[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 7 (Tuesday, January 14, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S127-S128]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 ENERGY

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, 2 months after Americans soundly rejected 
his Presidency and its policies, President Biden is doubling down. Last 
week, he unveiled a new front in his war on American energy: a sweeping 
ban on new offshore oil and gas development covering the entire east 
coast and large portions of the west coast, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, 
and parts of the Northern Bering Sea in Alaska. All told--all told--he 
is closing off more than 625 million acres to new oil and gas 
development, on top of the bans that were already in place.
  The President's decision last week was particularly notable for its 
size and for the clear snub to American voters. But this is just the 
latest in a long series of actions by the President hostile to 
conventional energy development: a pause on approvals of liquefied 
natural gas exports; a sharp decline in leases issued for oil and 
natural gas on public lands and waters; restrictions on drilling in 
large areas of the Natural Petroleum Reserve in Alaska; the 
cancellation of leases in the Arctic; the administration's so-called 
good neighbor rule, designed to effectively force fossil-fuel-powered 
powerplants to close. And the list goes on. In short, President Biden 
has done everything he can to set us up for a future of diminished 
conventional energy production.
  That is a problem because we are nowhere near being able to rely 
primarily on alternative energy. And if we don't have sufficient 
conventional energy, we are going to find ourselves in serious 
difficulties.
  For starters, insufficient conventional energy production could mean 
big increases in energy bills for American families. A lack of domestic 
supply--or the need to rely on expensive energy imports--would be 
likely to make things like gas and electricity far more expensive. 
Needless to say, that is the last thing that Americans are looking for 
after the steep increases in gas and electricity bills under the Biden 
administration.
  And apart from price, there is the even more concerning prospect of 
major supply shortages. I am fairly sure Americans don't want to wait 
in long lines for gas--or face rationing--or wondering whether the 
lights are actually going to turn on when they hit the light switch.
  Then there are the national security implications. If we are not 
producing enough conventional energy here at

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home, we are going to have to make up the supply from abroad, most 
likely from hostile nations or volatile areas of the world. As European 
countries learned the hard way after Russia invaded Ukraine, relying on 
hostile nations for your energy supply is not a winning proposition.
  Plus, foreign production can be far less environmentally friendly 
than producing oil and gas here at home.
  One of the best things that we can do for our national security is to 
ensure that we have a stable, reliable, and affordable domestic energy 
supply.
  Fortunately, the Biden administration is being supplanted by the 
Trump administration, and I know that President Trump is committed to 
reversing President Biden's anti-conventional energy policies and 
unleashing American energy production.
  Hopefully, it will be possible to undo much of the damage that 
President Biden has done and set us up for a secure energy future. But 
it is worth reflecting on what might have been--and could be again--if 
we don't have a Congress and a President committed to conventional, as 
well as renewable, energy development.
  I hope that future administrations--Democrat, as well as Republican--
will make American energy security a priority.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant executive clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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