[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 197 (Thursday, November 30, 2023)]
[House]
[Page H5997]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          ENERGY INDEPENDENCE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Thompson) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to highlight 
the critical point that we, as Americans, stand at with our domestic 
energy supply. We are living in a self-created energy crisis because of 
bad energy policy. It is unacceptable that many hardworking Americans 
are struggling to make ends meet because this administration refuses to 
utilize the abundant resources that we, as a Nation, are blessed with.
  Pennsylvania is key to restoring American energy independence. Before 
President Biden took office, America was the largest energy producer in 
the world. In just over 3 years, the Biden administration has 
effectively waged war on our domestic energy production and kneecapped 
innovation in our oil and gas industries. As a result, American 
consumers are seeing increased demand and higher prices for 
conventional fuels.
  By utilizing the Commonwealth's resources, we can provide jobs and 
invest directly into our communities that have suffered at the hand of 
the Biden administration's antienergy policies. Thankfully, my 
colleagues and I in the House have passed several bills that will put 
America back on top as the global leader in energy production.
  For example H.R. 1, the Lower Energy Costs Act, will allow our energy 
producers to remain market-responsive by removing bureaucratic red tape 
and streamline the production of our critical energy resources. We also 
updated the flexible air permitting rule, a Federal air emissions 
permit, by ensuring that operators can have changes made to their 
production approved up front, without having to wait for subsequent 
reviews of the changes. This flexibility allows owners and operators to 
act quickly and without government regulation slowing down the 
production of critical energy resources.
  In my fight to restore energy independence, I was proud to cosponsor 
the Natural Gas Tax Repeal Act which will eliminate President Biden's 
plan to increase burdensome fees and taxes on energy companies. This 
bill will prevent further cost increases for consumers, a burden that 
falls most heavily on lower-income Americans.
  House Republicans also led on a number of permitting reforms that 
were included in the Fiscal Responsibility Act. Most notably, we passed 
the first significant reforms to the National Environmental Policy Act, 
NEPA, that removed burdensome environmental consideration requirements 
and reduced redundancies within Federal agencies to end the delays to 
critical energy infrastructure projects.
  Mr. Speaker, another key aspect of unleashing American domestic 
energy is that we need to invest in renewable energy to counteract high 
gas prices and global volatility. No amount of talk of electric 
vehicles or speaking in platitudes about a green economy will change 
the fact that everyday Americans are paying an unnecessary price at the 
pump. We cannot go electric overnight. However, we can unleash American 
energy production in the short term and allow our producers to fill 
both domestic and global demand. The United States has an abundance of 
clean-burning natural gas, especially in Pennsylvania, which is the 
second largest producer of natural gas in the United States. Unleashing 
domestic production of energy can only add certainty to the United 
States energy supply.
  It is my hope that with our continued work here in the House, we can 
ultimately return to our status as a leading producer of energy.

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