Lower Energy Costs Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. FROST. Madam Chair, I rise today in strong opposition to H.R. 1, the pollution over people act.

This is a bill filled with dangerous, unpopular, and unnecessary policy that will worsen our climate crisis--our existential climate crisis.

I am part of a generation who has grown up with the very real fear that, in our lifetimes, we will all experience an unlivable planet, that we will lack breathable air and drinkable water, that our houses will be destroyed again and again in natural disasters, that we will develop asthma and struggle to breathe, and that we will have a shortage of food.

Sitting here, I have heard a lot from my colleagues repeating that we need to lower energy costs. My question is: Where are the actions on ensuring that price gouging isn't happening at the pump?

This is exactly why energy costs are higher at the pump. I agree, but what about the real costs, the cost of life? What we know is that the cost of not doing anything is far greater than the cost of taking action right now.

You might not be the ones paying for it, but future generations will be, and I think a body like ours should be thinking about the future and the present.

Many people around the globe are already experiencing these threats. Among them are farmers, farmworkers, coastal communities, and community members who cannot afford air-conditioning costs.

I would like to believe that, out of compassion for my generation and our vulnerable communities, Republican Members of this body would come to the table and act in a bipartisan way to protect us from this fate.

It is possible to create a green transition so we can preserve jobs and the planet and create a whole new economy, a green economy, with good-paying union jobs for all of our people. We can invest in clean energy and train those working in the oil and gas industries so they can have new, good-paying jobs in fulfilling careers.

We can do these things, but right now, my Republican colleagues aren't. H.R. 1 is not about what is right for their constituents, working people, or what is right for the Earth. It is about what is right for oil and gas executives getting rich off polluting our planet.

This bill would bring back the defunct Keystone XL pipeline, reversing President Biden's wise executive action that ended it. It rubberstamps new construction of new pipelines.

Not only is this bill not informed about what is best for the future, but it looks like they haven't learned from what has happened in the past. This bill requires two new Gulf of Mexico oil lease sites. This is very damaging to my home State of Florida.

It has been a tradition for both Democrats and Republicans from Florida to support no offshore drilling in the State of Florida. I am looking forward to seeing all of my Republican colleagues who are part of the Florida delegation voting ``no'' on this bill to keep intact their word. I know one of my colleagues said that this body is about integrity and keeping our word. I look forward to seeing those ``no'' votes.

In 2010, the Deepwater Horizon explosion pumped 210 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, polluting more than 1,000 miles of Florida beaches with toxic oil. These literal waves of pollution closed beaches and deprived Floridians and visitors of 10 million beach days on our world-class beaches. The economic impact on our tourist industry was profound. The impact on our seafood industry was catastrophic. No one wanted a meal coming from a poisonous sea.

In this bill, Republicans are burying their heads in the oil-covered sand and requiring more oil lease sales in the area. I fear for the health of my community.

Florida is in the middle of a climate change crossfire. We have rising seas that are creating higher and more destructive storms. We just had Hurricane Ian last year, the deadliest hurricane in 100 years. Entire communities were completely decimated and wiped out. In Orlando, it caused flooding like we have never seen before, leaving constituents homeless.

H.R. 1 comes weeks after the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. This report makes it clear: Continued greenhouse gas emissions will lead to destabilizing global warming, and our own only hope is rapid and sustained reductions in greenhouse gasses.

I heard a colleague blame Democrats for emissions. That is also not true, but I am glad to hear he was impassioned about blaming Democrats for increased emissions, which would lead me to believe that he agrees that we have to bring down emissions, which the report also said we have to do in a very quick way so we can have a livable planet.

Madam Chair, I will vote ``no'' on H.R. 1, and I urge my colleagues to do the same. We can and we must do better than this, not just for us but for future generations.

I invite my Republican colleagues to abandon this harmful bill and come to the table to work in a bipartisan way on smart energy policy because the decisions you make today will impact future generations and condemn my entire generation to a lifetime of suffering and put us on a path toward an unlivable future. I hope we will make the right decision.

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