Strategic Production Response Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. BARR. Mr. Chairman, I have amendment No. 48 at the desk.

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Mr. BARR. Mr. Chairman, I support the underlying legislation to increase domestic energy production to replenish the Strategic Petroleum Reserve that has been recklessly and dangerously drawn down by the Biden administration in a cynically political move to try to lower energy prices before an election.

But we know that in a move to placate radical environmentalists, President Biden blocked the Keystone XL pipeline at the beginning of this administration. His administration suspended oil and natural gas leasing and permits when he took office. But for the last year, the President and his supporters have been pleading for more domestic energy production.

The President can't have it both ways. In just over 2 years, the President has depleted the crude oil and the Strategic Petroleum Reserve by 40 percent. Not only did this scheme fail to bring down prices in a meaningful way for Americans, but it also threatens our energy and national security should a true national emergency occur.

This is not just negligence from the administration. The administration is waging an active war against the oil and gas sector.

Now, we all know about the war against leases, and we know about the war against energy infrastructure like Keystone. But ground zero, Mr. Chairman, for this war against domestic energy production is the weaponization of financial regulation to discriminate against American energy production and redirect capital away from American energy production.

This is all happening at the precise time we need more, not less, energy production. The Energy Information Administration recently projected that global energy consumption will increase by 50 percent in the year 2050 with almost one-half of energy consumption coming from natural gas and other fossil fuel energy.

So why do we need this amendment?

Because this is a capital-intensive enterprise. In order for oil and gas production to happen, Mr. Chairman, you have to have the financing for that, and this Administration has weaponized the financial regulators to limit access to financing and to limit access to capital.

For example, initiatives by the Federal Reserve working with a Network of Central Banks and Supervisors for Greening the Financial System, otherwise known as NGFS; the Securities and Exchange Commission's proposed Rules to Enhance and Standardize Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors; the Financial Stability Oversight Council's report and recommendation on climate-related financial risk; the FDIC's principles for climate-related financial risk management for large financial institutions; and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's principles for climate-related financial risk management for large banks.

My amendment would simply pause any and all of these climate-related financial regulations so that financial institutions can provide the capital and the financing for the oil and gas producers so that we can, in fact, replenish the petroleum reserve.

There is no question that the war on energy is costing families and small businesses increased costs. Just in the first year of this administration, investment and oil and natural gas production dropped by 25 percent.

It is time we unleash American energy to lower costs over the long run. That means we need access to capital--access to financing--for American energy.

My amendment would give American energy companies access to our deep, liquid capital markets so that we can continue to power this country's economy and replenish the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

That is why I am offering this amendment: to protect American energy producers and to protect their access to capital markets so that we can facilitate the replenishment of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

I would argue we need to unleash our financial institutions and our asset managers and investors to give our energy producers the financing that they need to rebuild our economy, to lower costs at the pump, and to lower energy costs across the board.

Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to support this amendment and, of course, support the underlying piece of legislation. I yield back the balance of my time. Point of Order

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Mr. BARR. Mr. Chairman, I would respectfully argue that the amendment is core to the proper functioning of the underlying bill. The amendment's purpose is the same purpose as the underlying bill: it is to facilitate the replenishment of the SPR for the exact drawdowns covered in the bill. The amendment furthers the objective of the underlying bill. In fact, it is arguably inextricably linked and indispensable to the purpose of the bill in so far as producing more oil and gas requires access to capital for those producers of oil and gas.

Mr. Chairman, you can't produce oil and gas if you can't get financing for it. That is why I respectfully oppose the point of order.

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