Providing for Consideration of H.R. Restaurant Revitalization Fund Replenishment Act of and for Other Purposes

Floor Speech

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Mr. OBERNOLTE. Mr. Speaker, I rise to oppose the previous question so that we can immediately consider the American Energy Independence from Russia Act.

Mr. Speaker, last night I held a townhall with over 2,000 of my constituents.

Do you know what was top of mind to those people?

It was not the previous question. It was energy prices in America, and particularly, the price of fuel.

Mr. Speaker, it was heartbreaking to hear from constituent after constituent after constituent who said that they were unable to afford the energy required to get to work and back just to put food on the table for their families. Mr. Speaker, you can imagine how embarrassing and heartbreaking it was for me to have to admit to my constituents that the reason for those high energy prices was the actions of their very own government.

Mr. Speaker, since the beginning of the current administration, there has been a concerted effort to constrain the supply of energy produced here in America. What we have is a classic problem of supply and demand. We don't have enough supply, and yet this administration in its very first week issued an executive order completely halting the issuance of new gas and oil exploration permits on Federal lands in this country. It issued an executive order stopping the Keystone XL pipeline. Mr. Speaker, that pipeline alone, if it were in operation today, would allow us to import more than enough oil to completely offset our oil imports from Russia.

The tragic thing about this situation is that the administration is doing this out of the mistaken belief that it will make the planet greener. But nothing could be further from the truth. We produce energy more cleanly here in America than any other country on Earth.

So when we take actions that require us to import more oil from places like Venezuela, which has a 50 percent higher lifecycle greenhouse gas emission per barrel of oil than oil produced here in America, and when we increase oil imports from places like Russia that still utilize dirty practices like methane flaring--things we haven't done here in years--we are actually increasing global greenhouse gas emissions.

Mr. Speaker, if we increase energy production here, not only will we lower prices for our constituents who are suffering, and not only will we increase our national security, but we will also make our planet a cleaner place.

Mr. Speaker, I urge immediate consideration of the American Independence from Russia Act.

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