-9999

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. SCHUMER. I want to thank Senator Schiff and Ranking Member Whitehouse for leading the charge on such an important resolution.

Around the country, people's gas and electric bills are skyrocketing. More and more Americans are looking for every penny they can find to pay the bills, especially with the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays around the corner.

As families are trying to save, Donald Trump is making it easier for gas companies to waste--that is, waste as much natural gas as they want--by delaying an important rule that reduces leaks and waste from natural gas facilities.

Can we have some order please.

Extracting natural gas costs money, and the more natural gas is wasted, the more consumers end up paying. That means it gets even more expensive to heat your home during the winter. It means more stress for families trying to make ends meet.

It is bad enough that the Republicans cut off all clean energy. That is going to cause people's electric prices to go through the roof. But now this is even worse--insult to injury to the American consumer.

So the bottom line is simple: Americans are falling behind on their energy bills, and Donald Trump and Republicans are doing the bidding of the natural gas and oil lobby to drive up energy costs, destroying good-paying American jobs in the process.

That wasted natural gas is poisonous to our communities. It leaks out into our neighborhoods, causing asthma, lung cancer, heart problems, even reproductive issues. So Democrats have acted to reduce methane leaks and waste, saving consumers money and making our communities healthy. That is a win-win.

But Trump and Republicans, again--America, when your electric bill goes up, talk to your Senator, if they are Republican, about why they are cutting wind, cutting solar, and letting oil companies waste valuable methane.

They are doing it all, and it is going to hurt the American consumer.

I urge strongly that we support this resolution.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source