[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 21 (Tuesday, February 6, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S409-S411]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                 Energy

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, with me today are two of my colleagues 
from my office, Mr. James Shea and Mr. Parker Loy. I want to thank them 
both for their good work.
  Energy suicide, that is what I want to talk about: energy suicide. 
President Biden is committing energy suicide for America. Regrettably--
and I mean that--regrettably, too many times in the past 3 years and on 
too many issues we have seen President Biden act as a sock puppet for a 
faction of neosocialist Americans who don't like our country, who think 
our country was wicked when it was founded and that it is even more 
wicked today. And this faction, which President Biden has supported far 
too often, thinks our country must be torn down and rebuilt, and, of 
course, they want to be the ones to rebuild it.

  Now this faction has turned its sights, with the help of President 
Biden, on America's hard-fought energy independence. President Biden 
just aided this faction in destroying America's energy independence and 
committing energy suicide by declaring a moratorium on new liquefied 
natural gas terminals in America. Apparently, President Biden's new 
policy is to give up our own oil and gas and buy the energy we need 
from countries that hate us. So those countries that hate us will have 
more money to buy weapons to try to kill us. Stupidity. Stupidity 
should hurt more. Now, I realize you can't fix stupid, but you can vote 
it out.
  America's ability to be energy independent is one of our greatest 
strengths. We are a big country. We are a big, wide, open, diverse, 
sometimes dysfunctional, imperfect, but essentially good country. This 
is a country that is filled with oil and natural gas and coal and 
uranium and plutonium. It is filled with rare Earth minerals. It

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is filled with roaring rivers and just about everything else you need 
to power this economy, to help families live the American dream, and we 
even have a little bit leftover to help our friends. American ingenuity 
did that. Now, Louisiana is a big part of the equation, and we are 
very, very proud to be a leader in energy production.
  Not every country is as blessed as America. Our friends in Europe, 
for example, were relying on Russian oil and gas for their energy when 
Putin invaded Ukraine and then cut off their supply. This paralyzed 
many European leaders. They didn't know how they were going to run 
their businesses. They didn't know how they were going to heat their 
homes. They were totally dependent on Vladimir Putin and Russia. 
Fortunately, they had a friend. They had a friend in the United States 
of America, and we helped them out, and we kept their businesses 
running, and we kept their homes heated. And do you know how we did it? 
Do you know what we did it with? American liquefied natural gas. 
American liquefied natural gas.
  Energy independence. One way to look at it: Energy independence is 
America's jackpot lottery ticket. Now, we have worked hard for it, but 
it is our jackpot lottery ticket. But for some reason, President Biden 
wants to light our winning numbers on fire. He is committing energy 
suicide. Did I mention that?
  At every turn--at every turn--the Biden administration has taken 
steps to make it more difficult, more expensive, and sometimes flatout 
impossible to produce, transport, and sell the energy products we need 
to power this great country. These foolish policies--the latest of 
which is a moratorium on LNG--these foolish policies are killing 
American jobs. They are killing American jobs. They are driving up 
energy prices. They are jeopardizing our national security. And it 
needs to stop.
  Natural gas is the latest victim. President Biden's Department of 
Energy recently announced that it was issuing a ``pause''--a ``pause''; 
that is Washington-speak--a ``pause'' on all new and pending permits 
for liquefied natural gas export projects. Can you believe that?
  Liquefied natural gas--it is not complicated. America helped invent 
it. You just take natural gas in its gaseous form and you cool it, turn 
it into a liquid, put it on a ship, and you can send it all over the 
world. That is how we kept Europe open after Putin cut off Europe's oil 
and natural gas. It was a lifeline for our allies in Europe. It was a 
lifeline for many of our friends in West Asia.
  President Biden, before this moratorium, promised our allies in 
Europe that they could count on us for their LNG needs, and now 
President Biden has chosen to stab America's LNG producers and our 
allies in the back--not in the front, in the back--by prohibiting the 
development of new LNG export permits.
  This decision is going to kill dozens--dozens--of multibillion-dollar 
new terminal projects, including a project in Louisiana that we call 
Calcasieu Pass 2--$20 billion down the drain. Calcasieu Pass 2--a 
private project, a private sector project--cost $20 billion. It was set 
to be the largest LNG export terminal in the United States. It would 
have brought thousands of good jobs to Louisiana and to America. It 
would have produced energy to keep this country safe, to keep this 
country warm, and to help our friends. But President Biden has put all 
those jobs and the terminal itself in jeopardy. Why? Politics. To 
appease that neosocialist faction that I talked about who doesn't even 
like our country. Why?
  But, you know, the ironic thing about this--the whack jobs who talked 
the President into this said: Well, we want you to help the 
environment.
  Attacking the natural gas industry actually hurts the environment. 
You don't have to be an astrophysicist to figure that out. Natural gas 
is cleaner than coal. Natural gas is cleaner than cow chips. Natural 
gas is cleaner than wood. That is what millions--billions of our 
world's citizens are going to use if they don't have access to natural 
gas.
  As a result of natural gas--natural gas drove a 32-percent reduction 
in American carbon emissions. We reduced our carbon emissions by 32 
percent from 2005 to 2019, and we did it with natural gas. Also, at the 
same time, we helped families pay half as much to heat their homes. We 
cut the price of the energy needs of the average American, and we 
created 1.4 million new jobs. The whole world wins, not loses. The 
whole world wins--including the economy--when Americans produce natural 
gas. But President Biden is going to pause all that success because 
some meathead activist on TikTok doesn't like natural gas. Give me a 
break.
  The President's LNG ruling is foolish. It demonstrates world-beating 
vacuity and deep, profound stupidity. It is also the most recent of 
many actions--I say regrettably, and I mean it--it is also the most 
recent of many actions that President Biden has taken to undermine 
America's energy security.

  Before he even took office--remember the campaign?--before he even 
took office, President Biden said--this is what he told the American 
people: ``I guarantee you. I guarantee you. We're going to end fossil 
fuel.''
  ``I guarantee you. . . . We're going to end fossil fuel.''
  Since his very first day in office, he has tried to do that, no 
matter how much it hurts Louisianians, no matter how much it hurts our 
allies and our friends, no matter how much it hurts the American 
people. Let me just give you a few examples.
  On his first day, the first day he was President, President Biden 
blocked the Keystone XL Pipeline. It would have made transporting crude 
oil from our friends in Canada safer and cleaner. It would have been 
good for the environment. President Biden's Department of Energy 
reported that canceling--his own Department said this, for God's sake--
President Biden's Department of Energy said, after he made this 
decision, that canceling the Keystone XL Pipeline cost 59,000 American 
jobs, resulted in an economic loss of $1.3 billion.
  Stupidity should hurt more.
  Next, the Biden administration blocked all oil and natural gas 
drilling on Federal lands. He cut off 25 percent of America's drilling 
rights.
  Then he placed restrictive emission caps on American coal and natural 
gas power plants that would force them to invest in costly new 
equipment or switch to hydrogen.
  Then, just recently, he canceled seven oil and gas drilling leases, 
ending future drilling on 10 million acres--not 10,000 acres but 10 
million acres--of land in northern Alaska.
  Then he approved just three offshore drilling leases--the fewest 
number of offshore drilling sites approved by any President since 
leasing began in America.
  Now, he is not just killing fossil fuels. He told us he was going to 
do it, and, by God, he is doing it. But he is not just killing fossil 
fuel projects; he is killing projects that are essential for wind and 
for solar too.
  Wind and solar energy and the electric cars that President Biden 
wants Americans to drive all rely on batteries. Duh--that is why they 
call them electric. Those batteries require rare Earth minerals: 
cobalt, silver, copper, nickel. You can't just go to the Piggly Wiggly 
and buy those things; you have to mine them. We can mine those minerals 
in the United States, but once again, the Biden administration wants 
Louisianans and Americans to rely on countries that hate us for these 
minerals instead of mining for them at home.
  For example, President Biden recently announced a ban on all copper 
and nickel mining in Minnesota's boundary waters--all of them. The 
Biden administration's EPA also proposed a rule that would allow 
Governors, blue State Governors--I am looking at you, California; I am 
looking at you, Illinois; I am looking at you, New York--that would 
allow blue State Governors to block rare Earth mining permits in their 
States. In fact, America's only cobalt mine closed on President Biden's 
watch.
  Foolish political energy policies make life harder for Louisiana and 
American families. Electric prices are already up 23 percent nationwide 
since President Biden took office, and that is just a fact. Look it up. 
Go to Google. Let me say that again. Electricity prices are up 23 
percent on average nationwide since President Biden took office. Gas 
prices are up 32 percent. They come down some, thank God, but they are 
still up 32 percent.

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  While Louisianans struggle under President Biden's energy- and job-
killing policies, our adversaries can't stop winning.
  Let's take Iran. Iran's oil imports are at a 5-year high. The 
Ayatollah in Iran--this guy made enough money to resume funding 
terrorist attacks on American bases. He is doing it all over the world. 
Do you know why? Because President Biden lets him. We have sanctions on 
Iran; the President will not enforce them.
  Venezuela. Let's take Venezuela, another enemy of our 
country. Venezuela's oil imports increased 12 percent in 2023. Do you 
know why? President Biden took the sanctions off of them.

  China is probably the biggest winner of them all. Even when President 
Biden tries to help the American people afford his surging energy 
costs, China wins. China wins.
  I will give you an example. The Biden administration allowed a 
Chinese-owned company to buy up fuel from our strategic natural 
petroleum reserve. We have a strategic natural petroleum reserve. We 
buy up oil, millions of barrels. We store that oil underground in case 
we need it, in case we can't get oil from anywhere else. It is our 
energy savings account. Well, President Biden decided to sell some. He 
decided to sell it. Do you know whom he sold it to? China. China.
  It was a move so foolish that the House and the Senate, which usually 
can't agree on the fact that the sky is blue, both passed bills to 
prevent China from ever tapping into our petroleum reserve again. You 
can't make this stuff up, folks.
  Energy independence keeps America safe; it keeps America strong; it 
keeps America prosperous.
  Louisianans--I don't know about other States, but I suspect other 
Americans believe like Louisianans. Louisianans do not want to rely 
upon the whims of our adversaries to keep our country running.
  We cannot let President Biden commit energy suicide--we can't--to 
appease the radical left, the ``loonwing,'' of his party.
  So I ask my colleagues to join me in pushing back against President 
Biden's anti-energy agenda and his moratorium on liquefied natural gas. 
Why? Because stupidity should hurt more.
  I yield the floor to my good friend from Kansas.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kansas.