Protecting American Energy Production Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Minnesota for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, $9,600, that is how much the average American household is paying today in the higher cost of living in the United States as a direct result of policies of the Biden administration, $9,600.

Now, Mr. Speaker, compare that to what President Biden said on the campaign trail. He said, I will not raise costs, raise taxes on any American who earns less than $400,000. That is the average, $9,600. In fact, for some people it is more. Mr. Speaker, the cause of these higher costs is the regulatory agenda of this administration.

That is exactly what we are debating today. We are talking about energy prices. We are talking about energy policies of this administration that are having an adverse effect on Americans. We are watching right now as this administration, as this bill tries to fix, bans fracking.

You can go back, and you can look historically at the United States. We have led the world in reducing emissions. How have we done it? Do you know what the secret is? One of the most important tools that we have used to reduce emissions is actually natural gas. Natural gas, one of the biggest targets, the biggest victims of this fracking ban.

Let's take a look. Is this fracking ban legal? Well, there was a judge in Wyoming who actually looked at this under the Obama administration and said: ``Congress has not delegated to the Department of the Interior the authority to regulate hydraulic fracturing. The BLM's effort to do so through the Fracking Rule is in excess of its statutory authority and contrary to law.''

What does this administration do? The same exact thing.

It is not just a fracking ban, though. It is also banning the export of liquefied natural gas.

As my friend from Minnesota just said, what happens is that you don't have a decrease in demand for energy. It is simply that other countries provide it.

Countries like Iran that are profiting tens of billions of dollars love these policies. Russia loves these policies. This administration actually increased the importation of energy from Russia when they came in.

This is baffling energy policy. You are failing to address America's energy security. You are failing the affordability test.

Mr. Speaker, let's think about emissions. On the emissions side, are these policies resulting in lower emissions? Let's look at facts. The facts show that between 2005 and 2021, the United States has actually reduced emissions more than any other country in the world--not just more than any other country, more than the six next emissions-reducing countries combined.

How have we done it? It is by using natural gas. What happens? Other countries fill the void, countries like Russia.

Let's do a comparison there. When you take 1 year of liquefied natural gas supplied to the European Union from Russia, and if you were to supplant it with liquefied natural gas coming from the United States, it would reduce emissions by 218 million tons, but my friends across the aisle and at the White House have taken that off the table.

Let's go back and review. We have higher prices that Americans are paying--higher prices for utilities and higher prices for gasoline. We have more dependence upon countries like Iran, China, Venezuela, and Russia for energy. We are more dependent upon them, the globe is, and emissions are going up.

Which one of these is important? I mean, this is baffling to me. Higher prices, less energy security, and higher emissions are what this administration's energy policies have achieved. It makes no sense.

Let's talk about where these dollars are going. My friend talked about the tens of billions going to Iran. These dollars are being directly provided to Iranian terrorist proxies that have attacked and killed American troops in Syria and Iraq. These policies are funding this.

Coming back to us, we are now funding Ukraine, which is battling Russia, paid for with U.S. bad energy policy. We are funding Israel. That is paid for by bad energy policy that Iran is profiting from. This makes no sense. It makes absolutely no sense.

This bill, however, does make sense because it reverses the policies of this administration. It brings back common sense. It follows evidence, science, and math that show that we can actually reduce emissions, increase energy security, and have affordable energy in the United States.

Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the legislation.

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