Lower Energy Costs Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. VASQUEZ. Mr. Chairman, let me be clear. I support our energy economy. I stand by New Mexico's energy workers, who help fuel our economy. New Mexico's Second Congressional District is one of the top energy producing areas in the entire world. In fact, Lea County, in my district, produces more oil than any other county in the United States.

About half of New Mexico's fossil fuel operations are on public lands, and royalties from the industry make up about a third of our State's annual budget. With an industry so large, there are a lot of good-paying jobs for rural New Mexicans.

Congress is not debating a bill to support energy workers that are essential to my district. We aren't even debating ways to lower energy costs for Americans, no matter what name Republicans give this bill. This bill is about the same old thing, padding the pockets of executives at the cost of energy workers.

Just last year, as you can see, when Americans saw gas prices as high as $5 per gallon at the pump, oil and gas companies made not millions, not billions, but trillions of dollars in profit. While my constituents were paying $100 to fill up their pickup truck, Exxon chiefs were making $55 billion in profits. My colleagues across the aisle want to make them even richer at our expense.

In the Permian Basin, oil and gas production has increased nearly every year since 2013, and it is on track to reach new, even higher production records this year. We are already unleashing American energy, but these profits aren't going to the workers in my district. They are going to the wealthy CEOs with collections of massive mansions and cars. While the energy workers in my district are living right here, in tents and temporary trailer homes, the CEOs are living right up here in Hawaii and mansions all across the world.

While our folks risk their health and safety to make these profits, we need to make sure that our priorities are in the right place. This bill is toxic, literally. It would increase pollution by removing the methane emission regulations and gutting the Clean Air Act.

Asthma rates in southeast New Mexico are the highest in the region, largely connected to methane and other emissions. Republicans want to make this air dirtier, sending more kids to the hospital.

According to Somos Un Pueblo Unido, nearly one in two energy workers has reported an injury on the job, and most of those injuries are permanent. If this bill really cared about the energy industry, it would start by prioritizing the people who work in it.

As the Representative for New Mexico's Second Congressional District, I will always prioritize my constituents, the hardworking energy workers, over the Big Oil CEOs from outside of my district.

That is why I am working on bipartisan legislation to ensure that our energy workers aren't being forgotten. Instead of focusing on growing the record profits for executives and CEOs, my bill would focus on protecting the backbone of our energy economy, our energy workers. I am focused on investing in the workers who have generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue to our State.

When I got to Congress, many people told me to be cautious. They said be careful, be scared of the Big Oil barons. I was told that they are powerful and that if I don't agree with them and pad their pockets, I am going to be their number one target.

Guess what? I am not scared, and we won't be silenced. To the CEOs watching this from their glamorous mansions, just know I will fight to ensure New Mexico's workers are a priority.

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