[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 113 (Tuesday, July 9, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S4253]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                 Energy

  Mr. President, on one final matter, last week, a Federal judge in 
Louisiana blocked the Biden administration's de facto ban on new 
permitting for the export of America's abundant liquefied natural gas.
  As I have said before, the administration's so-called pause is bad 
policy for a whole host of reasons. It endangers good-paying American 
jobs and could drive high prices for energy and consumer goods through 
the roof.
  Of course, when the flow of clean American LNG slows down, it also 
presents close allies and trading partners with the prospect of 
increased reliance on dirtier energy from less savory places.
  The overwhelming majority of U.S. exports go to consumers in Europe 
and Asia, but as the Biden administration tries to choke off American 
market dominance, Russian export capacity is actually surging to meet 
demand. Russia is lining its war chest with the spoils of its energy 
exports, and it is quite literally fueling the war in Ukraine with the 
proceeds of what the President's own Energy Secretary has described as 
``the dirtiest form of natural gas on Earth.''
  It is a dizzying move from an administration that has, until now, put 
green activists in the driver's seat of its energy policy. As we 
learned last week, it doesn't pass muster in Federal court, where a 
judge ruled in favor of the 16 States that sued to block this 
ridiculous--ridiculous--moratorium. The judge agreed with the 
plaintiffs that the Department of Energy failed to justify the pause on 
LNG exports and that they failed to consider the ``impact on national 
security, state revenues, employment opportunities, funding for schools 
and charities, and pollution allegedly caused by increased reliance on 
foreign energy sources.''
  Well, there you have it--the courts have slapped down the Biden 
administration's disregard for the law. Now it is time to release 
American energy projects from the regulatory purgatory where they have 
been trapped for far too long.
  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the quorum call be rescinded.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 PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Padilla). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.