Terminating the National Emergency Declared with Respect to Energy

Floor Speech

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Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, shortly, the Senate will vote on an important resolution put forward by our colleague and friend Senator Kaine on the topic of U.S. energy production.

As my colleagues know, Senator Schumer and I led the development of the clean energy tax credits, which set in motion the possibility of hundreds of billions of dollars of investment in clean energy and, particularly, a policy that would keep prices down and keep good jobs up. It had policies and ideas in it like technological neutrality that created an opportunity for good science to reign and create incentives for development.

Donald Trump came into office huffing and puffing because he didn't like that. He didn't like that kind of energy dominance based on consumer choice and marketplace forces.

He said our economic problems would go away with one thing: ``Drill, baby, drill.'' Here is the reality. Like so much of his agenda, it doesn't add up, and everything he does is rooted in a sweetheart deal for his wealthy contributors.

Back in February, he signed the Executive order declaring an energy emergency. That is the subject of today's floor action. The emergency declaration has nothing to do with energy dominance, but it has everything to do with giveaways for Big Oil. Donald Trump is looking out for the same oil and gas companies that he solicited for big checks for years and years. His offer to them was: Give me your money. Get me elected. I will let your companies run the show.

I will give you this: Donald Trump kept his promise to Big Oil. He has gutted American energy production, ceded ground to China on the clean energy arms race, and rigged the system. There is no technological neutrality, Senator Kaine. It is all about fossil fuels, to the exclusion of everything else.

After declaring this energy emergency, Donald Trump and Republicans took a wrecking ball to American energy production by gutting the tax credits for wind and solar energy in their budget bill. I was struck, as we were making the decisions, when natural gas leaders came and essentially told the Energy Committee, which at one point I chaired: Look, we are for natural gas, but with AI and all the energy needs for growth, we need solar and wind.

These are the gas people. They are not repudiating gas. They said: We need more energy.

My guiding principle has been crafting that legislation--that legislation that took, really, a decade to put together. After cap and trade went down, it was all about the need to create good-paying jobs and secure a clean energy future--and that those two are not mutually exclusive; you can have both. They go hand in hand.

The tax credits helped to kick off a manufacturing boom in America-- as I mentioned, hundreds of billions of dollars, not through government but through the private sector--hundreds of thousands of jobs. New factories went up around the country. Battery technology, clean vehicles, energy-efficient products for businesses and homeowners--it was already bringing down energy costs for consumers.

In terms of the global arms race for clean energy jobs and investment, the United States went from the middle of the pack, under our efforts, to the front basically overnight--until, at Trump's direction, Republicans destroyed all of that. All of that progress was destroyed, at the first opportunity, by Donald Trump. Why? To pay for more tax cuts for corporations and his wealthy friends.

When Republicans were gearing up to pass a reconciliation bill, I said this would be a bloodbath for clean energy. Fast-forward 3 months: Manufacturing projects are being canceled, jobs are being lost, and utility bills are going up. Their budget bill was a wrecking ball for clean energy, and those workers are going to lose their jobs as a direct result.

Last week, the administration announced plans to cancel over $7 billion in funding for clean energy. Almost every one of those projects was located, as Senator Kaine and I have talked about, in a blue State. Oregon alone had over $400 million in funding canceled.

Are the Republicans stopping there? No way. They have derailed management of our public lands, and now they want to do it to prop up coal. Oregonians see this for what it is--a gobsmacking attempt to hurt American families just to score points with campaign folks they have been close to.

Now, the United States is barreling toward a self-inflicted energy crisis manufactured entirely by Republicans. Energy demand is skyrocketing. Utility bills are rising. Keeping costs low and meeting demand is going to require an all-of-the-above approach based on technological neutrality. Instead, Republicans are focused on giveaways to billionaires--Americans' bank accounts be damned.

It is as clear as our beautiful Crater Lake at home that all the talk from Trump and Republicans about American energy dominance never was going to be a reality. It was just a hollow campaign slogan. The Republican energy agenda is a level of economic self-sabotage that leaves you slack-jawed: How can you make such an unforced error?

It is going to take a huge toll on the economy. Our people thought they were voting for cheaper groceries, utilities, gas, and good-paying jobs and haven't gotten much of any of that. They didn't vote for an energy crisis that benefits nobody except big oil investors.

So beginning, colleagues, with Senator Kaine's resolution, the Senate now has an opportunity, a chance to go to innovation and modernization and bring an end to Trump's manufactured energy crisis. This is a chance for the Senate to use innovation to fight for lower prices, more jobs, and greater energy security, while Donald Trump stands in contrast trying to undermine all that.

I urge my colleagues, when we vote, to strongly support Senator Kaine's resolution.

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