Terminating the National Emergency Declared with Respect to Energy

Floor Speech

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Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, for over a decade, I have led the charge to expose government abuses, curb reckless regulations, and protect hard- working taxpayers from Washington's overreach.

As my colleagues have so rightly discussed, the actions by the Biden administration made it necessary for President Trump to declare a national energy emergency on day one.

The Biden administration's green energy programs artificially incentivized electric vehicles using billions of taxpayer dollars, with only 60 charging stations to show for it. Folks, that is just one of the many energy-related billion-dollar boondoggles by the former administration.

As chair and founder of the Senate DOGE Caucus, I committed to preventing unchecked bureaucrats from issuing regulations that impose significant new costs and stifle growth. Every day, DOGE is uncovering just how far the Biden administration went to conceal its reckless spending through the Federal Agencies, especially regarding their climate pet projects.

Instead of transparency and objective analysis, Biden's bureaucrats relied on manipulation, inflated so-called ``net benefits,'' and completely disregarded economic reality in their rulemakings. And they were prolific, churning out nearly 110,000 pages of regulations just last year. That is 1 year and 110,000 pages--the highest number ever.

Between November 2023 and January 2025 alone, Agencies issued 50 final rules using shady accounting gimmicks, slapping over half a trillion dollars in regulatory burdens onto hard-working Americans. This included a relentless push to regulate truckers out of business, based on the audacious claim that its extreme emissions rules would somehow create $99 billion in benefits for society.

But here is the reality, folks: These policies make everything more expensive for families, they kill jobs, and they hurt our small businesses.

It doesn't stop there. The Department of Energy cited billions in so- called ``climate net benefits'' and the ``social cost of greenhouse gases'' to justify heavyhanded mandates, ignoring the very real costs passed on to farmers and manufacturers.

For too long, unelected bureaucrats have ignored the voices of job creators and working families, pushing costly regulations while hiding the true impact. This is why my RED TAPE Act is critical. My bill ensures that Agencies can no longer manipulate a cost-benefit analysis to push their own agenda. It requires Agencies to prioritize data- driven, measurable economic benefits, not vague ideological justifications.

While some Federal employees complain about the new directives from the Trump administration, they should take a moment to understand that hard-working Americans who have had to show up to work and take risks to open businesses will no longer tolerate having to foot the bill for regulatory overreach.

I am voting no on this effort to end President Trump's national energy emergency. I support the President's efforts to make energy more available and affordable to power economic growth.

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