Researching Efficient Federal Improvements for Necessary Energy Refining Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. CASTOR of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding the time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 3109.

I know my Republican colleagues want to pretend that this is a simple, unbiased study bill, but it is not. The bill asks the National Petroleum Council, a council that is made up of members from the oil and gas industry, to create a report that says that the United States needs more oil and gas. I fear that what this is a recipe for is higher electric bills and higher costs for hardworking Americans who already are being crushed by higher bills.

There are unbiased public servants who could write this report--for example, at the Department of Energy--but, of course, Elon Musk and the Trump administration have pushed out more than 3,500 public servants there. As a result, the Department of Energy is in trouble. The Department has even had to ask external lawyers for things like defending against challenges relating to their illegal cancelations of projects across the country.

To bring this bill at a time when people really want to see the Congress work to solve problems, I think, demonstrates that Members are out of touch. It is part of a very disturbing Republican trend, led by the President, to purge the government of real experts and to slash and burn, like medical research, finding the cures and treatments that we need to survive and thrive; trying to illegally dismantle the Department of Education; and going after public health and really ruining a lot of the expert public health advice that helps keep our neighbors healthy and safe.

Then, here, when we are talking about oil and gas and their lobbyists, they are so firmly in control of the agenda here in the United States Congress. I just think my colleagues are not solving problems. Watching the President just remain out of touch is so painful to people back home that they feel betrayed.

Even during the Republican shutdown, was the President focused on trying to negotiate a solution there or trying to take us out of the healthcare crisis? No. He was giving the White House a makeover. He tore down the entire East Wing to make way for a 90,000-square-foot, $300 million ballroom, funded by corporations that have a lot to gain monetarily; and he had ``Great Gatsby'' parties at Mar-a-Lago with dancing girls. It is just mind-boggling.

Back to electric bills. Let's not forget that President Trump convened oil industry executives and lobbyists at his home last year to ask for $1 billion for his Presidential campaign. Well, now they are coming to collect.

Even after almost 2 months, when Speaker Johnson had the House of Representatives shut down because he didn't want to find a solution to rising healthcare costs and he wanted to avoid a vote to release the Epstein files, we could have been focusing on, behind the scenes, some ways to lower costs and solve real problems, but they continue to bring bills like this: a study on how we produce more oil and gas.

Here is the connection to higher bills. While they want to pad the profits of oil and gas companies, what they are doing to sabotage jobs and cleaner, cheaper energy now is showing up in people's electric bills, and they are angry.

I was with neighbors a couple of weeks ago who were burning their electric bills because costs are increasing so dramatically.

Why? On January 20, the President froze Federal leasing for wind projects and blocked permits for projects that had already been approved.

On February 5, the Army Corps of Engineers halted permits for 168 renewable energy projects on private lands.

In March, as part of his tariff war, he imposed a 10 percent tax on energy imported from Canada, hitting Midwestern States with higher gas prices.

In April, the Trump administration abruptly fired the entire staff overseeing the low-income Home Energy Assistance Program, which helps working families afford their utility bills. Weeks later, the White House proposed cutting it entirely.

In May, the Secretary of Energy ordered an old Michigan coal plant to stay online, forcing the company to spend nearly $1 million a day. These are costs that are passed on to families across the Midwest.

In June, the Trump administration's EPA proposed a rule to allow coal and gas power plants to emit unlimited amounts of climate pollution, locking us into a dirtier and more expensive future.

In July, Republicans passed their big, ugly bill, which will saddle American families with price hikes of at least $110 next year and up to $4,000 annually within a decade.

In August, EPA announced an illegal cancellation of the $7 billion Solar for All Grant Initiative, which was intended to bring affordable energy to more than 900,000 hardworking American households.

In September, the Trump administration unveiled a more than $600 million bailout for coal plants to keep them online.

In October, while shutting down the government to deny Americans access to affordable healthcare, the White House tried to claw back billions in clean energy funds.

These actions are costly, and American families deserve better. We should be working together to solve problems and not wasting time on trying to figure out how we pad the profits of industries. Instead, we should be looking out for the pocketbooks of the people who sent us here. People deserve better. Hardworking Americans expect better of this Congress.

I hope that we can send a message on this bill and the next one that we are not going to put up with it anymore. We want real solutions to lower the cost of living. Announcement By the Speaker Pro Tempore

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