ENERGY SUPPLY AND PRODUCTION
Congressional Record Vol. 170, No. 80
(Senate - May 8, 2024) PDF
Mrs. HYDE-SMITH. Madam President, the Biden administration continues
to fail the American people with its consistent attacks on our Nation's
energy supply and production. These attacks are happening as Americans
continue to suffer through the burden of record inflation caused by
this administration.
Energy is the lifeblood of civilization: lighting our homes; fueling
our transportation; powering innovation; and for those of us in rural
America, heating our poultry houses--much like the area where you and I
come from, Madam President.
Energy of all forms--from oil and gas to nuclear, to wind, to solar--
not only powers our world, but it protects our world. To threaten any
energy source is to threaten the vitality of our Nation and its
communities. But from day one, President Biden did just that. It
started with a barrage of excessive Executive orders aimed at American
energy production, including the cancellation of the Keystone XL
Pipeline, and only got worse from there.
Agencies under this administration have been emboldened to ram
through harmful policies and rules that are driving us straight toward
a cliff. The Department of the Interior continues to hold domestic
energy production back by releasing a 5-year leasing plan for oil and
gas production that contains the lowest amount of lease sales in
history, with the option for the Secretary to cancel any one of them as
she deems necessary.
The Bureau of Land Management has issued rules that weaken our
domestic energy production and create additional more red tape. The
Environmental Protection Agency has issued rules that weaken our
domestic energy production and limit consumer choice for vehicles. The
Department of Energy has issued rules that weaken our domestic energy
production, limit consumer choice for natural gas appliances in our
houses, and place a pause on liquefied natural gas export. It makes no
sense.
Even the Securities and Exchange Commission has now decided it wants
to get involved with climate policy, releasing a greenhouse gas
disclosure rule that would lead to mountains of burdensome paperwork
for companies and higher costs for consumers. The SCC is meant to
protect investors, facilitate capital formation, and maintain markets.
It has absolutely no authority to address political or social issues,
much less serve as a climate change taskmaster.
If you threw a dart at a dartboard labeled with all the Biden
Agencies that have a hand in targeting energy production, chances are
that you will hit an Agency that has committed an overreach of its
statutory authority.
The administration continues to slow-walk permitting, most recently
attacking LNG facilities for climate considerations, whatever that is.
Well, is the administration aware that by continuing to ignore the
law and not holding lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico, it hamstrings
future GOMESA funds that would come back to the Gulf States to support
critical coastal protection activities, including conservation, coastal
restoration, and hurricane protection? That is right. The
administration's Interior Department is jeopardizing actual climate and
conservation goals for my State, and we aren't the only State sounding
the alarm on these terrible policies. These policies are driving up
energy costs and emboldening our enemies.
President Biden and his allies continue to paint the fossil fuel
industry as the enemy, but both the Secretaries of Energy and Interior
have stated that fossil fuels will be around for a long time because
they are needed. Yet they continue to try and diminish its production
without the necessary technology and grid capacity replacements.
Not only could we see higher energy costs under these policies, but
we could see more blackouts during extreme weather events, something
that has Mississippians very concerned.
The American people deserve better than failing energy policies from
a tone-deaf administration and Agencies that are doing everything they
can to circumvent Congress and force their radical energy agendas on
this entire Nation.
Still, the hard-working people in our energy industry are not letting
President Biden crush their spirits. My colleagues and I are battling
back with everything we can to challenge these rulings on behalf of the
American people.
With CRA resolutions of disapproval, appropriations, and committee
hearings, we have the opportunities to try to hold these Agencies
accountable for their continued overreach.
I will keep fighting alongside my colleagues until this ship is back
on the correct course of independent energy production for the
betterment of the United States.
I yield the floor.