Honoring the Life and Legacy of Charlie Kirk

Last week, our nation lost an American patriot, loving father of two young children, dedicated husband, conservative warrior, and man of deep faith when Charlie Kirk was assassinated in a horrific act of political violence.

Charlie dedicated his life to educating people about civil dialogue while passionately articulating conservative values, never shying from disagreement while always remaining respectful. As Charlie reminded us, “When people stop talking, that’s when you get violence, that is when civil war happens, because you start to think the other side is so evil and they lose their humanity.”

Political violence has absolutely no place in our country. America was built on the freedom to peacefully share your beliefs without fear of persecution – to commit violence against a person for differing political views goes against everything we stand for. 

We must all call out this evil act for what it is – an attack on our democracy – and fight back the way Charlie taught us to: by debating others, standing strong in our beliefs, and spreading our message. Silence isn’t an option. To honor Charlie, we must be courageous and steadfast always. Today, House Republicans are bringing forward a resolution to honor Charlie's life and enduring impact.

H. Res. 719, sponsored by Speaker Mike Johnson, condemns the assassination of Charlie Kirk and all political violence, commends law enforcement for their efforts to apprehend the monster responsible, offers our deepest sympathies to the Kirk family, honors the life and legacy of Charlie, and calls on all Americans to reject political violence and recommit to respectful debate. 

We will never forget Charlie’s enormous contributions and his tireless work to ensure America lives up to its founding principles. Charlie’s legacy will live on in his family, his friends, his followers, the movement he built, and the values he fought to protect: faith, family, and freedom.
Streamlining the Cross Border Energy Infrastructure Permitting Process

The United States trades a considerable amount of oil, gas, and electricity with Canada and Mexico, creating a large and interconnected North American market. Expanding cross-border energy transportation infrastructure, such as pipelines and transmission lines, allows for increased energy trade; however, potential new projects to expand our cross-border capacity are held up by federal regulatory uncertainty. 

So far, Congress has not established permitting procedures for cross-border energy infrastructure, resulting in a confusing process consisting of a mix of presidential permits, agency-specific procedures, and executive discretion. This lack of regulatory clarity has hindered energy developers, delayed projects, and even caused permit revocations, such as when President Biden canceled the Keystone XL pipeline, hurting our economy and killing American jobs to further his political agenda.

Today, House Republicans are bringing forward legislation to deliver regulatory clarity to developers through establishing a consistent and transparent permitting framework to authorize the construction, operation, and maintenance of facilities that cross international borders for the import and export of oil, natural gas, and electricity. This bill codifies part of President Trump’s Executive Order titled, “Reducing Anti-Competitive Regulatory Barriers.”

The legislation allows developers to obtain a Certificate of Crossing through either the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) or the Department of Energy (DOE), clarifies jurisdiction by assigning FERC to oversee applications for oil and natural gas pipelines and DOE to oversee electric transmission facility applications, imposes deadlines on FERC and DOE for approving permits and issuing certificates, and requires Congressional approval for the President to revoke previously issued permits with executive orders.

Energy developers need a clear framework to expand our energy trade, not bureaucracy and uncertainty.

H.R. 3062, the Promoting Cross-border Energy Infrastructure Act, sponsored by Rep. Julie Fedorchak, establishes a more streamlined and transparent framework for approving the construction, connection, operation, and maintenance of international border-crossing facilities for the import and export of oil and natural gas and the transmission of electricity, removing regulatory uncertainty and promoting energy security.

It’s past time for reliable, transparent guidelines for cross-border energy infrastructure development – House Republicans are delivering.
Reestablishing the National Coal Council

In the United States, not only does coal play a vital role in providing reliable energy and supporting our growing electricity needs, but it also directly supports over 100,000 well-paying American jobs and indirectly supports hundreds of thousands more. The United States has the world's largest coal reserves, estimated at around 469 billion short tons, and coal remains an important part of the country's energy system.

Due to coal’s national significance, the National Coal Council, established in 1984, provided the Secretary of Energy guidance on issues related to the coal industry and its workers for 37 years, including reports on coal technology and innovation, marketing and exports, and advanced technologies. The Council’s charter required renewal every two years. 

Unfortunately, in 2021, the Biden Administration allowed the Council’s charter to expire to appease radical environmentalists and replaced it with the National Advisory Committee on Coal, which aligned with their anti-American energy agenda – once again, putting activists before the American people.

House Republicans are bringing forward legislation to codify President Trump’s Executive Order titled, “Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry” and reestablish the National Coal Council. Our legislation would also remove the requirement for the Council’s charter to be renewed every 2 years.
Rep. Michael Rulli’s legislation, H.R. 3015, the National Coal Council Reestablishment Act, reestablishes and codifies the National Coal Council to provide industry expertise to the DOE through guidance, reports, and recommendations on matters affecting the coal industry and the future of coal technologies, and gets rid of the biennial renewal requirement.

Energy security is national security. House Republicans will continue working to undo Biden’s disastrous anti-American energy policies, revitalize domestic coal production, and steer the U.S. towards energy reliability and dominance.
Protecting American Grid Stability

Due to domestic manufacturing, data centers that enable AI advancements, and electrification of sectors across the economy, significant increases in electricity demand are anticipated nationwide. As electricity demand across the country grows at a remarkable pace, our electric grid will need more dispatchable baseload energy in order to prevent rolling blackouts and power shortages. 

However, under the Obama and Biden Administrations, our grid security and reliability was undermined by ‘Green New Scam’ policies and overregulation which forced the retirement of crucial baseload power plants. For example, the Biden Administration put in place new rules, like the Clean Power Plan 2.0, in order to speed up the retirement of such power plants which are responsible for providing much of America’s baseload power – this results in grid instability, power shortages, and more blackouts. 

Thanks to a lengthy approval process, our interconnection queue – or list of projects waiting to be connected to the electricity grid – has drastically increased over the last several years, extending wait times to up to 7 years and delaying critical projects. Transmission providers tasked with making sure we have sufficient electricity to power our communities are struggling to keep up with the growing backlog.

Today, House Republicans are bringing forward legislation to allow grid operators to expedite essential projects that will improve our grid reliability and ensure the lights stay on in Americans’ homes. Our legislation also imposes deadlines on FERC to ensure the agency sets up this streamlined approval process, boosting America’s energy security and making sure our power stays on.

H.R. 1047, the Guaranteeing Reliability through the Interconnection of Dispatchable (GRID) Power Act, sponsored by Rep. Troy Balderson, enables grid operators to expedite consideration of essential power generation projects that will increase grid reliability by moving them to the front of the line for approval, which will help provide the necessary power to meet America’s growing demand.

House Republicans will always fight to cut red tape that obstructs American energy security and keep the power on in American homes.