[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 105 (Tuesday, June 23, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3030-S3031]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 ENERGY

  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, 1 year ago, Republicans passed the 
Working Families Tax Cut law. It is landmark legislation. It helped put 
more money in people's pockets, and just about every American working 
family has benefited.
  Today, I want to talk about the impact of the Working Families Tax 
Cut law on American energy. This new law marks a dramatic shift in 
America's energy policy. America has now stopped apologizing for 
producing the energy that our Nation needs.

[[Page S3031]]

  Energy is called the master resource, and we are unleashing it once 
again. Today, America has become the largest energy producer in the 
world. We produce more oil than the next two biggest producers 
combined. We produce as much natural gas as the next three largest 
countries combined. And we have more clean coal than any other nation 
in the world. We are also living in a time of cutting-edge nuclear 
technology. America is blessed with boundless gifts when it comes to 
energy, and when we use all of our energy resources wisely, as we do, 
America wins.
  The Biden administration got energy completely wrong. Joe Biden told 
his Cabinet to prioritize climate over energy that was available, 
affordable, and reliable.
  Democrats closed Federal lands to new energy production. Democrats 
raised taxes on energy producers. Democrats force-fed Americans 
electric vehicles that people didn't want and couldn't afford. 
Democrats handed out billions of dollars in subsidies to green energy 
companies, and these are companies that would never survive without 
government handouts.
  So what were the results? Under Joe Biden, families and businesses 
paid more for energy. Energy workers in Wyoming and across the country 
lost good-paying jobs. America grew more dependent on foreign nations 
for energy--energy that we could and should be producing ourselves.
  The Working Families Tax Cut law cleared the way for American energy 
dominance. The Working Families Tax Cut law opens more energy 
production onshore, offshore, and in Alaska. That includes oil and gas, 
as well as clean coal.
  This is a major change from the Biden administration. Joe Biden 
presided over the fewest energy lease sales since President Harry 
Truman.
  Republicans are strengthening U.S. energy production. We are 
streamlining burdensome regulations. At the same time, we are 
protecting Federal lands.
  The Working Families Tax Cut law repealed the Biden-era tax on 
natural gas. This saves American families money when they try to cool 
their home this summer.
  The new law also lowered the tax rate for coal production on Federal 
land. This matters enormously in my home State of Wyoming. Our Powder 
River Basin produces nearly half of the coal in America.
  Coal means good-paying jobs in our State. It means revenue for our 
schools. It means affordable, available, reliable power for millions 
upon millions of Americans.
  Now, producing clean coal is more competitive.
  Republicans promised to unleash American energy and lower costs, and 
we have done it. That is what the Working Families Tax Cut law did when 
we passed it, a year ago, and it continues to do it today.
  Every single Democrat in this Chamber voted against the Working 
Families Tax Cut law. They voted to raise taxes by $4 trillion.
  Every Democrat voted to keep high taxes on natural gas. They voted to 
keep American energy trapped in the ground.
  If the Democrats had their way, American families would be paying 
more for everything.
  We need to protect the energy progress that we have made with the 
Working Families Tax Cut law. Democrats want to go backward. They have 
said it.
  We must not impose new government mandates that raise costs for 
American families.
  America's small refineries are the unsung heroes of affordable 
American energy. Washington, DC, often overlooks them. Working families 
depend upon them. And I represent several of those small refineries 
that are in Wyoming.
  The refineries employ thousands of people. They make gasoline prices 
more affordable. They strengthen our Nation's energy security. And 
proposed new mandates on small refineries would harm them and harm the 
people who work there.
  Republicans spent the last year cutting taxes and removing barriers 
to energy production. We should not spend the next few months imposing 
costly new mandates on American refineries.
  Americans want, need, and deserve energy that is affordable, 
available, and reliable. It is good for our workers, it is good for our 
economy, and it is good for the safety and security of our Nation.
  We, as this Nation, are an energy superpower, and with the Working 
Families Tax Cut law, we are actually acting like it again.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.

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