Press Releases
Scalise: H.R. 1 Restores American Energy Independence
Washington,
March 30, 2023
Today, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) joined Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Republican Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), House Natural Resources Committee Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.), House Energy & Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-OR), House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chair Sam Graves (R-Mo.), Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.), and other members of the Republican conference to celebrate the passage of H.R. 1, the Lower Energy Costs Act. Leader Scalise highlighted H.R. 1 as a major victory in House Republicans’ fight to lower energy costs for American families and restore American energy dominance.
 Click here or on the image above to view Leader Scalise's remarks.
Leader Scalise's remarks:
“What a great day this is for American families who have been struggling for too long under the weight of high prices, record high inflation, all of the problems that President Biden has created. And especially for those people that have been frustrated for so long that President Biden has gone after American energy, but yet gone all around the world and beg foreign dictators to produce our energy to get their energy from them. “This has never been a question about whether or not we have oil and natural gas in the United States of America. The question has been, where do we get it? When President Biden came in office on day one, he declared war on American energy. He killed the Keystone pipeline here in America between the United States and Canada. But it wasn't because the President was against pipelines. He was just against American pipelines. Because just days later, he gave a gift to Vladimir Putin because he green lighted the Nord Stream two pipeline between Russia and Germany. “So there you had President Biden picking foreign countries like Russia over America. Then you saw him – after lease sale, after lease sale – permits that he wouldn't even let go through, slow walking permits blocking permits, canceling lease sales to produce oil and natural gas in America. But again, it wasn't because he was against oil and natural gas because, at the same time he was making it harder to produce that oil and natural gas here in America, he was calling Vladimir Putin begging him to produce more oil. Putin said ‘No.’ “So you know what the President then did? We said, ‘You could just pick up the phone, call some of these great workers here.’ Look at these great energy industry workers that are here. Mr. President, these are American energy industry workers. They know how to make energy cleaner and more [efficiently] than anywhere else in the world. “And if you put them to work, they're going to not only be making a cleaner than anywhere else in the world, they're also going to be lowering costs for families who are sick and tired of paying 50 percent more at the pump, who are tired of paying 40 percent more in their household electricity costs because the countries that President Biden wants us to get our energy from – whether it's Russia, Saudi Arabia, [or] Venezuela. He wants us to get our solar panels and windmills and batteries from China, because he won't let us mine in America. Well, you know what, we stood up for America there too today, because we said, ‘Let's mine in America, not in China.’ “You want to talk about standards? We are all sick and tired of these liberals in Washington who wake up every day trying to bash America and cancel projects in America. Nobody does it cleaner and better anywhere in the world than the United States of America. It's about time we open up America for business and say to all those foreign dictators in the world, ‘We're not going to buy your energy that's dirty. We're going to get clean energy here in America.’ “Let's lower costs for families. Let's stand up for those working men and women. And as we continue, the Commitment to America we made is to stand up for those families who have been left behind by Washington for far too long. “The good news for them is: help is on the way. We're going to keep doing this. We're not going to slow down. We're not going to stop working.” ### |
