Calling Attention to the Energy Crisis
Floor Speech
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Mr. STAUBER. Madam Speaker, I thank Dr. Joyce for holding this Special Order.
Madam Speaker, I rise today to discuss how high energy prices due to choices made by Joe Biden and his administration are placing an undue burden on Americans and how it doesn't have to be this way.
On his very first day in office, President Biden made a conscious choice to declare war on American energy.
As the ranking member of the Energy and Mineral Resources Committee, I know that it does not have to be this way. One year later it is clear to every American that canceling the Keystone XL pipeline and halting leases on Federal lands were devastating for the American people.
Today, gas prices nationwide are averaging over $4 a gallon. Instead of ending hostility to American energy, Joe Biden is choosing foreign energy sources to lower prices in America. Folks, there is a better way. We need to return to American energy independence. Our blue- collar, middle-class workers are ready, willing, and able to help us achieve this.
America should never rely on foreign nations for our energy security, and we can be the source for our allies instead of reliance on adversarial nations like Russia. One way to speed up our return to energy dominance is to enact meaningful permitting reform to remove red tape and duplicative processes to speed up domestic production.
Do not buy the press secretary's rhetoric. Even if a company has a lease, the administration slow-walks every right-of-way, every approval, and every permit. From an administration that claims to care about Tribal consultation, they sure disregarded an indigenous voice in Mayor Harry Brower and the North Slope Borough when it comes to the Willow Project in Alaska.
Madam Speaker, I urge the administration and my colleagues across the aisle to join us on permitting reform. Energy security is national security. The war in Ukraine has made this clearer than ever before. We cannot wait any longer to return to American energy dominance.
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