Energy Independence

Floor Speech

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Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to highlight the critical point that we, as Americans, stand at with our domestic energy supply. We are living in a self-created energy crisis because of bad energy policy. It is unacceptable that many hardworking Americans are struggling to make ends meet because this administration refuses to utilize the abundant resources that we, as a Nation, are blessed with.

Pennsylvania is key to restoring American energy independence. Before President Biden took office, America was the largest energy producer in the world. In just over 3 years, the Biden administration has effectively waged war on our domestic energy production and kneecapped innovation in our oil and gas industries. As a result, American consumers are seeing increased demand and higher prices for conventional fuels.

By utilizing the Commonwealth's resources, we can provide jobs and invest directly into our communities that have suffered at the hand of the Biden administration's antienergy policies. Thankfully, my colleagues and I in the House have passed several bills that will put America back on top as the global leader in energy production.

For example H.R. 1, the Lower Energy Costs Act, will allow our energy producers to remain market-responsive by removing bureaucratic red tape and streamline the production of our critical energy resources. We also updated the flexible air permitting rule, a Federal air emissions permit, by ensuring that operators can have changes made to their production approved up front, without having to wait for subsequent reviews of the changes. This flexibility allows owners and operators to act quickly and without government regulation slowing down the production of critical energy resources.

In my fight to restore energy independence, I was proud to cosponsor the Natural Gas Tax Repeal Act which will eliminate President Biden's plan to increase burdensome fees and taxes on energy companies. This bill will prevent further cost increases for consumers, a burden that falls most heavily on lower-income Americans.

House Republicans also led on a number of permitting reforms that were included in the Fiscal Responsibility Act. Most notably, we passed the first significant reforms to the National Environmental Policy Act, NEPA, that removed burdensome environmental consideration requirements and reduced redundancies within Federal agencies to end the delays to critical energy infrastructure projects.

Mr. Speaker, another key aspect of unleashing American domestic energy is that we need to invest in renewable energy to counteract high gas prices and global volatility. No amount of talk of electric vehicles or speaking in platitudes about a green economy will change the fact that everyday Americans are paying an unnecessary price at the pump. We cannot go electric overnight. However, we can unleash American energy production in the short term and allow our producers to fill both domestic and global demand. The United States has an abundance of clean-burning natural gas, especially in Pennsylvania, which is the second largest producer of natural gas in the United States. Unleashing domestic production of energy can only add certainty to the United States energy supply.

It is my hope that with our continued work here in the House, we can ultimately return to our status as a leading producer of energy.

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