[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 123 (Monday, July 29, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5538-S5539]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         Liquefied Natural Gas

  Madam President, the American people understand the importance of 
energy: It keeps the lights on and puts food on the table. And living 
in Louisiana, you happen to know the person who works at the liquefied 
natural gas plant or at the oil rig, who produces the energy. He is 
your neighbor. That is why, with the Biden-Harris administration's 
pause upon LNG export permits in January, it was, to me, clear who they 
would be putting out of a job.
  Last month, the American people gained a major victory. A U.S. 
district judge in Lake Charles ruled that the LNG pause was 
``completely without reason or logic.'' The court ruling reinstated 
sanity at a time when the Biden-Harris administration adopted the most 
absurd arguments to please radical environmental donors.
  The fact of the matter is the Biden-Harris pause was a clear attempt 
to undermine U.S. liquefied natural gas production and export by 
putting the kibosh on these new exports and depriving allies of freedom 
fuel.
  Both President Biden and Vice President Harris have not been shy 
about their desire to kill American energy production. Vice President 
Harris has called for a total ban on fracking, adopting the ``leave it 
in the ground'' mentality of the far left, even going so far as to blow 
up the filibuster to pass the Green New Deal; that is, the now 
President of the Senate would have us end the filibuster to kill 
American energy, help China, Russia, and Iran, and raise prices on 
working families.
  I don't know whether we should be more concerned about the fact that 
they say ``leave it in the ground,'' despite knowing that renewable 
resources can't meet U.S. energy demand, or that they say it thinking 
that it may actually work.
  Curtailing U.S. natural gas production will not lower global 
greenhouse gas emissions, but unleashing American energy will. U.S. 
liquefied natural gas is one of the cleanest burning fuels in the world 
in terms of lifecycle emissions. In fact, natural gas is principally 
responsible for U.S. emissions being lower today than they were in 
1988, despite a much larger economy and population.
  And just because we limit the supply of natural gas, the demand does 
not go away. The demand instead will turn to other sources of energy. 
We saw this in Europe after the invasion of Ukraine. European countries 
refused to buy Russian natural gas--and I applaud that decision--but 
with the Biden-Harris LNG export pause, the world must turn to dirty 
alternatives like oil or coal purchased from dictators or despots in 
Russia and Iran. It was as if Putin himself called up the Vice 
President, called up the President, and said: Let's put a pause on this 
because, by golly, this is going to help the Russian economy.
  Now, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that, as coal 
use goes up, global emissions increase. The administration's thinly 
veiled plan to reduce global emissions actually backfires. It backfires 
because, if other countries don't get our natural gas, they burn their 
coal, and global emissions increase.
  The administration's war on American energy didn't just affect our 
allies; it also wages a war on American workers. Two-thirds of U.S. 
liquefied natural gas is exported from Louisiana, providing thousands 
of Louisianians with good paying jobs. The Biden-Harris freeze impacted 
18 LNG export facilities, 12 of which were going to be built in my 
State.
  Now, ``to be built'' is the key phrase here, because it didn't just 
affect energy jobs; it affected construction jobs as well. Because the 
Biden-Harris administration wants to appease the rich climate lobby, 
the future and financial security of construction workers in Louisiana 
and across the country is thrown into limbo.
  Now, even though we have this court ruling, we are not out of the 
woods.

[[Page S5539]]

The Federal court's ruling brought common sense back, but the 
Department of Energy can still slow-walk permits, and this is something 
Congress must watch closely. This is something Congress is already 
looking to address, with bipartisan support for setting a time limit on 
how long the Department of Energy can take to review new permits--a 
shot clock, if you will.
  When we unleash American energy production and LNG exports, it 
creates high-paying jobs, it boosts our economy, and it strengthens the 
United States and the national security of allies. It denies income to 
Putin and drives down global greenhouse gas emissions. These should all 
be bipartisan goals.
  Common sense prevailed in the courts. Now it is time for common sense 
to return to the White House.