Providing for Consideration of H.R. Federal Reserve Racial and Economic Equity Act; Providing for Consideration of H.R. Recovering America's Wildlife Act of and Providing for Consideration of H.R. Meat and Poultry Special Investigator Act of and for Other Purposes

Floor Speech

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Mr. STAUBER. Madam Speaker, I rise to oppose the previous question so that we can immediately consider H.R. 6858, the American Energy Independence from Russia Act, which I am proud to cosponsor with my colleagues, Representatives McMorris Rodgers and Westerman.

The national average price for a gallon of gasoline today is $5 and climbing. Let that sink in. It is $5 and going up. Diesel fuel is skyrocketing at an even scarier rate.

This is a self-imposed crisis on the American people. As a candidate, Joe Biden pledged again and again to ban development on America's Federal lands and waters. He followed through on that promise, with the House Democrats following suit no matter the pain they cause Americans at the pump, no matter the costs they impose on businesses reliant on shipping, trucking, and more.

In contrast, we Republicans are here offering solutions. H.R. 6858 takes away Joe Biden's power to ruin our energy security and our economy by prohibiting harmful drilling bans. The bill creates a minimum number of annual lease sales, both onshore and offshore. It reauthorizes the Keystone XL pipeline so we can resume moving energy throughout our country.

Democrats here are calculating that, to reduce emissions, it is a necessary evil to make gas expensive for Americans and punish the middle class.

Madam Speaker, let me tell you why that is dead wrong. Under President Trump, when we were net exporters of American energy, we averaged emission reductions of 2.5 percent every year. Under President Biden, his first year in office, we saw a 6 percent jump in domestic emissions.

These policies Democrats push every day, again, are punishing the American families, the American workers, and the American middle class. It makes it harder for businesses to turn a profit. It is the leading cause of why our economy officially became a bear market just yesterday.

Biden's solution? Trips to Venezuela and Saudi Arabia, pleading with communists and human rights violators to bail him out of a problem that he caused. Let that sink in. He is going to Venezuela and Saudi Arabia, pleading with communists and human rights violators to bail him out of a problem that he caused.

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Mr. STAUBER. Madam Speaker, it does not have to be this way. We can bring gas prices down with Republican solutions.

As the ranking member of the Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee, I call on my colleagues in this body today to do the right thing and vote for H.R. 6858 to bring relief to the American people.

Let's produce our energy right here in America. We have the resources, technology, and the workforce, and we absolutely have the need.

Madam Speaker, I urge defeat of the previous question.

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