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Floor Speech

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Mr. KENNEDY. Madam President, joining me today on the floor are Mr. James Shea, Mr. Woody Daigle, and Ms. Bernadette Breslin--three very able members of my staff. Energy Policies

Madam President, I want to talk for a few minutes today about electricity and, more specifically, about how to pay for it.

My people are really struggling right now. Folks in my home State of Louisiana--and I know this is true in your State, Madam President, and across the country--are facing some of the largest energy bills, electricity bills, in the history of ever.

In the past month, I have learned about a woman in Shreveport in my State whose electricity bill went from $182 to $243, a Baton Rouge resident whose bill went from $65 to $353, a citizen from my city of New Orleans whose bill went from $140 to $280 in 1 month.

As one of my people put it, ``Your electricity bill should not be one-third of your paycheck.''

Now, I realize that to some Americans who are fortunate enough to be wealthier, these increases may seem insignificant, but many of my people in Louisiana live from paycheck to paycheck. And put very simply, many of the people in my State and many of their fellow Americans simply cannot afford this.

Now, look, I understand it is hot. I understand it is hot in Louisiana. Here is a news flash: In the summer, it is always hot in Louisiana. Some days, I think that God gave Louisiana a choice between good food and good weather, and we chose good food. I get that.

But heat is not the main reason that these electricity bills are soaring. It is not. The main reason that electricity bills are soaring is because of President Biden's profoundly foolish energy policies which have depleted America's natural gas inventories.

Because of this, natural gas prices have increased 75 percent from 2020--not 9.1 percent that you read in the newspaper or attributed to inflation in general, not 20 percent--75 percent, and they continue to climb.

Entergy is one of the largest electricity providers in my State, particularly in South Louisiana--actually, all over my State. Entergy just sent a letter to its customers, and I want to quote from it. This is what Entergy told its ratepayers and my people:

[T]he cost of natural gas, which we use to operate numerous power generation facilities, continues to rise. Natural gas prices in April of 2022 were more than double those in April of 2021 and three times higher than April 2020. As a result, these higher-than normal costs will be seen on customer bills.

That is why my people are so scared. That is why the American people are so scared.

Louisianans are not alone in this. A recent survey--and this is a very reputable research firm called HelpAdvisor--just found that 24 percent--a quarter--of all Americans have reduced or gone without paying basic expenses so they can pay their energy bills, pay their electricity bills.

What country are we living in?

Now, the current energy crisis--and that is what this is--is a sucking chest wound for Louisianans and for Americans. Yet President Biden refuses to budge from his war on affordable energy that got us here.

I will say this: President Biden has been true to his word. On day 1 of his campaign, he said he would destroy America's energy independence. By God, he has done it. He said that. By God, he has been successful. He killed the Keystone Pipeline. He has canceled our country's mineral leases. He stalled our country's pipelines. He has told his banking regulators to dry up capital and loans for energy production. He has put the full force and weight of the U.S. Government behind this effort to destroy oil and gas. In doing so, he has intentionally forfeited America's energy independence, and that is why electricity bills are so high.

I will give you one example, but I am not going to beat this to death. Earlier this month--I guess just before July 4--President Biden's Department of the Interior released its 5-year Federal leasing plan. That plan contains a maximum--it doesn't even mean they will do this amount--of 11 lease sales for oil and gas producers. Do you know what the last plan proposed was under the prior administration? Forty- seven.

It is clear. I mean, I get it. President Biden does not want the United States of America to produce its own fossil fuels. He just doesn't. His new plan is we are going to forfeit our energy independence.

We have to have oil and gas to run the greatest economy in all of human history. Where are we going to get it if we forfeit our energy independence? Well, we are going to buy up natural gas and oil from countries--foreign countries--that hate us. So those foreign countries will have more money to buy weapons to try to kill us. That is what we are doing.

Now, what is the answer? How do we fix this? Well, the answer--duh-- is to have the American people produce their own oil and gas. We can do it, and we have done it before. We were energy independent. My people in Louisiana know how to produce clean, affordable energy and so do other people in other States.

This is what else my people would tell President Biden if they could speak to him directly. They would say: Mr. President, with all due respect, we can produce natural gas; we can produce oil.

They would go further. They would say: Mr. President, we want you to understand that we don't hate wind, and we don't hate solar. We, the people of Louisiana, want to explore all alternative forms of energy: wind, solar, nuclear, clean hydrogen, hydroelectric.

But they would go further and say: Mr. President, we want a balanced energy policy. Ours is the greatest economy in all of human history, and it uses a lot of energy, and 80 percent of our energy comes from fossil fuels. Do we work every day to make those fossil fuels cleaner? Yes, but we can't do without them. When we try, this is what happens in terms of electricity bills.

There are ways that people can get help. They are struggling right now in my State. For example, for customers in New Orleans, Entergy has created a program called Energy Smart Program. Entergy, the electric power company, will send an employee out to your residence for free and make suggestions about how you can lower your bills.

There are other entities that are trying to help. There is a group called Share the Light and another group called SMILE. These are local nonprofits in Lafayette that will try to help people in their areas who are having trouble paying their electricity bills.

SLEMCO is also offering a terrific utility assistance program that would provide a one-time $300 grant payment for people who can't pay their electricity bills.

Of course, there are also programs under my State's Louisiana Housing Corporation, such as LIHEAP and the Weatherization Assistance Program, that can help folks reduce their electricity bills.

Let me close in this way. Two years ago, I was on this same floor and in this very same spot--right here. I was able to talk about how our economy was soaring. Two years ago, I was able to proudly say that we in America were energy independent, that unemployment was at record lows, and that Americans had more money in their pockets. We can have that again. The American people deserve it. We can have it again but not if President Biden continues to double down on what, in my judgment, is his bone-deep, down-to-the-marrow, foolish energy policy, which, when you scrub away all the rhetoric, amounts to this: wind, solar, and wishful thinking.

You can't produce electricity with wishful thinking. My people's bills are way too high, and they don't have to be that high if President Biden would just listen.

I yield to Senator Marshall.

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