Burgess Pushes for Commonsense Energy Reform
Press Release
Congressman Michael C. Burgess, M.D. (R-TX), a member of the House Rules Committee and Republican Leader of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, released the following statement disapproving the House's vote to pass H.R. 4447 - the Clean Economy Jobs and Innovation Act.
"Despite starting off as a bipartisan piece of legislation, Democrats once again put forward a wish list for a vote," Burgess said. "H.R. 4447 authorizes over $135 billion in new taxpayer spending and creates new mandates and prohibitions, all of which would only hurt Americans' finances and consumer choice."
"Instead of including important bipartisan policies that would enable the rapid investment and development of new energy technologies Democrats thought it was best to disguise the Green New Deal within this package.
"I was not in good faith able to support this legislation, even though three of my amendments passed. This bill will hurt our nation's economic recovery and reduce the speed of innovation in the marketplace."
Before H.R. 4447 was brought up for consideration, Burgess submitted eight amendments. Five of these were considered on the floor and amendments 5, 6, and 68 passed.
Amendment #4 Extends the 45Q commence construction deadline by 2 years, making up for lost time due to bureaucratic delays and COVID-19's impact on industry investments into carbon capture systems.
Amendment #5 Requires the Secretary of Energy to certify that no part of this legislation will reduce the energy independence of the United States.
Amendment #6 Requires the Secretary of Energy to certify that no part of this legislation will increase electric rates or gasoline prices.
Amendment #68 Requires the Secretary of Interior to report to Congress on the use of forced labor practices to extract critical minerals from foreign sources for export to the United States.
Amendment #74 Streamlines the import and export of energy products (oil, gas, electricity) across international borders and improves the Presidential Permit process.
Amendment #80 Requires the Secretary of Energy to report to Congress on the effect of variable and distributed energy resources, typically renewables, on the reliability of the electric grid, specifically pertaining to natural disasters and physical or cyber-attacks on the grid infrastructure.
Amendment #87 Requires the Secretary of Energy to report to Congress on the potential duplication of research efforts in the Department of Energy's applied energy programs and evaluate the opportunity costs associated with such efforts. The report should also include recommendations on how to streamline the research grant process and the impact of combining duplicative projects.
Amendment #98 Requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to certify that certain provisions in this legislation that phase out the use of chemicals known as Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) will not increase the price of medical devices, particularly in low-income communities.`
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