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Floor Speech

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Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, with me today are two of my colleagues from my office, Mr. James Shea and Mr. Parker Loy. I want to thank them both for their good work.

Energy suicide, that is what I want to talk about: energy suicide. President Biden is committing energy suicide for America. Regrettably-- and I mean that--regrettably, too many times in the past 3 years and on too many issues we have seen President Biden act as a sock puppet for a faction of neosocialist Americans who don't like our country, who think our country was wicked when it was founded and that it is even more wicked today. And this faction, which President Biden has supported far too often, thinks our country must be torn down and rebuilt, and, of course, they want to be the ones to rebuild it.

Now this faction has turned its sights, with the help of President Biden, on America's hard-fought energy independence. President Biden just aided this faction in destroying America's energy independence and committing energy suicide by declaring a moratorium on new liquefied natural gas terminals in America. Apparently, President Biden's new policy is to give up our own oil and gas and buy the energy we need from countries that hate us. So those countries that hate us will have more money to buy weapons to try to kill us. Stupidity. Stupidity should hurt more. Now, I realize you can't fix stupid, but you can vote it out.

America's ability to be energy independent is one of our greatest strengths. We are a big country. We are a big, wide, open, diverse, sometimes dysfunctional, imperfect, but essentially good country. This is a country that is filled with oil and natural gas and coal and uranium and plutonium. It is filled with rare Earth minerals. It is filled with roaring rivers and just about everything else you need to power this economy, to help families live the American dream, and we even have a little bit leftover to help our friends. American ingenuity did that. Now, Louisiana is a big part of the equation, and we are very, very proud to be a leader in energy production.

Not every country is as blessed as America. Our friends in Europe, for example, were relying on Russian oil and gas for their energy when Putin invaded Ukraine and then cut off their supply. This paralyzed many European leaders. They didn't know how they were going to run their businesses. They didn't know how they were going to heat their homes. They were totally dependent on Vladimir Putin and Russia. Fortunately, they had a friend. They had a friend in the United States of America, and we helped them out, and we kept their businesses running, and we kept their homes heated. And do you know how we did it? Do you know what we did it with? American liquefied natural gas. American liquefied natural gas.

Energy independence. One way to look at it: Energy independence is America's jackpot lottery ticket. Now, we have worked hard for it, but it is our jackpot lottery ticket. But for some reason, President Biden wants to light our winning numbers on fire. He is committing energy suicide. Did I mention that?

At every turn--at every turn--the Biden administration has taken steps to make it more difficult, more expensive, and sometimes flatout impossible to produce, transport, and sell the energy products we need to power this great country. These foolish policies--the latest of which is a moratorium on LNG--these foolish policies are killing American jobs. They are killing American jobs. They are driving up energy prices. They are jeopardizing our national security. And it needs to stop.

Natural gas is the latest victim. President Biden's Department of Energy recently announced that it was issuing a ``pause''--a ``pause''; that is Washington-speak--a ``pause'' on all new and pending permits for liquefied natural gas export projects. Can you believe that?

Liquefied natural gas--it is not complicated. America helped invent it. You just take natural gas in its gaseous form and you cool it, turn it into a liquid, put it on a ship, and you can send it all over the world. That is how we kept Europe open after Putin cut off Europe's oil and natural gas. It was a lifeline for our allies in Europe. It was a lifeline for many of our friends in West Asia.

President Biden, before this moratorium, promised our allies in Europe that they could count on us for their LNG needs, and now President Biden has chosen to stab America's LNG producers and our allies in the back--not in the front, in the back--by prohibiting the development of new LNG export permits.

This decision is going to kill dozens--dozens--of multibillion-dollar new terminal projects, including a project in Louisiana that we call Calcasieu Pass 2--$20 billion down the drain. Calcasieu Pass 2--a private project, a private sector project--cost $20 billion. It was set to be the largest LNG export terminal in the United States. It would have brought thousands of good jobs to Louisiana and to America. It would have produced energy to keep this country safe, to keep this country warm, and to help our friends. But President Biden has put all those jobs and the terminal itself in jeopardy. Why? Politics. To appease that neosocialist faction that I talked about who doesn't even like our country. Why?

But, you know, the ironic thing about this--the whack jobs who talked the President into this said: Well, we want you to help the environment.

Attacking the natural gas industry actually hurts the environment. You don't have to be an astrophysicist to figure that out. Natural gas is cleaner than coal. Natural gas is cleaner than cow chips. Natural gas is cleaner than wood. That is what millions--billions of our world's citizens are going to use if they don't have access to natural gas.

As a result of natural gas--natural gas drove a 32-percent reduction in American carbon emissions. We reduced our carbon emissions by 32 percent from 2005 to 2019, and we did it with natural gas. Also, at the same time, we helped families pay half as much to heat their homes. We cut the price of the energy needs of the average American, and we created 1.4 million new jobs. The whole world wins, not loses. The whole world wins--including the economy--when Americans produce natural gas. But President Biden is going to pause all that success because some meathead activist on TikTok doesn't like natural gas. Give me a break.

The President's LNG ruling is foolish. It demonstrates world-beating vacuity and deep, profound stupidity. It is also the most recent of many actions--I say regrettably, and I mean it--it is also the most recent of many actions that President Biden has taken to undermine America's energy security.

Before he even took office--remember the campaign?--before he even took office, President Biden said--this is what he told the American people: ``I guarantee you. I guarantee you. We're going to end fossil fuel.''

``I guarantee you. . . . We're going to end fossil fuel.''

Since his very first day in office, he has tried to do that, no matter how much it hurts Louisianians, no matter how much it hurts our allies and our friends, no matter how much it hurts the American people. Let me just give you a few examples.

On his first day, the first day he was President, President Biden blocked the Keystone XL Pipeline. It would have made transporting crude oil from our friends in Canada safer and cleaner. It would have been good for the environment. President Biden's Department of Energy reported that canceling--his own Department said this, for God's sake-- President Biden's Department of Energy said, after he made this decision, that canceling the Keystone XL Pipeline cost 59,000 American jobs, resulted in an economic loss of $1.3 billion.

Stupidity should hurt more.

Next, the Biden administration blocked all oil and natural gas drilling on Federal lands. He cut off 25 percent of America's drilling rights.

Then he placed restrictive emission caps on American coal and natural gas power plants that would force them to invest in costly new equipment or switch to hydrogen.

Then, just recently, he canceled seven oil and gas drilling leases, ending future drilling on 10 million acres--not 10,000 acres but 10 million acres--of land in northern Alaska.

Then he approved just three offshore drilling leases--the fewest number of offshore drilling sites approved by any President since leasing began in America.

Now, he is not just killing fossil fuels. He told us he was going to do it, and, by God, he is doing it. But he is not just killing fossil fuel projects; he is killing projects that are essential for wind and for solar too.

Wind and solar energy and the electric cars that President Biden wants Americans to drive all rely on batteries. Duh--that is why they call them electric. Those batteries require rare Earth minerals: cobalt, silver, copper, nickel. You can't just go to the Piggly Wiggly and buy those things; you have to mine them. We can mine those minerals in the United States, but once again, the Biden administration wants Louisianans and Americans to rely on countries that hate us for these minerals instead of mining for them at home.

For example, President Biden recently announced a ban on all copper and nickel mining in Minnesota's boundary waters--all of them. The Biden administration's EPA also proposed a rule that would allow Governors, blue State Governors--I am looking at you, California; I am looking at you, Illinois; I am looking at you, New York--that would allow blue State Governors to block rare Earth mining permits in their States. In fact, America's only cobalt mine closed on President Biden's watch.

Foolish political energy policies make life harder for Louisiana and American families. Electric prices are already up 23 percent nationwide since President Biden took office, and that is just a fact. Look it up. Go to Google. Let me say that again. Electricity prices are up 23 percent on average nationwide since President Biden took office. Gas prices are up 32 percent. They come down some, thank God, but they are still up 32 percent.

While Louisianans struggle under President Biden's energy- and job- killing policies, our adversaries can't stop winning.

Let's take Iran. Iran's oil imports are at a 5-year high. The Ayatollah in Iran--this guy made enough money to resume funding terrorist attacks on American bases. He is doing it all over the world. Do you know why? Because President Biden lets him. We have sanctions on Iran; the President will not enforce them.

Venezuela. Let's take Venezuela, another enemy of our country. Venezuela's oil imports increased 12 percent in 2023. Do you know why? President Biden took the sanctions off of them.

China is probably the biggest winner of them all. Even when President Biden tries to help the American people afford his surging energy costs, China wins. China wins.

I will give you an example. The Biden administration allowed a Chinese-owned company to buy up fuel from our strategic natural petroleum reserve. We have a strategic natural petroleum reserve. We buy up oil, millions of barrels. We store that oil underground in case we need it, in case we can't get oil from anywhere else. It is our energy savings account. Well, President Biden decided to sell some. He decided to sell it. Do you know whom he sold it to? China. China.

It was a move so foolish that the House and the Senate, which usually can't agree on the fact that the sky is blue, both passed bills to prevent China from ever tapping into our petroleum reserve again. You can't make this stuff up, folks.

Energy independence keeps America safe; it keeps America strong; it keeps America prosperous.

Louisianans--I don't know about other States, but I suspect other Americans believe like Louisianans. Louisianans do not want to rely upon the whims of our adversaries to keep our country running.

We cannot let President Biden commit energy suicide--we can't--to appease the radical left, the ``loonwing,'' of his party.

So I ask my colleagues to join me in pushing back against President Biden's anti-energy agenda and his moratorium on liquefied natural gas. Why? Because stupidity should hurt more.

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