[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 4 (Tuesday, January 9, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S25]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                           Energy Regulations

  Mr. President, now on another matter, it has been 3 years since 
President Biden put radical activists in charge of American energy 
policy. And 3 years in, the American people continue to bear the burden 
of its devastating effects.
  The Biden administration's policies have contributed to sky-high gas 
prices. Energy regulations are driving up the cost of natural gas and 
home heating. The cost of gasoline has increased a cumulative 43.5 
percent since Biden took office. Fuel oil prices have increased 71 
percent, and electricity prices have increased 24.3 percent.
  So here is one example: The Biden administration has worked overtime 
to strangle domestic oil and gas drilling to a trickle. They bragged 
about their plan to offer ``the smallest number of oil and gas lease 
sales in history.'' This year, in fact, was a zero--zero new offshore 
oil and gas lease sales.
  From day one, Americans have been suffering under the wake of a 
climate agenda tailored to the preferences of coastal elites. From 
electric vehicles to solar panels, the Biden administration seems to 
take its cues from the greenest follies of the bluest states. And 3 
years in, they are showing no sign of stopping.
  This week, the Senate is expected to vote on the President's choice 
to elevate one of the masterminds of this war on affordable American 
energy to a senior role at EPA. You would be hard-pressed to find 
anyone whose record more closely reflects liberal climate orthodoxy 
than Joseph Goffman. That is because he wrote much of it himself.
  This U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly given the EPA a slap on the 
wrist for acting outside its authority. Cases such as West Virginia v. 
EPA, Sackett v. EPA have repeatedly ruled that the Agency is acting 
outside its congressional mandates. In fact, just before Christmas, the 
Court agreed to hear yet another case involving the EPA's mission plan, 
this one brought by Ohio.
  Mr. Goffman has defied these warnings from the highest Court of the 
land. He has engineered a more active and aggressive EPA. And in the 
face of bipartisan criticism of the Clean Power Plan's illegal 
excesses, he has crusaded without shame in the Biden administration's 
war on affordable American energy.
  By one estimate, Mr. Goffman's tenure at the EPA has coincided with 
the elimination of over half--over half--of the Nation's coal jobs, and 
he has continued to indulge the left's obsessive push for electric 
vehicles, despite the fact that this push is killing American jobs and 
enhancing our top strategic adversary.
  By every measure, this nominee is the exact wrong person to deserve a 
promotion at EPA. So I would like to thank my colleague from West 
Virginia Senator Capito for sounding an alarm on Mr. Goffman's 
nomination and urge my colleagues to join me in voting no this 
afternoon.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority whip.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I listened to my friend, the Senator from 
Kentucky, and his remarks really brought to mind a division in the 
United States that most of us are aware of when it comes to the issue 
of climate change.
  You either believe that human activity is having an impact on the 
weather of the world or you don't. You either believe that it is not in 
the best interest of our country or the world for us to continue to 
heat this planet to levels unheard of in history. You either believe 
that the extreme weather situations which we are witnessing on a 
regular basis are just a run of bad luck or, sadly, maybe the product 
of a design in energy that makes a difference. You either believe that 
fossil fuel creates emissions which make it tougher to live in this 
country and this world or you don't. You either believe that our 
generation has a responsibility to do something different to try to 
preserve the planet that we live on for our kids and grandkids or we 
don't. You either believe that low gasoline prices are really the 
absolute pinnacle of success politically, or you believe that the use 
of fossil fuels needs to be somehow changed if we are going to save 
this planet.
  It is just a clear difference of thinking. When a prospective 
candidate for Presidency of the United States for reelection talks 
about ``drill, baby, drill'' and has no concern, obviously, for the 
impact of those words on energy and the future, you really know that 
there is a difference coming in this election for voters to make a 
choice.
  I want to err on the side of making this a safer planet for my kids 
and grandkids. My wife and I have tried to make decisions--large and 
small--in our lifestyle that reflect this feeling. We drive a hybrid 
car and get 33 miles a gallon--I wish we got more. Maybe the next car 
we buy will reach that. We put solar panels on our home in Springfield, 
IL. We were the first in the area to do it. I hope others will follow.
  Those things and many others can make a little difference. And if we 
all do them together, they can make a big difference. And I think it is 
our moral responsibility to do that.
  We can argue on the margins about the science of what I have just 
said, and that, of course, is time well spent. We should discuss 
science in honest terms.
  But we all know something is going on in this world that we live in, 
and it is not good. Heating up this planet is going to make life a lot 
more difficult and create challenges we never even dreamed of.
  So when I hear the Senator from Kentucky talking about bring down 
those gas prices, ``drill, baby, drill'' from a candidate on his side 
running for President, I think to myself: I would rather err on the 
side of being a little more cautious and careful in my lifestyle and 
the lifestyle of my family in the hopes that the little granddaughter 
of mine will have a planet she can live on when she reaches that stage 
in life.