Lower Energy Costs Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. TLAIB. Madam Chair, I thank the ranking member for the time because my residents are already hurting. H.R. 1 would devastate their lives even more.

Environmental impact statements change lives for the better, from air monitoring, pushing back against the corporate polluters that, again, just want to make a profit over the public health impact that would happen if we just gave them free rein.

This bill is nothing more than a cheap political stunt to pad the profits of the same greedy oil and gas companies that are price gouging our residents at the pump and poisoning the air they breathe and the water they drink.

These are the same oil companies that donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to House Republicans and made nearly half a trillion dollars in profits last year alone.

Their servants across the aisle don't think that is enough. They want to gut our most important critical environmental and public health protections, leaving our communities at the mercy of corporate polluters that have shown time and time again they will sacrifice our lives, our public health, to make more money.

Make no mistake, this bill destroys the National Environmental Policy Act and the Clean Water Act. It guarantees there will be more oil spills. It guarantees more water crises, more deaths, and more suffering.

Once you get beyond the BS, the truth is clear. Health protections for you and your family aren't making gas expensive; corporate greed is.

The greedy oil and gas companies have gotten away with price gouging and stock buybacks that enrich their shareholders but make everything less affordable for our residents. They don't plan to stop because their greed is only enabled with bills like this.

The amazing thing about this, about colleagues trying to run leaky oil pipelines through our communities, is that the bill isn't even popular. The American people get it. They understand the urgency of the climate crisis, the importance of protecting our air, our water. They want the government and corporations to take serious action to make sure their lives are protected.

Yet, here we are, debating a bill that wraps climate denial and corporate giveaways into one tidy, toxic package as the world burns.

Our residents, my residents, are already struggling with health disparities. They deserve better. They deserve to breathe clean air.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source