Providing for Consideration of H.R. Reliable Federal Infrastructure Act; Providing for Consideration of H. Res. Expressing Support for Rural Communities Across the United States As Stewards of the Environment, Major Suppliers of United States Energy Resources, Critical Providers of Food Production and Manufacturing Capacity, and Drivers of National Economic Stability, and Recognizing the Work of the House of Representatives in the 119th Congress in Support of Those Vital Communities; Providing for Consideration of H.R. Esa Amendments Act of and Providing for Consideration of H.R. Harnessing Energy At Thermal Sources Act of 2026

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROY. Madam Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 1189 and ask for its immediate consideration.

The Clerk read the resolution, as follows: H. Res. 1189

Resolved, That upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to consider in the House the bill (H.R. 4690) to amend the Energy Conservation and Production Act to repeal certain Federal building energy efficiency performance standards, and for other purposes. All points of order against consideration of the bill are waived. The amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the Committee on Energy and Commerce now printed in the bill shall be considered as adopted. The bill, as amended, shall be considered as read. All points of order against provisions in the bill, as amended, are waived. The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill, as amended, and on any further amendment thereto, to final passage without intervening motion except: (1) one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce or their respective designees; and (2) one motion to recommit.

Sec. 2. Upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order without intervention of any point of order to consider in the House the resolution (H. Res. 1182) expressing support for rural communities across the United States as stewards of the environment, major suppliers of United States energy resources, critical providers of food production and manufacturing capacity, and drivers of national economic stability, and recognizing the work of the House of Representatives in the 119th Congress in support of those vital communities. The resolution shall be considered as read. The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the resolution and preamble to adoption without intervening motion or demand for division of the question except one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce or their respective designees.

Sec. 3. Upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to consider in the House the bill (H.R. 1897) to amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to optimize conservation through resource prioritization, incentivize wildlife conservation on private lands, provide for greater incentives to recover listed species, create greater transparency and accountability in recovering listed species, streamline the permitting process, eliminate barriers to conservation, and restore congressional intent. All points of order against consideration of the bill are waived. In lieu of the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the Committee on Natural Resources now printed in the bill, an amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting of the text of Rules Committee Print 119-23 shall be considered as adopted. The bill, as amended, shall be considered as read. All points of order against provisions in the bill, as amended, are waived. The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill, as amended, and on any further amendment thereto, to final passage without intervening motion except: (1) one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Natural Resources or their respective designees; and (2) one motion to recommit.

Sec. 4. Upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to consider in the House the bill (H.R. 5587) to amend the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 to waive the requirement for a Federal drilling permit for certain activities, to exempt certain activities from the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, and for other purposes. All points of order against consideration of the bill are waived. The amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the Committee on Natural Resources now printed in the bill shall be considered as adopted. The bill, as amended, shall be considered as read. All points of order against provisions in the bill, as amended, are waived. The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill, as amended, and on any further amendment thereto, to final passage without intervening motion except: (1) one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Natural Resources or their respective designees; and (2) one motion to recommit.

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Mr. ROY. Madam Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Neguse), pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only. General Leave
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Mr. ROY. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, last night, the Rules Committee met and produced a rule providing for consideration of four pieces of legislation.

The rule provides for consideration of H. Res. 1182, expressing support for rural communities across the United States, under a closed rule, with 1 hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce or their respective designees.

The rule further provides for consideration of H.R. 4690, the Reliable Federal Infrastructure Act, under a closed rule, with 1 hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce or their respective designees and provides for one motion to recommit.

The rule also provides for consideration of H.R. 5587, the HEATS Act, under a closed rule with 1 hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Natural Resources or their respective designees and provides for one motion to recommit.

The rule also provides for consideration of H.R. 1897, the ESA Amendments Act, under a closed rule with 1 hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Natural Resources or their respective designees and provides for one motion to recommit.

Now, Madam Speaker, as the House of Representatives works to deliver on critical issues for the American people, we urge our colleagues to pass this suite of bills that I just described.

As I already talked about, we have a resolution to support our Nation's rural communities. We have legislation to unlock geothermal energy. We have legislation to repeal burdensome energy mandates on Federal buildings, and we have a fix to the Endangered Species Act.

Now, I anticipate some of the arguments my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will make, and I would just note something that is critically important, this is going to raise issues about why we are bringing up a resolution, for example, with regard to support for our rural communities.

The fact is, if you look at what has been happening over the last 16 months, you will see that the Republican House of Representatives has led on numerous issues, issue after issue, month after month.

We started this Congress by passing legislation, the Laken Riley Act, to ensure that we can have adequate and full enforcement by ICE and by our Border Patrol men and women who are securing our country, by improving that law to ensure that people can be adequately removed.

Importantly, it included the sue act which will allow States, such as my home State of Texas, to be able to defend our homes by suing the Federal Government when it fails to secure the border, as occurred under the previous President and the previous Secretary of Homeland Security.

Fast-forward to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a piece of legislation that made permanent tax rates so that we can have growth and economic opportunity for the American people, lower taxes for millions of Americans to ensure that we can actually grow this economy and compete worldwide.

We had legislation in that bill that removed some of the onerous subsidies that were undermining reliable energy in Texas and around the country with the green new scam subsidies that were making energy more expensive for the American people.

We had reforms to our programs, whether it was Medicaid or whether we are talking about food stamps. By the way, those reforms are probably going to make it easier for us to move a farm bill in the coming weeks.

We had significant resources that were put aside for our defense, to modernize our military after it languished under the previous administration, and we had language that is enabling us to fund ICE and Border Patrol right now, which brings me to my final point.

What we have been able to pass has been hitting a wall, a wall in the Senate, of Democrats who refuse to do the job the American people sent us here to do. We had over 40 days of shutdown in the fall, 40 days where we had to deal with the lack of pay and resources for the people who defend our country, including TSA at airports. We are currently in over 60 days of shutdown of our Homeland Security operations, which we are using funds that we had the foresight to put forward to be able to use to backfill in order to keep operations going to fund Border Patrol and ICE, to fund TSA, to fund the Coast Guard, and to fund FEMA when our colleagues on the other side of the aisle refused to do it. This is what we are dealing with every single day in the United States Congress.

Consequently, yes, we are going to be able to tell the American people and have a resolution for the people in rural communities, that we are passing legislation that benefits them, that enables them to have more affordable energy, that enables them to be able to have lower taxes, and to be able to provide better homes for their families.

What we aren't going to do is allow Democrats to be able to get past or allow them to get away with shutting down our ability to do our job in this country, and that is precisely what they have been doing.

We are going to move legislation this week that is going to provide greater energy resources by harnessing energy and thermal sources. We are eliminating permitting restrictions and making it easier to do that.

We are going to put forward the Reliable Federal Infrastructure Act, where we have got barriers to our ability to have reliable energy to provide energy for our Federal buildings, and the ESA Amendments Act, which makes dramatically needed and necessary improvements to the Endangered Species Act, which has been standing in the way of our ability to provide energy and to provide greater freedom for the American people.

Madam Speaker, the Republican leadership and the Republican Conference in this House of Representatives have been fighting to deliver for the American people, and we have been obstructed by two things: our colleagues on the other side of the aisle and Democrats in the Senate who are using an artificial 60-vote threshold to deny the American people the ability for us to have the changes that they sent us here to Washington to do.

We are going to continue to go down this road. This week is another step in going down this road, and that is why I am going to be urging my colleagues to support this rule and to support the legislation that we put forward under the rule.

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Mr. ROY. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I note my colleague invoked that we could be down here debating, for example, immigration. Well, this Republican House has stood up to defend our borders and defend this President and defend this administration's active enforcement of our laws at the border of the United States in the face of willful resistance by Democrats who refuse to fund it.

That is the actual truth. We know this because we are now in day 63 or something to that effect or higher than 60 days of a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security after enduring over 40 days shutdown in the fall.

Republicans are having to move money around in order to pay our men and women in Border Patrol and ICE so that they can do their job and be able to fund TSA, FEMA, and the Coast Guard.

My colleagues on the other side of the aisle say we keep offering amendments and bills to fund it. No. They have rejected our bills to fund the entirety of the Department of Homeland Security because they are trying to keep it hostage for political purposes.

This Republican Congress, as I said, passed the Laken Riley Act. This Republican Congress, as I said, passed funds in the big, beautiful bill last summer to ensure that we can secure the border of the United States. This Republican Congress has been backing up the President and Department of Homeland Security in doing the job that Joe Biden and Alejandro Mayorkas would not do.

Now, we see the ramifications of this in continuation as we see Americans losing their lives while people are in our country who should not be. There was a woman in Florida, a mother, who walked out of the convenience store because her car was being destroyed by a Haitian who had come here and was operating under a temporary program. This individual bludgeoned this American to death, this mother, with a hammer in front of the convenience store, and I am met with utter silence from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. I am met with utter silence while we tried to ensure that we fund the men and women responsible for securing us against these individuals.

Now we are having to figure out how to backdoor find a way to fund these important, core constitutional responsibilities in defending the United States of America because our Democratic colleagues refuse to do it. They refuse and are willing to create chaos for the American people and endanger the American people for crass political purposes.

The American people observe this. They know this. They see what we are doing and, yes, we are going to move important legislation this week, critical legislation this week to do what our Democratic colleagues also do not want to do: free up the American entrepreneur to produce energy for the American people. We are getting barriers and regulations out of the way. We are getting barriers and regulations, obstacles that stand in the way of people who actually know how to produce energy.

As a Texan, I know what that looks like. I have had to fight and deal with the abuse of the Endangered Species Act to prevent the ability of us to be able to have frac sand and to be able to go out and produce the energy and the oil and gas that we need, that right now is providing the independence that gives us the freedom to not be reliant on people around the world.

That is what we are doing this week. That is what we have been doing for the last 16 months. There is one obstacle for the American people's prosperity, and that is the Democratic Party.

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Mr. ROY. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I note that there are three pieces of legislation that are coming to the floor that will make meaningful differences for the American people.

The Harnessing Energy At Thermal Sources Act is adding to a laundry list of things that we have done over the last 15 or 16 months to try to free up energy production in the United States. It amends the Geothermal Steam Act to streamline the permitting processes. A constant theme is the barriers to the American people being able to go out through their entrepreneurial spirit and produce energy that is affordable. In many instances, it makes dramatic improvements in terms of its cleanliness.

Currently, geothermal operators on non-Federal land that produces any quantity of Federal resources, like federally owned mineral estates, must comply with permitting, even if the Federal share of the mineral estate is trivial.

This would alleviate that burden and others by clarifying that the geothermal exploration or production on non-Federal lands is not subject to NEPA, the ESA, or the National Historic Preservation Act permitting processes. It doesn't change anything specific to our ability to produce them and the royalty structures, and it keeps in place important safeguards while allowing geothermal to be built out.

Madam Speaker, these are important, important changes for the people out there trying to produce them. We act like this is trivial. We act like this isn't a big deal for the ability of the American people to have affordable energy and for our business leaders to be able to go out and produce alternative energy sources.

The Reliable Federal Infrastructure Act repeals a 2007 mandate that Federal buildings reduce their use of fossil fuels by 2030 by, I think, 90 percent. These mandates came at a time when we thought that the United States would run out of oil.

Obviously, we had the shale revolution. We have the ability to be able to produce significant cleaner energy in the production of natural gas. We need reliable energy to be able to keep our buildings operating.

An overreliance on subsidized, unreliable wind and solar, including in my home State of Texas, has created difficulties with having reliability on the grid and, in many instances, has not produced any of the so-called improvements in terms of green energy that were promised.

We want to reduce those barriers, reduce the burdens, and be able to ensure that we are able to proceed.

Madam Speaker, the final point is the ESA Amendments Act of 2025. The ESA Amendments Act of 2025 makes the first major reform to the broken Endangered Species Act.

Again, as I mentioned before, working with businesses in Texas, we have had numerous issues where that has been a major barrier to our ability to be able to get energy in production.

In the 50 years since the ESA was signed, only 3 percent of the listed species have ever recovered. It doesn't mean that we shouldn't be working and finding ways to make sure that we can protect certain species, but we often are listing certain species that aren't going to have a chance of recovery and that are actually used as a weapon and a tool of the left to stop the ability of us to be able to produce affordable energy for the American people.

The American people sit at home wondering why they can't afford goods and services, can't afford cars, can't afford energy, can't afford to be able to pay for their families. It is almost always tied back to the regulatory state and the burdens placed upon them by this body and by bureaucrats in this town.

What we have been trying to do for the last 16 months is unwind even just a fraction of those burdens. Yet we are met with constant resistance by our colleagues on the other side of the aisle.

I know that we talk about gas prices and how they are at a point right now where we all want them to go down as we are dealing with the conflict with Iran, but they were $6 a gallon nationally under the previous administration. Now they are somewhere around $4 a gallon, and we want them to go down. We certainly can do that.

The best way to do that is to have massive production of oil and gas in the United States. We have tankers that are coming to the United States to get oil and gas. We have the ability to produce oil and gas if we get the regulatory climate such that they can do it, and that is what we are trying to do with this legislation.

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Mr. ROY. May I inquire as to how much time each side has remaining.

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Mr. ROY. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I would note to my colleague from Colorado that the previous administration racked up a rather undistinguished list of antireliable energy policies and results. President Biden closed the Keystone XL pipeline on day one and rejoined the Paris Climate Accords, handicapping our industry.

In the final days of the administration, he used the stroke of a pen to grow a national monument by 85 percent and closed off thousands of acres to reliable energy production.

He closed off the Gulf of America to new oil and gas leasing. It is a decision thankfully reversed in the Big Beautiful Bill Act last summer. He singlehandedly paused the exportation of liquefied natural gas, recognizing that LNG has the ability to free up the rest of the world from reliance on numerous of our enemies around the globe, and to create wealth and jobs and opportunities in the United States.

Biden's Department of Commerce sought to limit how fast boats could go in certain waters because of the Endangered Species Act. NOAA also abused the Endangered Species Act to deny oil leases.

Meanwhile, we have bills on the floor this week to try to reverse those issues. We have been dedicated to passing energy reform for the last 16 months. Just last week, we sent a number of bills to reform the Clean Air Act. There is issue after issue, some of which are recounted in the resolution the gentleman seems so hung up on spending time worrying about, when we have bill after bill that we are passing, some of which have become law and passed through the Senate and gotten to the President, but many of which are hung up by a Democratic Senate obstructionist that has the inability to actually move anything because of an artificial 60-vote threshold.

That is the simple reality. We are being hamstrung by resistance to our ability to deliver on the things that the American people sent us here to deliver upon.

The gentleman brought up the issue with respect to, I suppose, the motion to recommit that would be offered and that was offered as an amendment last night in committee. I wholly recognize that, yes, I opposed that amendment and have opposed it before because I do not believe that we should fund a Department of Homeland Security specifically isolating and pulling out Border Patrol and ICE. I just don't believe we should do that. I think it is wrong. I think we are setting a bad precedent. I think we are setting up a structure in which we are going to start saying we are going to have X pieces of these important--by the way, these are core functions that defend our way of life, defend our community, and defend our country. We can have debates about their policies. I understand that my colleagues want to add riders and want to add changes and impact policies attached to the funding, but we are setting a terrible precedent by going down the road of saying we are going to carve out and say that we are not going to fund Border Patrol and ICE, which is the resistance. The American people understand that, because we have an obligation to fund all of the Department of Homeland Security. I believe that, and I think that is something that we should do. Whether we do that this way or whether we have to backdoor it through reconciliation, I am not sure I care. I think we should do it through appropriations, but I don't believe we ought to isolate it. We will see what the Senate does. We will see what the House does.

I am going to continue to stand up on the principle that Border Patrol and ICE should be funded fully through the appropriations process as the entire Department of Homeland Security should, whether it is FEMA, TSA, and every other function like Coast Guard, but that we should do it together: debate the policy, offer amendments on it, and move on.

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Mr. ROY. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I would note that the reason that the former President's name comes up is because the lingering impacts of the previous administration continue. I mean, I already mentioned you have got the mother in Florida, but I can mention dozens and hundreds of examples of American citizens that have died as a result of people who were let in under the previous administration's policies, people who have died here today in America, policies we are trying to reverse and that we are trying to enforce against.

The lingering effects are fairly profound. I can assure you that the American citizens getting killed at the hands of criminals allowed into our country by the previous administration do not take solace in the fact that we now have a new administration, yet that administration is being hamstrung by virtue of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle's unwillingness to fund the very entities that try to stop the danger and the attacks on the American people.

That is what this is all about. That is what this all boils down to.

Again, I can assure you that the people I represent, the people I talk to across the State of Texas, are thrilled with tax cuts. They are thrilled with regulatory relief. They are thrilled with our actions in Venezuela. They are thrilled that we are reestablishing our strength in the Western Hemisphere and around the globe. They are thrilled that we are standing up to the cartels. They are thrilled that we designated the cartels as terrorists. They are thrilled that we stopped the flow at the border. They are thrilled that we have been enforcing the law and removing dangerous aliens. They are thrilled that our military has the highest recruitment and the highest enlistment in a generation because people actually believe in our country again. They are thrilled in the direction that this administration and this Congress wants to go, and they recognize that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are throwing up barrier after barrier after barrier to be able to carry out the fundamental function of government, which is to defend the United States, defend our border, and do our job.

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Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I would note that we are talking about rural America. Last summer, when we passed the largest tax savings for the American people in history, it included significant savings with respect to the death tax that cripples American farmers, and not a single one of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle supported that.

We advanced that legislation. We advanced that tax reduction so that American farmers can pass down their farms to the next generation without having to give it up because of the burden of Federal Government.

My colleague invoked the Founders, that they couldn't imagine we would be here having this discussion. I, in fact, think that the Founders would be quite pleased to see us on the floor reversing the regulatory state and reversing the burdens being placed on the American people that are limiting their ability to do what God gave them the ability to do.

That is what we are doing with respect to getting these barriers in the Endangered Species Act: the energy mandates on the Federal buildings, putting us into unreliable power rather than reliable power, and allowing ourselves to have geothermal production without barriers that stand in the way of the American people doing what they do best.

That is absolutely what the Founders would have envisioned us doing on the floor of the House of Representatives. I am proud to be doing that. I am proud of what we have been doing the last 16 months.

As I said before, the people whom I talk to when I go home to Texas are thrilled that our border is secure. They are thrilled our enlistments are up with our military. They are thrilled we are standing up to cartels. They are thrilled we are removing bad actors in this country.

They are thrilled we are removing the bureaucratic state. They are thrilled we are firing Federal bureaucrats. They are thrilled we held flat spending for discretionary spending for the last 3 years. They are thrilled that we have tried to make sure that we have money aside to be able to do what our Democratic colleagues refuse to do.

Today, I urge adoption of this rule, a rule to put forth legislation that will help the American people in the face of opposition from my colleagues here.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

The material previously referred to by Mr. Neguse is as follows: An Amendment To H. Res. 1189 Offered By Mr. Neguse of Colorado

At the end of the resolution, add the following:

Sec. 5. Immediately upon adoption of this resolution, the House shall take from the Speaker's table the bill (H.R. 7147) making further consolidated appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2026, and for other purposes, with the Senate amendment thereto, and consider in the House, without intervention of any point of order, a motion that the House recede from its amendment and concur in the Senate amendment. The Senate amendment and the motion shall be considered as read. The motion shall be debatable for one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Appropriations or their respective designees. The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the motion to its adoption without intervening motion.

Sec. 6. Clause 1(c) of rule XIX and clause 8 of rule XX shall not apply to the consideration of the motion.

Sec. 7. The Speaker is directed to sign the enrolled bill no later than one calendar day after adoption, and the Clerk is directed to present the bill to the President immediately upon signature by the Senate President.
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