people--punishing for the 
American people--who are just trying to make ends meet. Working 
families have lost nearly $3,000 specifically because of Joe Biden's 
radical leftwing energy policy. We are paying a lot more than that for 
additional causes of inflation, but on energy alone, it has been about 
$3,000 more than they should have spent in a normal situation.
  And who have been the big winners under all of this? Well, 
regrettably, it has been China. We are really less independent, less 
competitive, and more dependent on China. This is compared to the day 
that Joe Biden took office. I am going to give you a couple of 
examples.
  First, Joe Biden ended America's role in helping developing 
countries--other developing countries--explore for energy. Many 
countries are very poor, but they do have massive energy resources. 
They just need some help in getting to use them. Millions of people 
could have benefited and been lifted out of poverty if we had helped 
them use the energy that they already had.
  Joe Biden stubbornly refuses. As a result, now these countries that 
need money to develop their energy resources--what are they doing? Go 
talk to a high school class. Joe Biden ought to try that. They will 
tell him what is happening. Those countries are turning to China. More 
and more countries, of course, then will owe money to China.
  We know China uses debt and loans as a weapon. More debt to China 
means more control by China, overall, of these additional countries. 
Joe Biden won't let us in the United States help these countries or 
help the World Bank or help other lending institutions lend to those 
countries--and we see it all over Africa--because Joe Biden is too 
pure, and he doesn't like their energy. So he just turns them right 
over to China for predatory lending.
  Joe Biden's obsession with electric vehicles also is turning over 
American power and money to China. The batteries in electric vehicles 
require a specific set of critical minerals--a specific set of critical 
minerals that goes into the batteries of electric vehicles. Well, we 
can mine it in this country. Oh, no, we can't. Joe Biden says: No, 
don't mine it in America. He is actually shutting down mining in this 
country, and he has been doing it since the day he took office. We are 
not going to let you use the minerals that are critical for the 
electric vehicles that he wants us to use that come from the United 
States.
  So where are we going to go? Oh, but let's send more money to China. 
With supply and demand, our demand goes up. China has it to supply, and 
prices go up as well.
  Just in the past few weeks, Joe Biden has shut down proposed copper 
mines in Minnesota and in Alaska. Well, where are we going to get the 
minerals for the electric vehicles that Joe Biden and the Democrats 
want us to buy? China and countries under the influence of China.
  China produces three-quarters of all of the lithium-ion batteries. 
China also has 70 percent of the world's production capacity for the 
key parts of EV batteries. China has a majority of the world's lithium, 
a majority of the world's cobalt, a majority of the world's graphite 
processing and refining capacity. All of these are necessary for the 
electric vehicles that the Democrats and Joe Biden say we must buy. 
Where are these going to come from? There is only one place, and they 
won't let us have it from America. They won't let us use what we have 
here.
  China now dominates copper and cobalt mining in places like the 
Congo. The conditions at many of these mines--and this has been widely 
reported--are inhumane: child labor, brutal conditions. These are not 
like the mines that we have here in the United States or the mines like 
we have in Wyoming. Our mines in Wyoming and in the United States are 
technically sophisticated and professional. Many of the mines and the 
miners in the Congo are not professional at all. We are talking about 
young mothers who are working for a few dollars a day and are 
controlled by China. That is Joe Biden's answer to electric vehicles 
and every Democrat's answer to electric vehicles.

  These young mothers often bring their babies with them to the mines. 
Not in the United States--oh, no, we are too pure here in the United 
States to be able to mine for the chemicals that are needed for the 
electric vehicles. So Joe Biden wants mothers to take babies into the 
mines in the Congo for the minerals for the electric vehicles that he 
is mandating that we drive here in the future.
  So what happens to these mothers and these babies? Well, they inhale 
toxic cobalt all day long.
  According to a United Nations report, 40,000 children are scavenging 
for cobalt in the Congo, for the electric vehicles, so China can sell 
us the chemicals that Joe Biden and the Democrats will not let us get 
out of the ground here in the United States. Most people would call 
this criminal. Women and children in Africa are inhaling toxic minerals 
so that the climate elites in San Francisco can drive their electric 
vehicles.
  I guess that is the American dream. That is the Democrat dream for 
America: Force these people into this kind of labor so they can drive 
the electric vehicles of their dreams.
  China also sells less expensive EVs, and they are for sale all over 
Europe. Well, they may be on the road in San Francisco and in Manhattan 
in just a few years.
  Then there is the bloodshed and brutality that China uses to make 
solar panels. Joe Biden loves solar panels as much as he loves wind 
turbines. Well, there is a shortage of solar panels in

[[Page S277]]

this country right now. Why? Because of the law we passed 2 years ago 
to stop buying Chinese products made by forced labor. Well, solar 
panels require something called polysilicon. Nearly half of the world's 
polysilicon is made now by forced labor in China. Democrats have to 
choose between their green energy fairy tales and upholding basic human 
rights. It seems like the church that they worship, the church of wind 
and solar and wishful thinking, is what they have chosen over human 
rights.
  I hope the Democrats agree with me that we should not make a green 
transition on the backs of forced labor. The Democrats seem to feel 
more guilt about burning oil than about solar panels being made by 
slave labor. It is hard to imagine. This is just another in a long line 
of Democrat delusions.
  As if this all weren't enough, Joe Biden is even giving our tax 
dollars to China. Two weeks ago today, the Department of Energy 
announced that Joe Biden was sending another $1.6 million to a green 
energy company with ties to China. The company is called LanzaTech. It 
is a carbon capture company. Joe Biden has already given them $10 
million. He gave them money right after they signed a partnership with 
China's official energy company, Sinopec.
  This company, LanzaTech, has disclosed that ``the Chinese Government 
may intervene or influence our operations at any time.''
  So let's get this straight. Joe Biden is giving money to a company 
that says the Chinese Government ``may intervene or influence our 
operations at any time.''
  What do we know about this company? Well, we know that it has some 
ties to the Democratic Party's top donors--the top donors--the people 
who contribute to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Members 
of this body who go and ask them for more money.
  Who is on the board? Well, former President Obama's campaign manager 
is a member of the board. Is this just a coincidence that, then, Joe 
Biden would move money, U.S. taxpayer dollars, to that company? Maybe 
it is not.
  The Department of Energy has announced a $200 million grant to a 
battery manufacturer with close ties to the communist Chinese 
Government. The company's financial filings with the Securities and 
Exchange Commission admit--and I had these filings at the Energy 
Committee just last week to show these to the Secretary of the 
Department of Energy. The filings say this--now, remember, this is a 
company to which the Democrat Department of Energy announced a $200 
million grant.
  The FEC filing says that China ``exerts substantial influence over 
the manner in which we must conduct our business activities and may 
intervene at any time with no notice.''
  In other words, the company admits that it is controlled by the 
Chinese Communist Party. The Chinese Communist Party is controlling the 
company's U.S. Department of Energy's $200 million grant.
  So I wrote to the Department of Energy about the Department's review 
process for this grant. How can you do this? It says it in the filings.
  Finally, last Thursday, I got a response. It says that now--now, this 
year--even though they did the grant last year of $200 million, just 
now, they are going to do a due diligence review of the grant. That is 
from their letter.
  My question is, Why don't we do a due diligence review in this 
country before we announce we are going to give $200 million to a 
company so completely tied and controlled by the Chinese Communist 
Party? Why? Why doesn't the Department of Energy do their homework?
  Last week, the Deputy Secretary of Energy testified before the Energy 
Committee. He said money hasn't yet gone out the door. I hope he is 
right. I hope money hasn't gone out the door. We need to stop it now 
before it goes out the door. We don't need to send any more money--our 
tax dollars--to China.
  If we want carbon capture, it should come to Wyoming. They don't need 
to put money in these companies. We do it in Wyoming. We have a School 
of Energy Resources. We have a wonderful location. It is being done in 
the right way. They had a whole XPRIZE granted to the research being 
done at the University of Wyoming through the School of Energy 
Resources. The administration, it seems, when it comes to energy, would 
much rather go to China than go to the United States. That is Joe 
Biden's view of the world right now. Wyoming is ready to do carbon 
capture better than anybody in the world.
  I am not sure why the administration turns to China rather than to 
America, just like I don't know why they have gone to Iran, Saudi 
Arabia, Venezuela, or Russia in the past for energy rather than in 
America.
  Joe Biden's policies continue to rob the American people and pay off 
China. Joe Biden even sold 1 million barrels of oil from our emergency 
petroleum reserve to China. Then he said he was doing all of us a favor 
because he was going to bring down prices. This is a President who has 
been wrong and wrong and wrong.
  I have introduced legislation to ensure we never sell any of our 
emergency stockpile to China ever again. The House of Representatives 
has already passed legislation to do that. The legislation was actually 
bipartisan. It got 100 Democrats who voted for it. Why doesn't Chuck 
Schumer bring it to the floor of the Senate today? Why not? Why isn't 
he here? A hundred Democrats joined Republicans to say we shouldn't do 
this.
  People in this body get it. The White House clearly doesn't. The 
Department of Energy clearly doesn't. The administration doesn't. Joe 
Biden is held hostage by the far left of his party.
  Our Strategic Petroleum Reserve is for us, not for our enemies. 
America's energy policy is supposed to be for us, not for our enemies. 
It is not what we have gotten from this President.
  Next week, I am going to introduce legislation to ban administration 
officials from going to work for China. For 2 years, Joe Biden has 
strangled American energy production; at the same time, he has made us 
more dependent on China for critical minerals and for so much of what 
this Nation needs.
  It is time for Joe Biden and the Democrats in this body to remember 
whom we work for, and that is the American people.
  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. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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