[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 96 (Wednesday, June 5, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S3965]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                 Energy

  Now, Mr. President, on one final matter, since President Biden took 
office, the cost of energy has risen 41.65 percent. Fuel oil prices are 
up 56.8 percent. Gasoline is up 55.5 percent, and natural gas is up 22 
percent.
  This, of course, is not news to working families who have been 
struggling to keep up for the past 3\1/2\ years, but Washington 
Democrats are just now waking up.
  Suddenly, right before an election, Democrats are concerned about the 
high prices Americans are paying to fill up their gas tanks, but they 
still can't seem to correctly assign the blame. Just last month, the 
Democratic leader berated ``big oil companies'' for ``continuing to 
rake in the cash at the expense of the American people.''
  But I thought high energy prices were a primary feature of the 
leftwing climate agenda. As a report from Columbia University's Center 
on Global Energy Policy put it, ``a price on carbon makes those 
responsible for the damages caused by greenhouse gas emissions pay for 
those damages. . . . A carbon price makes carbon-intensive goods and 
services more expensive.''
  Well, there you have it. High prices for hard-working Americans are a 
feature, not a bug.
  If Washington Democrats are looking for a scapegoat for soaring 
energy prices, it is about time they looked in the mirror.
  And, as our colleague from West Virginia, Senator Capito, reminded us 
recently, the very law Washington Democrats claimed was designed to 
lower prices is, instead, sending taxpayer dollars to support 
inflationary climate programs and other radical causes. The EPA sent 
$50 million from the so-called Inflation Reduction Act to support the 
Climate Justice Alliance.
  Now, we already know that ``climate justice'' means higher gas prices 
for working Americans and electric vehicle subsidies for high-earning 
elites.
  But what about the organization's plan to ``break the rules that need 
to be broken'' and ``shut down extractive facilities and extractive 
economic structures'' and place ``race, gender and class at the 
center'' of the economy?
  What about its contention that ``the path to climate justice travels 
through a free Palestine''?
  Once again, this is a beneficiary of the so-called Inflation 
Reduction Act.
  Suffice it to say, the so-called Climate Justice Alliance is not 
comprised of America's allies, and, while they claim to advocate for 
justice, they are burying working families in higher costs.
  I can assure our colleagues that the American people won't take 
kindly to being treated like suckers.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.