House Republicans Prepare for 119th Congress
Floor Speech
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Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, it is great to be back in Washington, D.C., this week as the House Republicans set the stage for the 119th Congress with a unified front to tackle the most pressing issues that the American people face.
Americans from coast to coast are grappling with the consequences of the Biden-Harris administration, including high energy costs, crippling inflation, rising crime, burdensome regulations, and government overreach in schools and other institutions.
House Republicans are working together as a conference to craft legislation that tackles inflation, implements progrowth tax policies, cuts back on regulatory red tape, promotes family values, supports small businesses, secures our borders, and strengthens our position on the world stage.
During this lameduck period, we are hard at work advancing other key important pieces of legislation, specific pieces. This week, we put on the floor Congresswoman Claudia Tenney's Stop Terror Financing and Tax Penalty Act, which protects American citizens who are wrongfully detained or held captive abroad from late penalties from the IRS and revokes the tax-exempt status of nonprofits that provide financial or material support to terrorist groups like Hamas.
We have to listen to the American people when it comes to energy independence, a topic that we have spent the last 4 years trying to debate.
I think the people have spoken, and House Republicans are listening. They are advocating for policies that cut red tape and unleash our Nation's energy potential.
That is why we passed, earlier this week, Congressman Russ Fulcher's, who was just in the Chamber, Committing Leases for Energy Access Now Act, the CLEAN Act, which requires the Interior Department to increase the frequency of geothermal lease sales from every 2 years to every year, hold a replacement sale if necessary, and create decision deadlines for geothermal drilling permit applications, therefore enhancing our geothermal energy output and domestic energy supply.
If you say that you want clean energy, if you say that you want other alternatives but continue to withhold the permitting and hold hostage the permitting process, then you truly do not want to create a solution.
We are done with this. Permitting reform is something that has to take place in our Nation. We have done a little bit of it in a bipartisan way, but if we can't look at something like this and say that this, to reduce the burden on permitting, is the most commonsense thing for geothermal potential, then nobody is being actually serious back here.
Let's get these things done.
I am grateful for my colleagues who are going to join us this evening to discuss this and many other measures that are pertinent to their districts. I am grateful for their commitment to delivering for the American people as we continue to look forward to next Congress.
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Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his remarks. We appreciate his followthrough in highlighting this key, important legislation.
There are, I think, 46 Americans who are wrongfully detained. They should not be going through these types of tax penalties. This is something that makes absolute sense.
I appreciate my next colleague who will address the Chamber.
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Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Tennessee for his remarks. I always appreciate his involvement.
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Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia for his remarks. Utah has potential for some disasters, but nothing like the devastation they have seen, and our heart goes out to them.
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Mr. MOORE of Utah. Mr. Speaker, as always, I appreciate the gentleman from California (Mr. LaMalfa) and his thoughtful, but yet frustratingly common voice on energy policy.
I thank my colleagues for being here tonight and taking the time to speak on some of these priorities the House Republicans are focused on as we look forward to the 119th Congress, Mr. Speaker.
As I mentioned earlier, House Republicans are pushing legislation to reform the United States tax code, to protect American hostages abroad, and support our domestic energy industry.
Currently, there are approximately 46 Americans wrongfully detained or held hostage abroad, and our tax code does not provide any relief beyond 1 year for detainees.
The Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act works to support Americans by preventing the IRS from charging late fees and penalties to U.S. citizens wrongfully detained abroad. This bill also revokes the tax-exempt status of U.S. nonprofit organizations that provide financial or material support to terrorist groups like Hamas.
This is the most commonsense legislation that we are going to see in the lameduck period, and I am hopeful to see this through the legislative process entirely as it passes the House.
Americans should not be penalized for being held hostage by adversaries abroad, and this bill is a necessary step toward ensuring detainees and hostages are able to focus on safely returning home and reuniting with their families.
This week, House Republicans successfully passed the Committing Leases for Energy Access Now Act to require the Department of the Interior to increase the frequency of geothermal leases, the lease sales, from every 2 years to every year. It also includes holding a replacement sale, if necessary, and creates decision deadlines for geothermal drilling permit applications.
This bill emphasizes a robust energy policy that unleashes our Nation's energy potential, reduces reliance on foreign energy sources, and cuts back against onerous red tape that slows down energy production.
House Republicans know that we have a lot of work to do, and we are committed to using our constituents' voices as our guide as we reverse the Biden-Harris administration's failed policies and protect American citizens, restore American energy independence, and lower energy costs for American workers and their families.
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