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Floor Speech

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Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, yes, this proposal really deserves to be objected to. You know, it really deserves an objection because what we really have to say here is that we object to this bill as a ridiculous attack--a Republican attack--on the authority of the executive branch.

But we don't need to talk about how this bill would work. Let's talk about why this bill is the bill that the Republicans are pushing. Are they lining up here to protest something worthy, like public health? No.

Are they demanding we deliver something meaningful, like clean air or clean water? No.

Are they taking a stand for the future that worries moms and dads and parents and grandparents and neighbors and young people who are asking us to fight for those things? No.

So what are the Republicans doing? They are protecting the profits of fossil fuel companies. They are delivering our dollars to oil and gas exporters. They are taking a stand against a clean, healthy, sustainable future. What a track record--what a track record that they have.

These companies are fracturing American lands to produce gas for fossil fuel executives to export--to export--out of our country to the highest global bidder. They want to export this.

And who takes the environmental risks? Well, the families who live nearby, who are going to be near these pipelines. And then the companies take it to the first port they can get it to and then send it out of our country.

Do they want to keep it here to lower the price of natural gas for American consumers? Absolutely not. They want to get it out on the open market in a ship because that is the highest bidder. Around the world, let them bid for it.

Now, if they were saying, ``Hey, we really want to lower the price of natural gas in the United States,'' that is one thing. But that is not what this is all about. It is all about an export plan: Get the oil, get the gas out of our country and get the highest price in the world.

They are putting wells filled with toxic chemicals next to schools, your homes, your daycare, your hospitals--all so they can ship tankers filled with natural gas to China or any other country that is the highest bidder.

That is what this is all about, ladies and gentlemen. It is not about lowering the price of natural gas or oil for American consumers. It is about oil company executives getting higher profits for themselves.

The United States exported a record shattering amount of natural gas in 2023, more than 10 percent higher than in 2022. We export more liquefied natural gas than any other country in the world. And what do we get for all of these planet-destroying emissions? While Big Oil and House Republicans say that those fossil fuel exports are good for the economy, soaring LNG exports actually cost big bucks, with Americans spending $111 billion more on natural gas as exports soared from 2021 to 2022.

While many justified the rapid natural gas export build-out as critical for European energy security, the reality is that European gas demand is not only already met, it is declining. So we are not using this fracked gas here in the United States. We are not benefiting from exports of this fracked gas. In fact, it raises prices at home as we export the oil, as we export the gas.

If we kept it here, it would put pressure on the price of natural gas and oil here in the United States. But they don't keep it here. They put it on ships to send it around the world.

This fracked gas is a reason that prices are going up in the United States, and our allies aren't demanding a surge in fracked gas.

So who benefits from this fight for fracked gas? In 2023 alone, the 15 biggest oil and gas companies made more than $172 billion in profit. That is money that directly comes out of household budgets for fuel, for electricity, and even food and other necessities affected by the high prices.

Gas companies and oil companies are running the same old-fashioned playbook for their dinosaur products, fossils: Drill and shill their fuels as hard as they can. And as we stop moving toward clean energy, these fossil fuel executives are trying to get other countries hooked and exporting products to keep prices high at home.

So that is a crazy economic strategy for the United States: building export terminals to take our own oil and gas that should be here and lowering the price for consumers, for our businesses, for our homeowners, for our commercial sector. But, no, they say: Put it on the open market around the world and leave less of it here for American consumers.

So just as we can track earthquakes in States that have large fracking and be able to see that that is happening, we can track this fracking defense bill to the companies that will benefit from it. This bill does nothing to protect Americans' health or their communities or their future or even their budgets. It protects fossil fuel companies from having to answer for their actions and pay for their profiteering.

And for that reason, I stand in support of Senator Merkley's objection to this, because this is not a policy which we should allow to go permanently unaddressed in our country. It is time we have the big debate about the impact exporting our oil and gas has upon domestic prices.

You can't have it both ways. You can't say this is good for America because we are exporting it and not understand that the less that we have here is to lower the pressure, to lower the prices for ordinary Americans.

So when you look at all the polling and it says, ``People are concerned about high energy prices; people are concerned about our economy,'' what is at the center of it? Well, what is at the center of it is oil and gas and high prices.

And what this proposal does is say ``Just keep it going; send it to China, send it to other countries around the world.'' But, no, at the same time, in the same way, we are importing lower-priced Chinese goods, we are to be sending them even more materials that allow them to become more dominant as an economic power.

I support Senator Merkley's objection. And I hope that we actually come to the day where we have a full-blown debate here on the Senate floor on the impact this export of oil and gas, this impact of fracked materials with chemicals in the soil of our country, have upon the totality of our economic and environmental justice issues in our society.

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