Laken Riley Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor today having been in a number of hearings involving President Trump's nominees overseeing American energy dominance. I tell you, President Trump's energy nominees show that this administration that is coming in, the Trump- Vance administration, is serious about unleashing affordable, available, reliable American energy.

Doug Burgum is President Trump's nominee to be Secretary of the Department of the Interior. He is still testifying right now in the Energy Committee. He is the son of North Dakota, and his roots run deep in the West.

Chris Wright, who had his hearing yesterday, is President Trump's nominee to be the Secretary of Energy. His data-driven leadership and creativity laid the foundation for the fracking boom that we experienced in this Nation that has fueled American energy independence.

And Lee Zeldin, whom I had the privilege of introducing earlier this morning at the EPW Committee, well, he is a nominee to be the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. He is a lawyer; he is a veteran; and he is a former star Member of the House of Representatives. He is going to cut redtape. He is going to balance environmental stewardship with sensible energy production.

All three of these nominees are excellent choices to carry out President Trump's ``all of the above'' energy strategy. They all have my vote.

Like most Americans, President Trump and his nominees understand that energy policy is the foundation of our Nation's future and our success. It is linked directly to the prices that we pay, to the technology that we create, and to the world in which we live.

Unleashing American energy means lower prices, means more innovation at home, and it means more safety and security for our citizens.

Well, we have seen it before. Affordable, reliable energy was the rocket fuel for American security and prosperity, and we saw it during the first Trump administration. But over the last 4 years, Democrats restricted and regulated and tried to reduce American energy production, instead of unlocking its full potential. Their America-last energy strategy policies led to painfully high prices and a more vulnerable nation. I think energy was on the ballot this year, and energy won.

Fortunately, President Trump is placing a premium on energy production. He is already laying the groundwork to take the handcuffs off of American energy production. On day one, I expect the President is going to sign a blizzard of Executive orders to bring back American energy dominance. First day priorities include ending the Democrats' electric vehicle mandate, more drilling on Federal lands, and resuming exports of U.S. liquefied natural gas.

This is certainly good news for my home State of Wyoming. Wyoming is America's energy breadbasket. Oil and gas is our bread and butter. We have world-class reserves of coal. We have world-class wind. We have benefited from American energy dominance, and our Wyoming tough energy workers made it all possible. Wyoming energy workers now stand ready to unleash American energy once again.

I hear my colleagues on the other side of the aisle preach doom and gloom about energy independence. The Democrat leader here on the floor said yesterday Chris Wright, who is the President's nominee for the Secretary of Energy--he called this nominee an energy extremist. Why? Because Chris Wright believes ``oil and gas make the world go round.'' Well, it does.

This is the depth of the Democrats' climate delusion. Oil and gas drive our economy, produce great jobs, and produce our prosperity. And because of American oil and gas, we do it cleaner; we do it safer; and we do it more reliably than anyplace else on planet Earth.

The facts could not be clearer. Since 2005, America has been responsible for 66 percent of emission reduction among developed countries. We do it better than anyone else in the world. We have reduced more emissions than the next six countries combined.

There is a reason why, and it is not because Joe Biden bribed Americans to buy solar panels or buy electric cars. No, it is American energy production, American energy dominance. It is because we unleashed affordable, available, reliable American energy. For the record, we can thank Chris Wright and the fracking boom for unleashing a lot of that energy.

In 2019, America became energy independent for the first time in 50 years. Why? How did it happen? President Trump did it. With Doug Burgum, Chris Wright, and Lee Zeldin on America's team, we are going to do it again.

(The remarks of Mr. BARRASSO pertaining to the submission of S. 140 are printed in today's Record under ``Submitted Resolutions.'')

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