Cloture Motion

Floor Speech

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Mr. HOEVEN. Madam President, I am pleased to be here and follow my good friend, the Senator from the great State of Alaska, a State that produces an incredible amount of energy, as does my State of North Dakota.

And, of course, we are here to talk about how this administration's policies are harming America's energy producers and leading to skyrocketing energy prices.

Americans are paying more for energy, whether it is at the gas pump or their monthly utility bills. This week, the average price of a gallon of gasoline in my home State of North Dakota is $3.19. That is up from $2.27 in January. That is an increase of almost a dollar--about a 50-percent increase. Every consumer pays that when they pull up to the pump. Of course, that hits low-income people disproportionately.

North Dakotans are also facing higher home heating costs for this winter with the price of natural gas having almost tripled. Same thing: think about hard-working men and women who now are paying that higher utility bill as a result of these policies. Higher energy prices drive up the costs of everything we consume, and lower-income Americans, as I say, are disproportionately impacted when a larger share of their paycheck must go towards covering higher energy costs.

Last week, the President blamed OPEC for higher gas prices.

Why is our country a global energy powerhouse in this situation?

Just a decade ago, North Dakotans helped crack the code on domestic energy production in the Bakken, helping the United States become the world's largest oil and gas producer. We unleashed the potential of our abundant energy reserves and, as a result, our country became a net exporter of energy in 2019.

Americans benefited from our energy independence through record low energy prices, as well as strengthen economic and national security. Energy security is national security, yet, since January, President Biden has been saying ``no'' to America's energy producers.

The President is blocking new energy leases on Federal lands, stifling the opportunity to harness our abundant taxpayer-owned energy reserves. The President also killed the Keystone XL Pipeline and is actively discouraging needed private-sector investment in new oil, gas, and coal production.

Yet this administration allowed completion of Russia's Nord Stream 2 Pipeline, which, of course, moves gas from Putin's Russia into Germany and Europe. And instead of supporting our own domestic energy workforce, the Biden administration is asking Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the OPEC nations to pump more oil.

Why on Earth are we asking foreign countries with less stringent environmental practices to produce more energy when our own domestic producers are ready and willing to answer the call?

Despite this administration's failed policy and corresponding higher energy costs, the President and Democrats are doubling down on their Green New Deal agenda.

The Democrats' reckless tax-and-spend bill will only worsen today's high energy prices by making American energy production more expensive and less reliable.

The President's policies will not only increase the pain at the pump, they are threatening the ability to keep the lights on. These climate policies will accelerate the grid's reliance on intermittent renewable sources of power at the expense of always-available baseload generation from sources like coal and nuclear power.

We need to maintain our baseload sources of electric generation that are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, regardless of weather conditions, to keep the lights on and homes warm as we enter the winter months.

And rather than turning to OPEC with less stable places in the world--our adversaries, in fact, like Russia, an adversary--we should be empowering our American energy workers to develop our abundant energy reserves here at home using the latest and greatest technologies to do it with better environmental surge. More supply of energy means lower costs for consumers. It is as simple as that.

The President needs to work with us to support our domestic energy producers and their work to provide low-cost, dependable energy to our homes and businesses.

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