Providing for Consideration of H.R. Big Cat Public Safety Act; Providing for Consideration of H.R. Advancing Telehealth Beyond Covid-19 Act of and for Other Purposes

Floor Speech

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Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Minnesota for yielding time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the previous question so that we can amend the rule to immediately consider the Protecting America's Strategic Petroleum Reserve from China Act.

H.R. 8488 is a bill introduced by Ranking Member Rodgers and me, and it is simple. It would prohibit the Department of Energy from sending America's emergency oil reserves, known as the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, to China.

Now the Democrats are in denial about why their constituents are paying so much at the pump for gas and diesel fuel. It is directly a result of the Biden administration and Democrat policies that began the day that Joe Biden was sworn in as the President of the United States. Because of his war on the oil and gas industry, our domestic production and our refining capacity has declined by more than 1 million barrels per day since President Trump was in office.

Americans know what they were paying for gas in January of 2021. They know what they are paying for gas today. They know they had more money in their pocket to spend on things for their family. They know they are having to make decisions now about their travel. It is affecting their cost to go to work, to take their kids to school, or to go to their place of worship.

Energy prices have surged past historic records. People have been forced to pay more than $6 per gallon in some regions of the country. Now President Biden and the Democrats are looking for cover. He is looking to distract the American voters from the painful realities of his anti-fossil fuel agenda by releasing an unprecedented 260 million barrels of oil from the SPR, or the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Releasing this oil is going to be no more than a blip for gasoline prices.

It seems as if the White House and Democrats are taking victory laps over a temporary decrease in the price of gasoline. It is because Americans are on vacation, they are not driving as much, they are staying home--staycations--and they are not using as much. It is a supply and demand issue.

But it is also a cause and effect issue. The cause is the Biden administration's Democrat policies against fossil fuels because they have some sort of utopian ideal that Americans are just going to--let's see, in the words of Secretary Granholm: transition to electric vehicles.

Let me be clear: I like electric vehicles. I think they ought to be a part of the mix. In fact, more electric vehicles on the road means less emissions and better air quality.

But instead of forcing it, why not let the free market work?

Why not let the free market come up with alternatives and more cost- effective modes of transportation for Americans versus government policies trying to push this utopian ideal?

It is not the solution to the energy crisis Americans are facing today. Releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is not the answer either. In fact, the Biden administration is releasing more than 1 million barrels per day, but it really has nowhere to go because our refineries are at capacity and our pipelines are full. As a result, America's emergency reserves are being sent to China which is using it to build up its own strategic reserves.

The irony is that when prices plummeted at the onset of COVID, President Trump's Department of Energy wanted to buy oil and fill up the SPR. Democrats opposed that. Let's see, buy low, sell high. Oil was really cheap. President Trump wanted to fill up the SPR. Now that oil is really high, this President wants to release it and give it to China.

We are going to have to replace it.

Are we going to replace it at a high price?

The other irony is that this isn't about fossil fuels because President Biden traveled 11,000 miles roundtrip to Saudi Arabia to beg the Saudis for oil. He didn't beg them for batteries for electric cars. He begged them for oil which is going to be refined into the transportation fuels that we use.

I have got an idea for President Biden and for Democrats: How about embrace American energy production?

How about President Biden travel down to Port Fourchon, Louisiana, or to Midland, Texas, and talk to American energy producers and ask them the question: How can we meet the domestic demand that we have here in this country?

How can we, with American energy production, lower the costs for moms and dads, American families, here at home by American production, providing American jobs, and producing American resources?

We have been blessed in this country with abundant resources in oil and gas. Unfortunately, we have been cursed by liberal politicians.

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Mr. DUNCAN. We have been cursed by liberal politicians who want to take those abundant resources off the table and continue to hurt American families who are trying to fill up their car just to travel to work, to school, and to church.

Mr. Speaker, we need to defeat the previous question, we need to stop selling or giving, or whatever, oil to China--an adversary--and we need to focus on domestic energy production.

So, Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``no'' vote on the previous question so that the House can immediately consider this important bill. I urge my colleagues to vote against this previous question and for the replacement.

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Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, you know, there are some bipartisan issues in this bill. There is no doubt about that, if the Democrats were to reach across the aisle and actually work with us. Issues like telehealth are important.

But we are getting ready to break for the August recess, and American families are hurting because of what they are paying at the pump for the price of gas. We have the opportunity to stop the sale of oil to China and help Americans maintain their strategic national resource and not give it to China. That is what we are asking for.

Unless we are focused on energy policies before we go home for recess, there are a lot of other things we could do to address the pain that Americans are feeling right now, this week, before we break for the August recess.

Instead, we are going to have some feel-good legislation that won't even pass the Senate.

We could help American families today, yet the Democrats continue wanting to try to hoodwink the American people; place blame on Putin and others for energy prices, when we know what is causing the price at the pump; and that is the Biden administration's policies on energy.

Let's quit giving oil to China, let's hold that strategic asset, and let's lessen the price at the pump by passing good energy policy in this country.

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