Lower Energy Costs Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ. Madam Chair, there was some discussion earlier and an allegation made that Democrats have yet to introduce any policy to reduce our energy costs, as if we have completely forgotten about the sweeping, multibillion-dollar investments in the Inflation Reduction Act to reduce people's costs across the board.

I am rising today to stand in opposition to H.R. 1. While Republicans try to claim that this is a bill to lower people's energy costs, what we really see when we start digging into it, is that what this bill actually shows us by the Republican authors is that they actually have no plan to reduce our utility bills or even prevent climate disaster in the United States.

The central argument and logic of this bill is that if you give Big Oil everything they want, then perhaps they will lower our gas prices.

It is a form of trickle-down fantasy that just will not make life easier for everyday Americans. What H.R. 1 will do is give Big Oil more leases of public lands.

This idea that an increased supply of fossil fuels will drive down prices is also mistaken. Let's look at what happened last year.

We saw how Big Oil more than doubled its profits to $219 billion, all while price gouging customers at the pump, not because of supply issues but because they can.

Republicans opposed solutions that we put forward, like a windfall tax on price gouging on Big Oil in order to prevent these kinds of behaviors.

Fossil fuel companies, moreover, already have thousands of unused permits on public lands, yet they want even more. This is not a problem of supply. It is a problem of greed and abuse of market power.

I, along with many of my colleagues, called for that windfall tax.

What does this bill do instead?

It is almost as if you gave a pen to an oil lobbyist and wrote down everything that they want. Much of that is in this bill.

We are looking at reducing Big Oil's royalty rates to the public and slashing interest fees.

For people following at home, if you are a member of the American public, if you are a taxpaying citizen, you are part of the ownership of our public lands.

When an oil company decides to lease that land, they are supposed to pay a royalty to the public.

What does H.R. 1 do?

It slashes that royalty rate so that there is very little payback or investment into the American people and many of our programs.

In this bill, Republicans are squarely on the side of fossil fuel companies. It makes it harder for communities to fight Big Oil when they don't want them drilling in their own backyards.

It also threatens our public lands and allows anyone to stake a mining claim on our public lands for less than $10 an acre, even if they haven't discovered any minerals.

Despite the fact that more than 40 percent of Americans live in counties hit by climate disasters, this bill prohibits agencies from even considering climate change when deciding whether or not to issue a permit to a drilling company.

None of these things are going to lower our costs at the pump. None of these things are going to actually reduce our utility bills.

In fact, in talking about this allegation of a lack of Democrat proposals, Democrats introduced 95 amendments, proposed 95 amendments to this bill, and the Republican majority rejected all but seven.

I, myself, personally sponsored an amendment in the spirit of this bill, allegedly, to try to reduce prices, and my amendment would have made sure that the subsidies that the Federal Government provides to oil and gas companies actually make their way to the American people-- instead of lining the pockets of billionaire CEOs--and actually have the intended effect.

Republicans rejected that amendment, too. They have made clear where they stand. I cannot emphasize enough how detrimental and damaging this bill would be, not only to the climate crisis, not only to the purpose of even trying to reduce our utility costs, but moreover, for the ability for the American people to actually receive an investment on the public lands that they lease out.

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