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BIDEN'S ASSAULT ON AMERICAN ENERGY
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Bush). Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 4, 2021, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Joyce) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
General Leave
Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I ask that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and submit extraneous materials.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Pennsylvania?
There was no objection.
Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, we are here tonight as members of the House Energy Action Team to discuss the Biden administration's assault on American energy.
His policies have hurt our constituents, and tonight, members of the HEAT team will talk about how these actions continue to harm their districts. The last 9 months have painted a portrait of what the Biden administration's energy policies mean for our country.
Madam Speaker, it is not a pretty picture. As we speak, Biden's allies in Congress intend to pass their $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package, only making this situation worse.
Let's take the natural gas tax, for example. It will increase everyday Americans' bills by hundreds of dollars and destroy hundreds of thousands of American family-sustaining jobs. This will rob opportunity from the very communities that I represent in Pennsylvania and hundreds of towns just like this. And we will hear more about that this evening.
This tax is a solution in search of a problem, and it is creating that problem. The United States has led the world in reducing greenhouse emissions in the last two decades, and the energy industry is voluntarily reducing methane emissions.
Innovation is the ultimate answer to cutting emissions, and we cannot afford to stifle advancement. As a Nation, we cannot tax our way to a cleaner environment. And Americans are fed up with taxes. The biggest tax that our citizens are now facing is inflation. Across the board, prices are rising.
The energy sector is particularly worrisome with gas prices climbing 63 percent in my home State of Pennsylvania. This cost falls disproportionately on low-income Americans. It is not fair for them to foot the bill for the policy preferences of liberal coastal elites.
Let's take another example of the Biden administration's war on American industry. In their attempts to enact provisions of the Green New Deal, they have smothered American innovation. For years, our Nation has been at the cutting edge in nearly every sector of the economy. From cyberspace to advances in manufacturing, America has always stayed one step ahead of its competition. But that is starting to change.
American researchers and developers have always been able to count on the access to the resources needed to manufacture new pioneering products. But a rising China threatens that access.
Of the 35 essential minerals listed for the U.S. economic and national security, China is the top producer or top supplier of 23 of them. China controls the production of 80 percent of rare earth elements, 70 percent of graphite, almost 60 percent of lithium, and almost 60 percent of vanadium, and 36 percent of cobalt.
Products like batteries and semiconductors that are needed in the liberals' remaking of America require large amounts of these rare earth elements.
The good news is we have them, right here within our borders. The bad news is that under the Biden administration's burdensome regulations, companies are unable to mine these very elements that are under the ground that we stand on. We need to unshackle the American worker and allow businesses to extract these minerals so that we can make the products of the future right here at home instead of relying on foreign rivals.
As the last 9 months have clearly shown, these policies are not the right way forward. Congress must continue to embrace the bottom-up innovation that will result in leaps in efficiency far greater than any mandate--instead of expensive taxes that will take money out of working Americans' pockets.
We have a great group of colleagues here tonight from the House Energy Action Team to talk about how their communities are being affected by this administration.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Balderson).
Mr. BALDERSON. Madam Speaker, I rise today to address the Biden administration's attack on American energy production.
Last month, as America faced 40 percent higher prices at the pump as a result of his failed policies, President Biden found himself begging OPEC to open the valve to alleviate the pinch of skyrocketing prices. To no one's surprise, OPEC refused.
Earlier this year, in a baffling sequence of events on his very first day in office, President Biden canceled the Keystone XL pipeline project, eliminating 11,000 U.S. energy jobs here at home.
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And then he gave a green light to Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline across Europe. Perhaps most appalling is that the Nord Stream 2 decision was made in the wake of Russian hackers shutting down the Colonial Pipeline, affecting tens of millions of American up and down the East coast.
These misguided policy decisions by the Biden administration have caused irreparable harm, not just to the U.S., but also to our European allies who are growing increasingly weary of how the Kremlin may use its newfound grasp on the region's energy supplies to advance their geopolitical influence.
Destroying American energy production under the false pretense that doing so is somehow saving the environment is nothing more than a mismatch of problems and solutions. It is a disastrous display of virtue-signaling.
Meanwhile, in the midst of soaring inflation, American taxpayers are the ones left paying the price, robbed of both reliable energy options and their hard-earned money.
Madam Speaker, the Biden administration's policies are damaging American energy independence and security. We must reverse course and return to a path of American energy leadership, not foreign reliance.
Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Balderson.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Walberg).
Mr. WALBERG. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania.
Madam Speaker, last week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that Russia is now the number two oil importer to the U.S.--
let that sink in--behind only Canada. Russian oil imports increased by 23 percent in May to nearly 850,000 barrels a day from the previous month.
Up until the Biden administration took over, we were energy secure and no longer dependent upon Middle East oil. Now President Biden is asking OPEC to pump more oil while he shuts down domestic production, putting America last.
The message is clear, President Biden is pro-Russia and OPEC energy, but anti-American energy. He is pro-Russian pipelines, but anti-
American pipelines.
In January, President Biden canceled the Keystone XL pipeline. He then withdrew sanctions the Trump administration put in place, enabling Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline to transfer natural gas to Germany without navigating its way through Ukraine.
We know pipelines are the safest and most efficient way to transport energy products. Even Energy Secretary Granholm admitted this in the wake of the Colonial cyberattack. And yet, we are witnessing attacks from the left on energy infrastructure in every corner of the Nation.
In Michigan, Governor Whitmer has ordered the shutdown of Line 5, despite it earning all of the necessary permits and environmental reviews at both the State and the Federal level.
Line 5 carries 540,000 barrels a day of crude oil and natural gas and serves more than 50 percent of Michigan's propane needs. Shutting it down would threaten thousands of jobs, billions in economic output, and the safe supply of resources necessary to meet Michigan families' most basic needs.
Make no mistake: there are consequences to these actions. We saw what happened earlier this year when just one pipeline shut down. What will happen when Democrats shut down all of the pipelines, ban oil and natural gas, and make us 100 percent dependent on renewables sourced from China? This is a stark vision for our future, and even more so for our grandchildren's future.
So I would ask my Democratic colleagues to stop placating the radical green lobby, and instead, work with us in a bipartisan manner to develop real, long-term solutions that deploy more clean energy and reduce emissions through innovation and technology. This all makes sense, and it is American.
American ingenuity during the shale revolution enabled us to become the world's energy leader. We must not surrender this role to adversaries by hamstringing ourselves with Green New Deal mandates that make no sense, will not work, and that will devastate our great Nation while doing nothing, nothing to improve our global air quality.
Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Michigan for his candor.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Burchett), my friend.
Mr. BURCHETT. Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Joyce for yielding.
Madam Speaker, take a look at the average cost of a gallon of gasoline. When President Biden took office, a gallon of gasoline was
$2.38 a gallon. Today, that number is $3.18, an increase of 33.6 percent. 33.6 percent, Madam Speaker. It wasn't too long ago Americans could fill up their tanks for a little over $2 a gallon.
President Biden's attacks on reliable fossil fuel sources are hitting middle class Americans directly in their wallets. Inflating gas prices are a tax on working Americans when they go to the pump for their commute to work or a vacation with their families.
And it is nothing short of hypocrisy, Madam Speaker, that President Biden has tried to close Federal lands for drilling but lifted sanctions on Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Russia is allowed to utilize its own domestic energy resources, but our country is not. Let that sink in.
President Biden's solution to energy problems he created is to push unproven renewable technology on Americans. This includes solar panels, which are celebrated by the far left as the future of renewable energy. But there is a dark secret to solar panels, Madam Speaker. Over half of the world's polysilicon, a crucial material in solar panel production, is mined using Uighur slave labor in China's Xinjiang Province.
Forget the outrageous cost of one of these solar panels. Exploiting slave labor to charge your electric car or power your house with clean energy isn't worth it, Madam Speaker.
Wealthy liberals might feel really good about that solar panel on the roof of their vacation home, but before they lecture the rest of us about clean energy, they should think twice about how that solar panel was made.
Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Tennessee.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the great State of Georgia (Mr. Carter).
Mr. CARTER of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and for doing this tonight. This is extremely important, and I appreciate his leadership on that.
Madam Speaker, the Biden administration has been waging a war on American energy and energy jobs since his first day in office. Of course, on President Biden's first day in office, he killed over 11,000 American jobs, which were created by the Keystone pipeline.
Then the administration banned new energy leases that will cost 500,000 American jobs by 2040. Then he reentered the U.S. into the Paris Agreement that will destroy our competitiveness and reduce employment in the U.S. by 2.7 million jobs in 2025.
If that wasn't bad enough, the administration will destroy what high-
paying jobs are remaining in our energy sector with this reconciliation package. It includes a devastating tax on natural gas. By taxing it more, we will disincentivize the continued transition away from dirtier fuels.
It will increase global emissions by giving foreign adversaries a competitive advantage exporting energy. This will also jeopardize American energy security. Taxing natural gas is designed to push us to use more wind and solar energy.
But just this week it was reported that energy prices in Europe are hitting record highs as their increased dependence on wind power has failed to be consistently reliable. It would be a cold and dark winter in places like Europe and California if there was not natural gas available this year. This again demonstrates how we must continue to pursue an all-of-the-above energy strategy.
Then there are the giveaways to the richest in America. The President's massive socialist wish list subsidizes electric vehicles, despite the fact that the average owner of an electric vehicle makes well over six figures.
Perhaps worst of all is the pursuit of all of these policies with the absolute and arrogant certainty that it will reduce emissions. However, it will likely reverse the progress we have already made reducing emissions.
The Paris Agreement allows for the world's worst polluters to continue polluting well into the future. The use of lower emission natural gas instead of other fossil fuels is largely responsible for the enormous reduction of American emissions over the past couple of decades.
But instead of embracing that success, the President proposes taxing it into oblivion and picking his winners and losers. We saw how that worked out with Solyndra. We are sacrificing growth and prosperity for American families in the name of political posturing.
This is too heavy of a price for a policy that will not better our environment or make us energy independent. Democratic proposals will lead to higher energy prices, reduce the reliability of electricity for many communities, and take away good paying jobs.
We had a witness on the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis make an excellent point. Killing jobs connected to fossil fuels, like coal and gas, has already destroyed communities years ago and they have never recovered. The very same may happen to healthy, thriving communities that have relied on good paying oil and gas jobs for generations.
These are good jobs. Often these are the only jobs in rural areas. Destroying these jobs will only further the disparity between urban and rural America.
Madam Speaker, I urge this President to support all Americans and stop his war on American energy, and I thank the gentleman for sponsoring this tonight.
Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia, especially for raising the important point of the all-of-the-
above approach to energy. But above all, we need to maintain the great jobs that comes from the fuels that are under our feet.
Madam Speaker, I would yield to the gentleman from the great State of Washington (Mr. Newhouse).
Mr. NEWHOUSE. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend from Pennsylvania for having this really important conversation.
Madam Speaker, since day one, President Biden has made his priorities abundantly clear to the American people:
Keystone XL pipeline? Canceled.
Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline? Approved.
Domestic oil and gas protection on Federal lands? Canceled.
Increased Russian and OPEC oil production? Approved.
If this picture still isn't black and white enough, allow me to clarify further. President Biden and his administration continue to support and promote foreign energy development and foreign jobs, while quite literally canceling American energy development and eliminating good-paying American jobs.
These actions have led to higher energy prices, increased costs of goods and services, and--most egregiously--greater reliance on foreign countries.
As stockpiles of natural gas continue to deplete, world leaders, including President Biden, are going to have to answer the call for increased fuel demand, especially as winter gets closer.
As the chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus and a member of the House Energy Action Team, I have worked with all our Members, as well as our partners, to highlight the impacts of President Biden's decisions and what they have done to our rural communities across the country: from decreased public school funding to forcing small businesses to close their doors.
Earlier this month, our colleagues from across the aisle, who serve on the House Committee on Natural Resources all voted to ban onshore as well as offshore oil and natural gas production. They seem to forget that the fees that are generated by these activities go straight into the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which those very same Members voted to support last Congress. It makes no sense.
The U.S. is the greatest country in the world, and we have the ability, once again, to achieve energy independence, provide affordable and reliable energy for our citizens, as well as supporting our allies. We just need our leaders to have these priorities as well.
Our President should support American jobs, not Russian jobs; he should support lower gas prices, not higher gas prices; he should support American energy dominance, not foreign energy production and reliance.
Madam Speaker, I would encourage all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, and in the White House, to reassess their priorities, support policies that help the American people, and not hinder them.
Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Joyce, and I truly appreciate the opportunity to speak on a very important issue for the American people.
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Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from the State of Washington and chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus for his insights and for taking the time this evening to present those.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the great State of Georgia (Mr. Allen), who is my friend and who is, more importantly, going to discuss the impacts in his State of Georgia.
Mr. ALLEN. Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Joyce for yielding to me.
Madam Speaker, under the Trump administration and the Republican majority, our Nation was energy independent for the first time in my lifetime.
Sadly, after everything we did to become more energy independent and grow our economy, President Biden and the Democrats have done the opposite. As a result of the Biden administration's policies, American jobs have been destroyed and families are paying more for everything.
The fact that Biden begged OPEC and Saudi Arabia to boost oil output because Americans have been paying over 40 percent more at the gas pump is a sobering example of this weak leadership, and it demonstrates how this administration's constant assault on American energy has embarrassed us on the world stage.
To make matters worse, the Democrats are marching full steam ahead with more job-destroying and cost-raising policies as part of their
$3.5 trillion tax and spending spree. For example, their proposed natural gas tax would eliminate up to 90,000 jobs in just the first year of the program.
Whose side are they on?
It is also alarming that Democrats are proposing $150 billion to mandate deployment of clean energy that is manufactured in China, while at the same time China is building hundreds of coal-powered electric generation plants around the world. They have got to be laughing at us.
This massive package--which, by the way, we still don't have the full cost details yet--will punish American households and consumers through higher costs while sending good paying jobs overseas.
Like I said: Whose side are they on?
Sadly, this isn't anything new. President Biden has continued to hand our adversaries like Russia and China victory after victory while chipping away at our energy dominance.
Madam Speaker, I urge President Biden and the Democrats to put Americans first by ending their war on fossil fuels and instead work with Republicans on policies that will get our Nation back on the road to energy independence.
Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I would like to point out how essential coal, oil, and natural gas pipelines are to my district in Pennsylvania. These are valuable resources that enhance our ability to provide low-cost energy to the American people. Yet President Biden's decision to cancel the Keystone XL project while allowing Russia to continue to export more and more natural gas puts our national security at risk.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Mr. Keller).
Mr. KELLER. Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Pennsylvania for organizing this event this evening and yielding.
For the last 8 months, America's energy employers and the individuals they employ are suffering a barrage of attacks from the Biden White House, all because this administration is fixated on dismantling America's energy independence and replacing it with a radical pipe dream called the Green New Deal.
In Pennsylvania and across America, it is not just the energy producers and their workers who are feeling the impacts of President Biden's attack on American energy. Our schools, hospitals, local governments, and downstream job creators are also suffering.
Pennsylvania's natural gas industry has created incredible partnerships that are working to ensure we can meet America's energy needs right here at home.
The School of Petroleum and Natural Gas at Lackawanna College's Tunkhannock Center is introducing students to career opportunities in the oil and natural gas industry. The Susquehanna County Career & Technology Center is working to retain local talent by offering a CDL training program that offers students the chance to jump into an in-
demand career.
When President Biden dismantles American energy, these are the organizations and people who suffer. He is dismantling American dreams.
Higher prices at the pump, energy shortages, and increased costs to fuel our businesses and homes are a clear sign that we must embrace American energy, not abandon it. We must invest in pipelines and refineries, harden our grid from cyberattacks, and cultivate innovation to ensure future success.
If President Biden is serious about building back better, he should not be trying to destroy the domestic energy industry that will lead us to a better tomorrow.
Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania for his words specifically addressing the dismantling of energy independence.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the great State of Arkansas (Mr. Westerman).
Mr. WESTERMAN. Madam Speaker, it is great to represent the great State of Arkansas. I want to say thank you to the HEAT Team and to Mr. Joyce for holding this Special Order on the Democrats' assault on American energy.
As gas prices have recently reached the highest level since 2014, Americans are seeing the effects of the decisions that were made on day one by President Biden.
In the Natural Resources Committee, Democrats continue to attack safe and reliable energy production, spend millions to kill American energy jobs, impose new taxes and fees on working families, and make our Nation more reliant than ever on foreign adversaries for critical minerals and energy resources we could be producing more cleanly, cheaply, and effectively right here at home.
One glaring example of that--and there are many--is in the Natural Resources Committee when we marked up this atrocious, now $5\1/2\ trillion, spending bill that the Democrats are trying to push through Congress. There is actually a line item there, a $350 million line item to close down a copper mine.
Now, Madam Speaker, how can you talk about green energy when you want to close down copper mines in the United States?
Now, this copper mine is in Arizona, and it was agreed to on a bipartisan bill by Senators Harry Reid and John McCain. The mine is being developed. As a matter of fact, the owner of the mine has spent
$2 billion developing this mine. It is 7,000 feet below ground, but Democrats want to yank that lease out of their hands. They want to close it down.
Now, what does that tell investors who want to invest in mining in America?
It says: We are closed. We are not open for business.
Madam Speaker, you can look at numerous other examples. A cancelation of the Keystone XL pipeline immediately eliminated 1,000 union jobs as well as 10,000 projected jobs associated with the project.
The President's ban on Federal oil and gas leasing has resulted in lost revenues for energy producing States and led our National Security Advisor to beg OPEC Plus--which includes Russia, Iran, and Venezuela--
to increase supply and bail us out.
If this administration's leasing bans become permanent, nearly 500,000 jobs could be lost by 2040.
Additionally, in 2019, States received a total of $1.81 billion for mineral revenues and used these funds to support public schools, environmental restoration, coastal resiliency, and many of our important programs.
This administration has disregarded the fact that energy development supports major environmental efforts at the Federal level, such as the Land and Water Conservation Fund which is specifically funded by offshore drilling revenues.
To justify its actions, the administration has argued that a major scale-up in renewables will replace lost jobs and generating capacity. That is nonsense. Forcing a national switch to alternative energy against market forces will result in massive unemployment, higher energy prices, and possibly rolling blackouts from insufficient power.
The Democrat's plan simply will not work. It will not work for the economy, and it will not work for the environment.
Here is why it won't work: The Democrat's plan is all about electric vehicles. We are going to make electric vehicles. Well, Madam Speaker, if you look at global greenhouse gas emissions, the U.S. accounts for 15 percent of it. Transportation is 29 percent. If you could eliminate every internal combustion engine, Madam Speaker, you would only affect global emissions by a little over 4 percent, and that is if you didn't have to use fossil fuels and emit carbon to make the electricity to power these cars.
We are talking about a minimal impact on global carbon at a huge cost for American consumers. We don't even have the grid that can handle all of these electric vehicles. There are many, many technical problems with it.
China, the world's greatest polluter, last year built 38 gigawatts of coal power plants. That is one large coal-fired plant every week.
We have to ask ourselves: Why would China go to coal?
That is simple. It is because coal is reliable, and coal is low cost.
When we look at what our energy policies should be here in the United States and when we look at what will actually work for our economy and especially for the global environment, we should be asking ourselves: How do we make the most reliable, lowest cost, and the cleanest technology--technology that developing countries will adopt?
Because they are not going to adopt expensive technology. They are going to continue building old technology.
We have got to be the innovators if we truly want to affect the global environment.
Again, I appreciate the opportunity to speak on this important matter, and I appreciate the gentleman for hosting this Special Order.
Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I think the gentleman from Arkansas has made incredible points we all should be listening to. He highlighted the important role that coal continues to play in supplying power to our electric grid. In Congress we need to remain committed to addressing the needs of the American people and ensure that they have safe, reliable, and affordable energy.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. LaTurner).
Mr. LaTURNER. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of energy producers across our country and especially in my home State of Kansas.
Over the past 9 months the Biden administration has put American energy producers on the back burner. Kansans are already paying over 40 percent more at the pump than they were last year, and yet my colleagues across the aisle want to ram through a reckless $3.5 trillion spending spree that would lead to the largest tax increase on working families and small businesses in decades.
There is a laundry list of bad policy in this spending spree, including the Clean Electricity Performance Program, a Federal takeover of our Nation's electricity. This $150 billion program would dictate how we power our homes, businesses, and everyday lives.
Democrats want to mandate energy providers to distribute a certain amount of renewable energy to their customers. Those who comply will get grants from the Department of Energy, while those falling short would have to pay fees to the Federal Government. This plan is absolutely ridiculous and will only make energy more expensive, undermine our grid reliability, and make our Nation even more dependent on Communist China.
As these massive Democrat spending sprees continue to make their way through committees and eventually to the House floor, I will continue to fight for Kansas energy producers.
Our focus needs to be encouraging domestic energy production across the country, having a robust energy portfolio, and ending our reliance on foreign energy.
Democrats seem to think it is impossible to have affordable, bountiful, and innovative energy while also having clean air and water. That is simply not true. Oil and gas produced here in the United States is among the cleanest and safest in the world. It is time to end the assault on our energy producers and return to American energy independence.
Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Kansas for his comments.
The energy needs and the resources available throughout our country are very significant, and as we move forward it is essential that government bureaucrats are not choosing the winners and the losers. The best energy producers should rise to the top.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the Commonwealth of Kentucky (Mr. Barr).
Mr. BARR. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend from Pennsylvania for his leadership and leading tonight's Special Order.
As a member of both the HEAT Team and a member of the House Financial Services Committee, I want to address another dimension of the Biden administration's war on American energy.
Specifically it is the Biden administration's weaponization of financial regulation to implement through the back door of unilateral executive action what it cannot do through the democratic process and what it cannot do through the Congress and through the legislative process, because, frankly, the Biden administration knows that the American people oppose their radical agenda that would decrease the reliability and affordability of electricity, industrial power, and the manner in which we conduct daily life.
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That is, specifically, that the Biden administration intends to use financial regulators to bully banks, investors, and other financial firms, to divert capital away from what they view as politically unfashionable energy producers.
This is coming in multiple different forms. The Secretary of the Treasury has set up a czar within the Department of the Treasury to look at this from a holistic perspective to discriminate against American companies and American workers.
In bank regulation, there is a concept called redlining, and it used to be that it was illegal for banks and other financial firms to discriminate against the American people. Well, now the Biden administration is legalizing redlining. They are redlining against their own people because they are engaged in an industry, a great American industry that, for decades, has powered the American economy. Now they want to discriminate against those American heroes who have literally powered this country for decades.
What form does this take? Number one, it is taking the form of bank regulation, where the bank regulators are bullying credit providers and saying: You ought to rethink who you are lending money to because we don't think you should be lending money because of the reputational risk.
For example, ``Bank A, you better stop loaning money to that Kentucky coal mining operator. We want to get rid of all those coal mining jobs in eastern Kentucky,'' in my home State.
So, instead of going after the coal mining operator directly, they are going to the bank and saying: Choke off that coal mining company.
To heck with the fact that those mining jobs are important to put food on the table for those people in eastern Kentucky and in western Kentucky. They are weaponizing bank regulation.
That is precisely why, Madam Speaker, I introduced a bill to fix this called the Fair Access to Banking Act. This would basically codify the Fair Access to Financial Services Rule that the Office of the Comptroller promulgated in the previous administration. It would basically provide a guidance to banks that they must provide access to capital and credit based on assessment of the borrower's actual risk, rather than making broad-based decisions impacting entire industries.
This is guided by the fundamental principle of nondiscrimination and ensures that banks can't pick winners and losers in the marketplace.
That bill is pending in the Financial Services Committee, and we can't get any kind of consideration by this majority because this majority doesn't want fair access to banking. They are endorsing the Biden administration policy of discriminating against the American people.
Then there is the issue of ESG investing and mandating ESG, so-called environmental and social governance. This is through the back door of securities regulations at the Securities and Exchange Commission, but this is not the mission of the SEC.
The statutory mission of the SEC is to protect investors; to maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets; and to facilitate capital formation. Its mission is not to reduce carbon emissions or solve climate change or try to change the weather.
I acknowledge that there is some investor demand in the market for ESG funds. I also see some utility in standardization of ESG disclosures to eliminate some of the inconsistencies in the way public companies are rated because, let's face it, even if you are interested in sustainable investing, you do not know what you are investing in because these ESG funds are frauds, in many cases.
But more than 90 percent of all S&P 500 companies already voluntarily publish ESG information on an annual basis, and this regulatory approach from the Gensler SEC would not provide new material information to investors. Instead, it would inundate investors with voluminous, confusing, and nonmaterial information that would hurt the very investors that Democrats claim they want to help or, in the words of the late Justice Thurgood Marshall, in TSC Industries v. Northway, bury the shareholders in an avalanche of trivial information, a result that is hardly conducive to informed decisionmaking. We need to avoid burdening investors with an avalanche of trivial information.
The Gensler SEC would also weaponize disclosure requirements to name and shame politically incorrect companies; pick winners and losers in the marketplace; and discriminate against energy firms that produce jobs, affordable and reliable energy, and returns to investors.
The SEC proposal would also compromise investor returns by elevating nonpecuniary factors above and ahead of financial performance. Fees for ESG funds are 43 percent higher than non-ESG funds and many low-ranked ESG stocks. They outperform the market overall.
We must not harm American savers by subordinating investor returns to promote nonpecuniary policy objectives like social justice, diversity quotas, and lower carbon emissions.
Finally, the Gensler SEC, the Biden Securities and Exchange Commission, would increase compliance costs for public companies, discourage private companies from going public, and encourage public companies to go private, resulting in fewer investment choices for everyday investors. This is why the Gensler SEC is even proposing to hoist these requirements on private companies. The SEC, by wading into social and environmental policy debates like climate change, through a top-down, government-directed, one-size-fits-all mandatory ESG disclosure regulation, untethered to the longstanding investor-driven materiality standard, will politicize the agency and reduce its credibility by hurting investors, elevating nonpecuniary factors above financial returns.
Here is the bottom line. Not only is the Biden administration waging a frontal assault on heroic American energy companies that provide the American people with affordable, reliable energy, particularly low-
income and blue collar families who can't afford the skyrocketing costs of Biden's energy bill, but in addition to that, this backdoor approach to financial regulation, discriminating against Americans in these industries, will compromise investor returns, elevating and prioritizing the woke environmental priorities of the select coastal elites over middle-income Americans in the energy sector who provide affordable energy for the American people, compromising Main Street investment returns.
Those moms and dads who are trying to put their kids through college, those folks who are trying to save in their 401(k)'s and their IRAs just to have a secure retirement, those middle-class Americans are going to be the ones who suffer because of the politicization and the weaponization of securities regulation.
This is exactly why we must oppose this dangerous agenda that will compromise American energy dominance, American energy independence, and investor returns.
Madam Speaker, I thank my friend from Pennsylvania for his leadership on this issue. I thank the HEAT Team for bringing some light to this. I wanted to provide a little bit of a different dimension to this important debate, and that is how the Biden administration is weaponizing financial regulation.
Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, could you please clarify how much time I have remaining?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman has 15 minutes remaining.
Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Scalise), the whip of the minority team.
Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend from Pennsylvania, Dr. Joyce, for yielding and for leading this effort to defend American energy.
Madam Speaker, you might wonder: Why are we on the House floor defending American energy? Who could possibly, in the United States Congress, be opposed to American energy?
Unfortunately, as we have seen this year, from President Biden to Speaker Pelosi to this whole Democrat majority, they have had an all-
out assault on American energy.
It started day one when President Biden took the oath of office. That day, he drove down Pennsylvania Avenue and started signing executive orders to destroy America's energy independence.
It started with the Keystone pipeline. It was a great relationship between the United States and our great friend, Canada, our neighbor from the north, a pipeline to bring energy to America where it could be refined in a really good, environmentally protective way in the United States of America. But President Biden said no.
You would think he said no because he is just against pipelines in general, except just weeks later, President Biden green-lighted a pipeline in Russia, from Russia to Germany. So, President Biden was against American energy jobs and American pipelines, but he was okay with helping Russia, giving a gift to Russia.
He kept going on and on. He put a moratorium on drilling in the United States, but then, just weeks ago, he tried to ban not only American energy but then he goes and begs OPEC and Russia to produce more oil. You can't make this stuff up.
If American energy is so bad, why are you begging OPEC and Russia to produce fossil fuels? They are either good or they are bad.
The question here, Madam Speaker, is: Where should energy be made?
If you look at this whole global warming, Green New Deal push by the President to increase taxes on Americans, you wonder why Americans are paying 40 percent more for gasoline at the pump. It is because of President Biden's assault on American energy.
But he has given OPEC a free pass. In fact, he is giving OPEC more leverage by cutting off our supply and letting them increase their supply.
Now, you might think Russia or Saudi Arabia or China came up with this crazy strategy. No, it was President Biden and Speaker Pelosi and a Democrat Congress that came up with this, and you are seeing it in their tax proposal, this crazy $5.5 trillion massive tax-and-spend proposal we are going to see come into play this week on the House floor--more assaults on American energy.
Who pays? I will tell you who pays: the American consumer, families, hardworking families. In fact, the people hit the hardest are the lowest income people.
Remember when President Biden promised if you make less than
$400,000, you won't pay a dime in new taxes? Sounded great, except he is already pledging to break that promise by increasing taxes on, among many other things, natural gas.
That is right. If you use natural gas to heat your home or cool your home, you are going to pay more, double digits more, every single month under President Biden's plan. That is right. He broke that promise.
Then if you look at all of his other assaults on American energy, if it was all about carbon emissions and saving the planet, well, guess what? Those foreign countries that we were talking about, whether it is Russia or OPEC nations, they emit more carbon to make the same oil. To produce oil emits carbon.
In America, we actually do it better than anywhere else in the world. If you want to reduce carbon emissions, make more of it here in America, not less.
Why would you want to give a gift to countries that don't have the same standards we have?
Too often, you see liberals on the other side wanting to bash America every single day. You know, hit America, attack America.
Enough is enough. People are figuring this out. They are paying more at the pump. They are paying more at the grocery store. They are paying more for everything because of these radical assaults on American energy and American entrepreneurialism.
Free market capitalism is under assault by Big Government socialism. That is what this fight is about.
We are going to continue to stand up for American energy and to get the facts out. If you are going to make stuff anywhere in the world, if you want to produce steel, make it in America, because if you make it in China or India or some other country, they emit five times more carbon.
Yet, what President Biden is doing in his policies is attacking that very American energy that works to create great jobs here at home to rebuild our middle class, to help those hardworking families who are sick and tired of paying more, and stop giving gifts to foreign countries like China.
I thank my colleague from Pennsylvania for his leadership.
Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I thank the whip for his concise discussion about the assault on American energy and how that affects the working class communities throughout the United States.
Madam Speaker, I yield to my colleague from North Carolina (Mr. Cawthorn).
Mr. CAWTHORN. Madam Speaker, I thank my esteemed colleague for his leadership.
Madam Speaker, this is my generation's long-form death certificate. You endorsed it. You own it, and you will pass it. But I will be the one to pay for it.
My generation, and if America still stands, my grandchildren, will pay for this Trojan horse of a socialist proposal, $3.5 trillion in unhinged, unconscionable, irredeemable spending.
It is the final nail in the coffin of the American Dream. Karl Marx would even call this bill radical.
Look at this. This is a pallet of $100 million and, for scale, beside that is me. And behind all of that is what the Democrats propose to spend.
You have stolen my generation's checkbook, and, Madam Speaker, we want it back. No American who votes for this trash should ever see the inside of a legislative chamber ever again. They should never take another oath of office for Congress, for statehouse. Hell, they shouldn't even be able to get on the mosquito control board because they have endorsed the demise of the country they swore to protect.
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This is what crushing, overwhelming, unrecoverable debt looks like. And we haven't even talked about the substance. This proposal is legislative malfeasance on the lifeblood of our country: energy independence, and more importantly, energy dominance.
You show me a nation's energy policies, and I will show you the future of that nation. Under President Trump, our energy independence carved out our standing in the world. We were the captains of our destiny, not Middle East kingdoms. We augmented our national security through America First energy independence, not foreign reliance. America was leading the world. When Joe Biden took office, our soaring, thriving energy independence came crashing down.
Failed policies, fatal spending: that is your legacy, Madam Speaker. You have put before us a death wish for America.
You stand guilty of financial treason, Madam Speaker. But the sentence will be served out by my generation.
Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Bergman).
Mr. BERGMAN. Madam Speaker, I want to thank my friend from Pennsylvania, Dr. Joyce, for holding this Special Order tonight.
I find myself increasingly concerned with the future of our country, especially now under the Biden administration, where it has been one self-inflicted crisis after another.
How have we addressed these situations? Well, we have seen unprecedented intrusions into our daily lives by the Federal Government; trillions added to our national debt; and the birth of new, completely avoidable threats to our national security.
Even this administration's approach to energy unnecessarily threatens the safety and security of all Americans.
On day one of his administration, President Biden shut down the Keystone pipeline, costing thousands of jobs, and then turns around to support Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Big question mark.
Make no mistake. This is an America last policy. In fact, it could be America never.
We need an energy policy that gives America greater energy independence, not one where we are forced to rely on unstable foreign markets.
We have the resources and technology at home, right here, to give us that independence, yet Democrat leadership continues to ignore it in favor of the Green New Deal.
Don't get me wrong. I support energy policies that promote resiliency and sustainability, but I wholeheartedly disagree with the notion that we need to punish the American energy industry in order to achieve a healthy environment.
I urge this administration and my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to focus on real investments in American energy, instead of policies that make us more dependent on foreign energy sources while destroying jobs, alienating American industry, and depressing the hardworking people who continue to strive to keep our country--that is our country, the United States of America--the premier example of integrity, innovation, and initiative that leads the world, especially in safe, affordable energy.
Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Michigan for his concise and inspiring words.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Pfluger).
Mr. PFLUGER. Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Pennsylvania for hosting this Special Order.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of every American family. Cold, dark, and hungry is where those families will be if we continue on this path: cold, dark, and hungry.
Just two years ago, the United States became energy independent, the number one producer of oil and gas in the entire world, thanks to the previous administration's leadership on deregulating industry that made greater gains in reducing harmful emissions than any other administration in the history of this country.
Now, we risk losing our competitive edge on the world stage with needless regulations and more taxes in the budget reconciliation bill that will only hurt small and independent producers and will hurt every working-class family in this country.
Let's look across the Atlantic to our neighbors in Europe right this second who are currently suffering through a cataclysmic energy crisis. Their shortage of natural gas and fuel is causing multiple governments across Europe to shut down factories and to warn their citizens to prepare for consistent blackouts. Cold, dark, and hungry.
Meanwhile, the fuel lines are growing scarily close to what we saw in the 1970s. This world of shortages, blackouts, and fuel lines may be in Europe today, but it is going to be a reality right here in the United States if this administration continues to push reckless and destructive energy policies.
The fate of this is in the hands of this body right here, of Democrats who say that they support oil and gas. But we know that the vote that is going to happen this week will determine whether or not they really support it.
As technology advances and the world population continues to grow, we are only going to need more and more energy to power this world.
The truth is that renewables simply cannot provide affordable and reliable energy. In my home State, in my district, we produce more wind energy than the entire State of California. We know a little bit about renewables.
A strong energy sector is nonnegotiable.
Unfortunately, my colleagues continue to push policies that have destroyed American energy independence and will devastate over 10 million jobs right here in the United States.
American private energy industry ingenuity can compete toe-to-toe with anyone in the world to deliver a safe and responsible energy source, but we cannot shackle our production with ill-advised policies and regulations.
The Permian Basin, where I represent, is the reason that every American can enjoy affordable, reliable energy in so many other places across this United States.
Energy security is national security, and nothing can be more important. Anyone voting in favor of reconciliation is voting against American energy and is voting against the independence that keeps our national security so strong.
I urge my colleagues to support the energy industry and to embrace an all-of-the-above energy approach, which is so dependent on American oil and gas.
Mr. JOYCE of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas for his remarks.
I want to thank all of the members of the House Energy Action Team for their work tonight and their commitment to the American people.
We have heard examples of how President Biden's disastrous policies are harmful to energy producers and to the consumers. We have seen examples of how these policies create overburdensome regulations that harm small businesses and stifle innovation.
I am proud to be working with my HEAT colleagues to push back against these disastrous policies.
Right now, the United States must embrace an all-of-the-above energy solution that will combine the needs of the consumers with the strengths of our producers.
What does that mean? It means embracing baseload power creators, including coal and natural gas produced from Marcellus Shale. These are critical components of Pennsylvania's energy industry.
On the first day in office, President Biden signed an executive order that suspended work on the needed Keystone XL pipeline.
In Pennsylvania, the natural gas and oil industry supports over 300,000 jobs, provides over $20 billion in wages, and contributes nearly $44.5 billion to our economy.
Between 2018 and 2019 alone, natural gas brought in over $450 million in revenue in our Commonwealth.
We have learned a lot tonight. We have learned the strong energy sector cannot and should not be negotiable. We recognize that energy security is clearly national security.
Madam Speaker, I thank you for allowing my colleagues and me to present this important information tonight to the United States Congress.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the remainder of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities toward the President.
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 168
The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
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