Biden's Unilateral Executive Orders Are Harmful

Floor Speech

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Mr. MANN. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

My district in Kansas has a lot of oil and gas, and a lot of ethanol production as well, which is very important for the energy, the backstop for the country.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to discuss President Biden's recent executive actions and their impacts on American energy.

Kansas-1, the Big First, is one of the most productive agricultural areas of the country, and is also home to a flourishing energy industry. In a rural district like the Big First, communities shrink and grow with oil and gas prices. My district is the 11th largest district in this country and has more than 83,000 miles of roads. We depend on energy every day to fuel agricultural equipment and to transport our products across the country and around the world.

Crude oil and natural gas are the foundation that fuels the Big First. Whether it be diesel for a tractor, keeping our home and families warm, or filling up a gas tank to drive our kids 30 miles each way to school, my district needs energy. In addition, the Big First also produced nearly 500 million gallons of ethanol last year.

I am gravely concerned with President Biden's mandates on oil and gas. In my first few weeks in Congress, President Biden issued 25 executive orders in his first 10 days as President. That is more than the last 7 Presidents combined during their first 10 days. For example, President Biden delivered mixed messages claiming to support fossil fuels and American jobs, and then issued an executive order dismantling the Keystone XL pipeline.

The United States has achieved energy independence over the last several years. That said, we cannot sit idle and watch executive orders dictate the direction of our country with no input from Congress. The administration will soon fundamentally impact our energy independence. The executive branch was not created to legislate. Congress was.

Earlier this week, I introduced the More Accountability is Necessary Now Acts, six pieces of legislation promoting accountability and transparency to the administration's future executive orders. The MANN Acts require the executive branch to notify the American public of its intent to issue any new executive orders pertaining to six specific topics that impact my district, including energy and the environment.

We must hold our elected leaders accountable for the pipeline worker and the plant manager, for the farmer and rancher, for the millions of lives depending on agriculture and energy every day, and for the betterment of our democracy.

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