Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about a piece of property in South Central Alaska known as the Bering River Coal Field located in the magnificent Copper River Delta. This issue goes back to the days of Theodore Roosevelt as a conservation effort.

The United States government has the opportunity to purchase the mineral rights to this field.

This Congress provided the U.S. Forest Service $8 million to buy the Bering River Coal Field through the Land and Water Conservation Fund, but the appraisal came in at $6 million.

The Korean Alaska Development Company that owns it will sell for $8 million, and I want to thank a gentleman, Joe Shinn, and the KADCO board of directors for staying at the table.

We have an opportunity, and I believe the members on both sides of the aisle would agree if you could by acclamation to give the Forest Service the ability to purchase this remarkable property for conservation. But the United States government cannot pay more than appraised value unless we in Congress authorize them to do that.

The difference is between $6 million and $8 million dollars, and I ask my colleagues, if not now then, in the future, to help the United States of America to set aside the Bering River Coal Field in perpetuity for all future generations to enjoy.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about a piece of property in Alaska. Southeast Alaska is called the Copper River Delta. There is a coalfield there called the Bering River coalfield.

Mr. Speaker, this goes back to Teddy Roosevelt's days as a conservation effort. The United States Government

has an opportunity to purchase the coal rights of this field. I thank the gentleman, Joo Shin, and the KADCO board of directors for staying at the table. The appraisal came in at $6 million. The Korean owner, Joo Shin, wants $8 million for the property.

We have an opportunity, and I believe that Members on both sides of the aisle could agree by acclamation with this conservation effort. The United States Government cannot pay more than the appraised value unless we, in Congress, authorize them to do that. The difference is between $6 million and $8 million.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues, either now or in the future, to help the United States of America set aside the Copper River Delta area, the Bering River coalfield, in perpetuity for this conservation effort.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me the time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3293, the Expediting Federal Broadband Deployment Reviews Act.

I thank House leadership for allowing this legislation to come to the floor. I thank my colleagues on the Energy and Commerce Committee on both sides of the aisle for supporting this legislation in committee and supporting it here today.

Mr. Speaker, in the 21st century, broadband internet access is no longer a luxury. It is a necessity. It connects our communities. It drives economic growth and allows our constituents to fully engage with the digital age. Yet, millions of Americans still lack access to reliable high-speed internet.

This digital divide is a barrier to opportunity, holding back businesses, hindering education, and limiting access to essential services. H.R. 3293 takes a crucial step towards bridging this divide and streamlining the process for deploying broadband infrastructure.

Currently, the review process for obtaining permits and authorizations can be lengthy and bureaucratic, causing significant delays in deployment. This bill establishes an interagency strike force to coordinate and expedite these reviews, ensuring that Federal agencies prioritize broadband expansion. Streamlining these Federal processes

will help get broadband deployed in the rural parts of America just like the Third District of South Carolina.

The benefits of H.R. 3293 are clear. Faster broadband deployment will create jobs, stimulate economic development, and improve the quality of life for countless Americans. Students will have access to online learning resources. Telehealth services will become more accessible, and rural communities will be better connected to the global economy.

H.R. 3293 is a commonsense solution that will help us achieve universal broadband access. It is a critical investment in our future, and I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 1612, I call up the bill (H.R. 7673) to prohibit the Secretary of Energy from prescribing or enforcing energy conservation standards for clothes washers that are not cost-effective or technologically feasible, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 7673.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 7673, the Liberty in Laundry Act, and I thank Congressman Ogles for leading on this issue.

Throughout the 118th Congress, the Energy and Commerce Committee has been on the front lines for defending the needs of everyday Americans against the radical climate agenda of the Biden administration.

This administration has prioritized expensive and unreliable energy policies that have diminished the quality of life for our friends and neighbors across the country.

These harmful policies have sought to direct the energy we use and even the appliances we buy. We stood on this floor and we talked about gas stoves, dishwashers, and HVACs. In Congress, we talked about the push to electrification and the mandates from the U.S. Government to Americans to tell them what kind of cars they have to drive--not what they want to drive, but cars they have to drive. Today, we are addressing the assault on clothes washers.

This bill protects the affordability and quality and choice for Americans to decide for themselves what suits their needs best.

Thanks to radical climate policies, Americans will spend 34 percent more on appliances today than they did just a decade ago. These appliances are not only more expensive, they offer a lesser quality with fewer features Americans rely on and shorter lifespans.

This legislation will prevent the DOE from enforcing standards for clothes washers unless they are technologically feasible and economically justified, are not likely to result in additional cost to the consumer, and will result in significant conservation of energy.

The American people have spoken. They cannot afford and they don't want more of the same. They have overwhelmingly rejected the Democratic Party and their pandering to the radical climate lobby.

Everyday Americans are tired of record inflation, high-energy costs, and just the struggle they have every day to make ends meet.

This legislation addresses kitchen-table issues for Americans and their families. The out-of-touch policies of the Biden administration are why the American people decided to elect President Donald J. Trump to a second term.

In the 119th Congress, House Republicans will continue to fight for hardworking Americans and unleash our energy to lower costs and improve the quality of life for those across the country.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote in support of H.R. 7673, the Liberty in Laundry Act. I thank Representative Ogles for leading this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I remind Americans that this mandate by the Biden administration on washing machines will only save them about $9 total over the lifespan of the unit itself, which is about 13\1/2\ years, a savings of only $9 over 13\1/2\ years. Unbelievable.

I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Ogles), my friend.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, just a point. The payback periods for many of these appliances are uneconomical. Republicans look long term. Republicans look toward quality and value for Americans.

For example, the payback period for the Department of Energy's proposed clothes washer standard for a ventless electric combination washer and dryer is--are you ready for it?--46 years. Forty-six years for a washing machine that, if we are lucky, will last 15 years. Americans know they have to replace a lot of appliances over a period of time.

Mr. Speaker, it is sort of a bittersweet moment for me because this may be the very last time I get to speak from the House floor, and it is an honor to be here to represent the Energy and Commerce Committee's Energy, Climate, and Grid Security Subcommittee

that I chair on this bill, but it has been an honor to work on so many other bills over time.

I have enjoyed working with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. Ranking Member Pallone has been a phenomenal ranking member for the Energy and Commerce Committee to work with. I have enjoyed it. There are so many others on the other side of the aisle, too many to name, but Representative Henry Cuellar is a good friend and Scott Peters. Albio Sires was a good friend of mine who is no longer in Congress.

It has been an interesting ride for 14 years in the United States Congress. I have seen a lot on this House floor, from last year with the Speaker's debate from the original Speaker election that happened in this Congress back to John Boehner, Speaker Boehner, calling me a hardhead on the floor, something I wore as a badge of courage because I was representing my constituents in the Third District of South Carolina, who sent me to Washington to be that hardhead because they were tired of seeing runaway government. They were tired of seeing government spending that has created a balance of about $35 trillion in debt that our Nation faces today. That is a number that is unfathomable.

To work on energy policy has been something that I came to Washington to work on, and I was blessed with the opportunity to become the chair of the Energy, Climate, and Grid Security Subcommittee. We dealt with energy, grid security, and climate change in this Congress--retitled that committee--but we focus a lot on American energy, American energy independence.

There are four words that I talk about often. Those are produce, deliver, utilize, and export. We are blessed in this Nation with abundant resources that we need to produce more of because using natural gas, as an example, we have in abundance. We can't even measure the amount of natural gas we are blessed with in this Nation, and utilizing that natural gas has helped us lower our global carbon emissions.

The carbon emissions in the United States have gone down because of the use of cleaner-burning, American-produced natural gas. If we produce more, we are going to need to deliver those assets whether it is liquid fuels or gas or electricity down power lines, transmission lines. That is the delivery component.

We have to deliver that resource, whether it is electricity produced at a nuclear power plant or whether it is natural gas or liquid fuels going to the refinery. We need to produce more. We need to deliver it to where it can be utilized.

We need to utilize it to create the electricity that meets the demands of America and the globe, and energy demand in this country and globally is not going down. It is only going up, and it is going up exponentially globally. We can help so many people around the world improve their quality of life, their standard of living, by exporting more United States-produced natural gas to help them meet their global carbon emissions goals by utilizing cleaner burning U.S. gas, taking their coal-fired power plants offline and using U.S. gas to produce the electricity that makes the lives of their constituents and their citizens much better.

These are things we have worked on, and I hope Congress in the future will continue to work on, yes, lowering our global carbon emissions because, yes, cleaner air is just the right thing. Whatever side you come down on on the global climate change aspects, cleaner air is good, and we can do that by utilizing more U.S.-produced natural gas.

Produce more, deliver more, utilize more, and export more to help our friends and allies in Eastern Europe that are facing energy security issues because they depend on Russia. They look west to the U.S. to help them meet their energy needs.

Yet, we debate things like washing machines, stoves, and dishwashers, but we have had the opportunity to work on real substantive issues for American energy policy under my tenure as an Energy and Commerce subcommittee chair, but also under Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a great American who chaired the Energy and Commerce Committee for this Congress. She has been a great leader. She also is somebody who cares about more than just energy. She cares about the whole spectrum of energy and commerce, from children's online safety to privacy, data privacy. She also understands the need for American energy independence.

I have been blessed with the opportunity in Congress to stand here, and I give a shout-out to Representative Doc Hastings, who was the former chair of the Natural Resources Committee who gave me the opportunity twice back in the day when we actually did motions to recommit and had those speeches. Ranking Member Pallone may remember those days. Honestly, that was some of the most fun debate on the House floor. You heard cheers. Trey Gowdy was up here, and others. I miss those days in the United States Congress when we interacted a little bit more.

I thank the Energy and Commerce Committee staff that is sitting behind me and the full committee staff that has made this job much easier, providing us the information we need to debate properly.

This is a great institution that I have been honored to be a part of. I thank the House staff because they are great. They make order out of all this chaos. It is chaos many, many days, but we are all here elected, both Republican and Democrat, to do what is best for the United States of America, a country that we love, every one of us.

We may have differences on how to get there, but making America great, being the best nation we can be, providing for our constituents, providing for our Nation, being a strong nation, is something everybody believes in. We just have different approaches. Nobody dislikes one another, and that is what really makes the United States House of Representatives so special.

Mr. Speaker, I thank you for giving me the opportunity to do this today on the floor. I thank my creator for giving me the opportunity to do this.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I think the difference between the Republican Party and administration and Democrats comes down to government mandating certain choices and Republicans believing in free markets, market choices, and market opportunities.

If Americans want to buy something that, in their mind, is more efficient and that can save them money, maybe will last longer, that is up to the Americans. The market will step up and provide those opportunities and products. If you want an electric vehicle, the market is going to provide that. It shouldn't be mandated.

I thank my colleague from Tennessee (Mr. Ogles) for approaching this bill that is dealing with washing machines, but the broader picture is the mandates from the administration to tell Americans the only choices they have aren't going to save them that much money in the long run, as we pointed out.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the motion to recommit and vote in favor of this legislation, H.R. 7673.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the remarkable career and leadership of John L. Humphries as he retires as President and General Manager of WYFF 4 after more than four decades in broadcast television.

John led two of Hearst Television's most honored and successful brands for eighteen years, most recently leading Hearst's NBC affiliate in the Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, South Carolina and Asheville, North Carolina, television market. He is said to have built upon the culture of excellence in journalism and community service in both markets.

In 2018, Broadcasting & Cable named him General Manager of the Year for mid-size television markets as the station earned a Southeast Regional Emmy for Outstanding Newscast and, in 2022, it received a prestigious national Edward R. Murrow Award. The many state and regional achievements have included three consecutive Associated Press of South Carolina's Outstanding News Operation in 2017, 2018, and 2019 and the South Carolina Association of Broadcasters Station of the Year recognition in 2021.

Before joining Hearst Television, John was General Sales Manager for WBTV in Charlotte, North Carolina, and held the same position at WSPA- TV/WASV-TV in the Greenville-Spartanburg market. He began his career at Charlotte's WSOC-TV, initially as a Production Specialist.

He holds a bachelor's degree in Speech from Appalachian State University, in Boone, North Carolina, for which he served on the Alumni Council and currently sits on the Department of Communication's Professional Advisory Board.

Among his industry and charitable associations, John serves as president of the South Carolina Broadcasters Association Board of Directors, the board for the Greenville Chamber of Commerce, and the South Carolina Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. In 2016, he was named one of the region's 50 Most Influential People by Greenville Business Magazine.

Mr. Speaker, as John signs off and embarks on a well-deserved retirement, it is a privilege to be able to serve the Third District of South Carolina and to celebrate those who make a difference in our community.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support today of H.R. 5646, the Stop Campus Hazing Act, legislation that I have been the lead Republican cosponsor of for the past three Congresses.

Mr. Speaker, 10 years ago last Saturday, a young man named Tucker Hipps, a senior counselor at Palmetto Boys State, and a political science major like myself at my alma mater Clemson University, was found in the waters of Lake Hartwell, having fallen off a bridge in an apparent and suspected incident of campus hazing.

Mr. Speaker, 10 years later, the Hipps family, who are with us today, are still searching for justice for Tucker. I continue to pray that they find those answers.

I am proud of the South Carolina State legislature that they named their campus hazing legislation after Tucker.

Today, I am proud to bring bipartisan legislation to the House floor along with my friend that you just heard from, my colleague Congresswoman McBath, to honor Tucker's memory and the memories of hundreds of other campus hazing victims by mandating greater transparency in fraternity hazing reporting.

No parent should have to endure what Gary and Cindy Hipps have had to go through, the senseless loss of a beloved son. The, as yet, fruitless search for answers or bringing those responsible to justice.

Yet, in Tucker's loss and the loss of so many others, we may learn lessons that inform the policy choice that we make today.

We act today so that parents may know and make informed decisions about the colleges that they send their kids off to.

I thank all the people involved in this legislation that has taken way too long, from Cindy Hipps to the Clery Center to the DeVercelly family. I thank them for being here today. I thank Chairwoman Foxx and Ranking Member Scott for their support, as well as Clemson University and the fraternal councils for realizing the need to move forward with these reforms. I thank the sponsor of this bill, Congresswoman McBath, for all her tireless efforts to bring us here today.

May God bless the memory of Tucker Hipps, and in his memory, I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the remarkable career and dedicated service of Mr. Farris ``Carlos'' Hill, a pillar of our Ninety Six, South Carolina community, as he retires from the Department of the Air Force.

Carlos' journey is a testament to dedication, perseverance, and commendable service to our Nation both in uniform and as a civilian leader. Born in 1964 to a working-class family in Greenwood, South Carolina, he learned the values of hard work and determination from a young age. Notably, he attended the first integrated first grade class in our state, an experience that undoubtedly shaped his character and resilience.

Following his graduation from Ninety Six High School in 1982, Carlos, fueled by his work ethic, secured an Air Force ROTC scholarship to Clemson University. This marked the start of his lifelong dedication to our Nation. Earning a degree in Civil Engineering in 1986, he embarked on a distinguished military career. His assignments spanned Chanute AFB, Mather AFB, and Dyess AFB, where he excelled as an aircraft maintenance officer. He further served as an Assistant Professor of Aerospace Studies at Rutgers and Princeton Universities, inspiring future Air Force leaders.

Transitioning to the Air Force Reserve after nine years of active duty service, Carlos balanced his military responsibilities with a successful civilian career at General Electric. His unwavering commitment extended to deployments in support of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. During his second mobilization, he sought opportunities to further his military career through the Air Force Legislative Fellowship Program. This prestigious program allowed Carlos to work closely with congressional members and staff, providing him with invaluable legislative experience and insights that would shape his future career in legislative affairs.

In 2013, Carlos assumed the crucial role of Mobilization Assistant to the Director of Legislative Liaison at the Pentagon, while concurrently serving as the Director of Air Force Reserve Policy Integration in a civilian capacity. He became a vital bridge between the Air Force and Congress, securing vital resources and advocating for both the active force and Reserves. His promotion to Brigadier General in 2015 was a fitting culmination of his outstanding military career.

Retiring from the Reserve in 2019, Carlos remained dedicated to his civilian role, shaping policies as Director of Air Force Reserve Policy Integration at the Pentagon. Here, he continued to serve with distinction, shaping policies that directly impacted the lives and careers of thousands of Air Force Reservists. Carlos' civilian tenure was marked by his unwavering commitment to improving the operational readiness and quality of life for Airmen. He was instrumental in identifying and resolving issues affecting the Air Force Reserve, developing legislative strategies, and coordinating with Congress on significant policy matters. His efforts included formulating Air Force Reserve strategic goals, managing policy initiatives, and maintaining liaison with Congressional Defense Committee Chairs and a wide range of other members of Congress. He also ensured that Air Force senior leaders were fully prepared for Congressional testimonies and engagements, significantly contributing to the successful navigation of complex legislative landscapes.

Beyond his military and government service, Carlos has remained deeply involved with Clemson University where he actively serves on the Alumni Association Board. His dedication to mentoring and supporting students, especially those in the ROTC program, has left a lasting impact. Carlos frequently returns to Clemson to speak with and mentor current students, including Air Force ROTC cadets. In recognition of his significant contributions, Carlos was honored with the Clemson University Distinguished Service Award in 2023, highlighting his exceptional service and commitment to the university and its community.

As Carlos embarks on a well-deserved retirement, I extend my deepest gratitude for his unwavering commitment. His exemplary service has been a true inspiration for future generations.

Mr. Chair, I want to let John Garamendi know we are thinking about him and praying for him.

This amendment threatens to weaken our Nation's defense capability by preventing the critical production of plutonium pits at the Savannah River Site.

Plutonium pits are a key component for nuclear weapons. Due to factors including plutonium aging, safety and security advancements, global risk, and weapons modernization, these pits need to be replaced from time to time.

The United States has not had the ability to produce new pits in the quantities required for the nuclear weapons stockpile since the previous pit production facility at Rocky Flats, Colorado, was shut down in the 1990s.

When construction is complete, the Savannah River Plutonium Processing Facility will produce at least 50 of the 80 new pits per year required by the Department of Defense to sustain the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile.

This amendment would prohibit funding for the Savannah River Plutonium Modernization Program, which funds facility construction as well as workforce development, process design, and other critical functions so that SRS can begin producing pits as quickly as possible once the construction is complete.

This bipartisan program has been supported by both the current and former Presidential administrations. Similarly, this amendment was soundly rejected during consideration of the fiscal year 2024 Energy- Water Development appropriations bill.

Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no.''

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 1341, I call up the bill (H.R. 7700) to prohibit the Secretary of Energy from prescribing or enforcing energy conservation standards for dishwashers that are not cost-effective or technologically feasible, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on this legislation and insert extraneous material on H.R. 7700.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 7700, Stop Unaffordable Dishwasher Standards Act, and I thank Congressman Langworthy for leading these efforts.

The Biden administration has lost sight of the original intent behind the Department of Energy conservation standards. Instead, they are contradicting the statutes and doing so at the expense of Americans' quality of life, their pocketbooks, and their energy bills.

Instead of harnessing the abundant resources we are blessed with in this country, the Biden administration wants to lower your standard of living by telling you what appliances you can have in your home, and they want you to pay more for it.

An analysis from the Department of Energy found that their dishwasher efficiency mandates would increase the upfront cost by up to 28 percent. It is estimated that these proposed standards may take consumers over 16 years to pay back the increased cost on a dishwasher that won't even last 12 years.

The Biden administration has abused the Department of Energy's appliance standard program to go beyond the authority granted to them by Congress by proposing these overreaching standards.

Americans will suffer the consequences of the Biden administration's rush-to-green agenda.

The DOE's net zero rush-to-green energy agenda is reaching into your home to impose cost increasing regulations on appliances in every corner of your home.

We have debated gas stoves and other appliances here, and now here we are today debating on dishwashers.

The Biden administration has proposed over 15 regulations that affect appliances, like I mentioned, not only gas stoves but hot water heaters, refrigerators, freezers, and now dishwashers.

They argue these regulations will save money and reduce emissions, but that is just simply not the case. One study found these regulations could increase the cost for the average American family by over $9,000.

These increased efficiency standards mean Americans need to run their appliances twice as long to get the same effect, and we all know it. You run the dishwasher, you open it up, the dishes aren't clean, and you have got to run it again. It happens to every American family multiple times. You are not saving money. You are not saving water and electricity running your highly efficient appliances when you have to run them two or three times just to get the dishes clean or to get them dry.

This bill would prevent this abuse from the DOE, and it will prevent the Department from enforcing standards on dishwashers unless they are technologically feasible and economically justified, they are not likely to result in additional costs to the customer, and they won't enforce the standards unless they will result in a significant conservation of energy. American families know that is just simply not happening in their homes.

I urge all my colleagues to vote in support of H.R. 7700, Stop the Unaffordable Dishwasher Standards Act, to protect affordability and preserve the quality of life that Americans expect and deserve.

I thank Representative Langworthy for leading this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned earlier, the legislation would prevent the Department from enforcing standards on dishwashers unless they are technologically feasible and economically justified, unless they are not likely to result in additional costs to a consumer, and unless they will result in significant conservation of energy.

Americans know that this new standard and even older standards are not working. They are having to wash their dishes multiple times.

We have seen over and over agencies overreaching the constitutional mandate they were given. Thank goodness the Supreme Court last week overturned the Chevron deference, and now Congress can use other tools like pieces of legislation to direct agencies on what they should do and the limits they can do it under.

Sure, there is other legislation we ought to take up, but we have had to use Congressional Review Act legislation. We have had to use legislation like this to push back against these agencies and their overreach.

Thankfully, Mr. Langworthy knows a lot about this. He filed the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Langworthy).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Allen), a valuable member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Mr. Speaker, I don't have any further speakers, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, the Biden administration's own Department of Energy in their analysis finds that efficiency mandates could increase the upfront costs by 28 percent and it could take consumers 12 years to pay back the increased cost on a product like a dishwasher that may only last 7 to 12 years.

Mr. Speaker, it is going to take you 12 years to pay for something that may wear out in 7 years based on DOE's own analysis. That makes no sense.

The gentlewoman mentioned earlier that Republicans were not wanting to help American consumers, that they want to take money out of their pocket. This is actually the opposite of that. We are wanting to help save the American public money over time by stopping these reckless rush-to-green regulations like we are voting on today dealing with both refrigerators and dishwashers and then gas stoves but only because they have a green agenda that really wants to do away with fossil fuels. Let's just call it what it is. That is their agenda, to end the use of fossils fuels in the United States of America at a time when we, as a growing nation, growing population, and growing metropolitan centers, need more energy. The demand for energy is only going up. It is not going down. The continued war against American-

produced fossil fuels is costing Americans' ability to improve their quality of life and their standard of living.

We need to continue debating the need for efficient, reliable, affordable, and dispatchable energy resources, something that is 24/7/ 365 always on, always ready, always available, not weather-dependent, and not sunlight-dependent, intermittent energy sources. We need to continue debating that. Instead, we are having to push back against an administration that, under broad legislation passed by the United States Congress, has given them the ability to write rules and make regulations without the necessary congressional oversight in many cases. That is why, I believe, the Supreme Court overturned the Chevron deference to say that these agencies don't just have carte blanche to do whatever political agenda pushes them in the mindset to do.

I think Congress needs to focus on really defining what those rules are in the legislation we pass here, and I think that is what the Supreme Court is ultimately going to force us to do. They it made very clear with no ambivalence and no ambiguity.

We have a Nation that is hurting because of the Biden economic factors that are causing inflation. It started with energy on day one by stopping the Keystone pipeline, ending lease sales on the Outer Continental Shelf, destroying the American energy base.

The Democrats will say: Well, energy production is up.

It is, but it is up because of past administration policies that expanded oil and gas leasing on the Outer Continental Shelf and on Federal land. These things don't pop up out of the ground overnight. It takes decades sometimes to get an energy product to producing. The permitting process alone takes years. Then you have to find the resource and produce the resource and get it online where Americans can benefit from it.

Guess who else can benefit from it, Mr. Speaker. The world can. With the abundance of natural gas we have in this country, we could be a tremendous exporter. We export a lot, but we could do a lot more because of the abundance of natural gas we have here to help the quality of life and standard of living of people all over the globe. Yet this administration says we are going to put this pause, which was basically a ban, on LNG exports.

That hurts our allies in Europe who are facing Vladimir Putin's cutting on and off the spigot of natural gas. It hurts folks around the world who are in energy poverty, and America could help raise them out of that poverty.

Americans know they are hurting because it started with energy. We talk a lot about that. Americans also see a border that is wide open and 16-plus million people who have crossed our southern border who are raping and killing American citizens. The crime rates are going up in cities. They are straining our social services at the State level and in our own communities causing our property taxes to go up and our State income taxes to go up to pay for folks who aren't even legally in the United States of America. That is because of Joe Biden's open- border policies.

Sure, we ought to debate a lot of things in this Congress instead of debating regulations on efficiency standards on dishwashers, gas stoves, refrigerators, freezers, and all these things, but the Biden administration has definitely overreached in these areas. It is because they have a green agenda that they are pushing.

Republicans want to help Americans maintain their standard of living, improve their standard of living, and improve their quality of life. We can do that by lowering taxes. We can do that by improving the economy which the Biden economic policies have not done. We saw tremendous spending in the IRA and other things. More government spending equates to higher inflation. That is not me saying it. That is economists all over the globe who understand that simple concept.

We want to improve the quality of life of people and not make their appliances that they rely on every day be less efficient, cost more, and in the case of dishwashers, having to pay for something that wore out 3 or 4 years ago and they are still paying on it. If you factor in the cost savings, it is pennies a day. In fact, it is probably pennies a year. It gets into less than a $20 savings over the life of the appliance. That is not saving the American people money.

I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 7700, the Stop Unaffordable Dishwasher Standards Act. Let's protect affordability, and let's preserve the quality of life for Americans.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time is remaining.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, to address the gentlewoman, I wasn't going to engage in a colloquy on the floor during a debate on this issue, but I do load and unload the dishwasher.

I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, that, many times, I have opened the dishwasher, loaded properly, with the right amount of dishwashing liquid or pod put in, that all the dishes aren't clean. They were rinsed off before they were put in, to the gentlewoman.

I would run it again. Americans know this. This isn't just me and my household. Americans know they have to run the dishwasher ofttimes more than once.

How is that a cost savings? How is it a cost savings when you have to run it more than once?

Americans know you open that dishwasher after its cycle, and apparently the heating component of the efficiency standards didn't dry the dishes, so they get them out before they put them in the cabinet because you don't want to put wet dishes up. You get a towel down, and you dry every one of them off. Cup, knife, fork, plate, pan, you dry it off before you put it up.

Mr. Speaker, you might as well have just washed it in the sink versus using an inefficient dishwasher that is becoming more and more inefficient based on these standards. I am not going to stand here and be lectured by someone who seemed very pious about dishwashers or washing laundry or loading a refrigerator properly to stay away from the hotspots because we are going to go to refrigerators next.

I am sure some of these same comments are going to be brought up. Guess what, I don't have to because the American people know. The American people know what they deal with every day, and they know they are going to pay more for an appliance that is less efficient, and they may still be paying for it when the thing is worn out. That is unfair to the American people. We should be about improving the standard of living and quality of life of Americans.

I will address one other thing that the gentlewoman said: the so- called border crisis. Every American knows we have a border crisis. We have had over 16 million people in our country not with a visa, not with a permission slip, to come here illegally. They reside in our communities because guess what? Every State is a border State now, even California and even South Carolina, where I come from because these migrants have been bussed or flown at taxpayer expense into our communities.

I won't stand here and hear it be called a so-called border crisis because Americans know it is a border crisis when 16 million people illegally enter. We are not talking about 6, but 16 million or more. Those are just the ones we know about.

What about the ones that the Border Patrol see cross the border, who go into the bushes, and they go after them? They can't find them, and they are not counted in the got-away numbers because they have been told that those migrants may have gone back across the border, so they are not counting those numbers.

What about the ones who cross the border in areas that aren't patrolled currently, those people who come through who have no encounter with law enforcement at all, who are never counted. They may have nefarious goals in mind because all of these illegal aliens that have crossed our border aren't just from Mexico or Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Latin-American countries. A lot of them are coming from China and Russia and the Middle East. America knows we have no idea who is in our country.

Let me say that again: Americans, we have no idea who is in our country.

When I got into this conversation about energy prices and the border and economics and inflation, high interest rates, cost of goods costing more now than they did 4 years ago, ofttimes 28, 30, 35 percent more, Americans know. They don't want to pay more for an appliance that is inefficient. That is the gist of this debate.

Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.

Mr. Speaker, enacted in 1975, the Energy Policy and Conservation Act provides specific criteria for the DOE to follow in order to propose a new appliance efficiency standard. I went over those standards earlier. The Biden administration has consistently ignored these requirements by proposing and finalizing standards that violate the statute.

Mr. Speaker, I owe the gentleman from New Jersey an apology because I misspoke earlier when I said the payback period was 12 years.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a link to the Federal Register, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2024- 04-24/pdf/2024-08211.pdf.

This is a table in the Federal Register, and it says it is a 16-year payback for dishwashers. I said 12. I apologize for misspeaking because it is really 16 years. This is not just words. These are in the Federal Register.

Americans know that these standards will lessen the efficiency of appliances, will cost them more in upfront costs, and ultimately cost them more in inconvenience, in multiple run cycles, in cost over the lifetime when you have a 16-year payback.

Mr. Speaker, this is the right piece of legislation to push back against the administrative overreach, and I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 7700, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 1341, I call up the bill (H.R. 7637) to prohibit the Secretary of Energy from prescribing or enforcing energy conservation standards for refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, and freezers that are not cost- effective or technologically feasible, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material on H.R. 7637.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 7637, the Refrigerator Freedom Act, and I thank Congresswoman Miller-Meeks for leading these efforts.

Mr. Speaker, throughout this Congress, the Energy and Commerce Committee has heard time after time how this administration has prioritized a radical climate agenda over the needs of everyday Americans.

If you listen to the last debate, you will see a lot of that. The fact is, the American people cannot afford President Biden's energy policies. They are expensive, they are unreliable, and they are diminishing the quality of life for folks across the country.

House Republicans are tired of this administration trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the American people. We are tired of them putting the interests of the climate lobby over those of hardworking Americans.

The Biden administration's obsession with rationing our abundant energy is reducing the quality of life for Americans. They are making it more difficult and more expensive for you to cook your food, heat your homes, and all the other things that we talked about over the last number of debates on these issues.

With record-high inflation, out-of-control utility bills, and unaffordable home prices, the Biden administration's efficiency regulations will make household appliances more expensive. That is just the bottom line.

The Department of Energy's proposed standards for refrigerators and freezers yield nearly nonexistent savings. The life cycle cost savings for these products is only 3 cents over the course of 9.3 years.

Thanks to the Biden administration, Americans will spend 34 percent more

on appliances today than they did just a decade ago. These appliances are not only more expensive, they are of lesser quality and include fewer features that Americans rely on, and they have a shorter lifespan.

These efficiency standards reflect just how out of touch the Biden administration is with everyday Americans who are struggling to make ends meet.

This legislation will prevent the DOE from enforcing standards for refrigerators and freezers unless they are: technologically feasible and economically justified; are not likely to result in additional cost to the consumer; and will result in a significant conservation of energy.

This bill will protect affordability, quality, and choice for Americans, for the refrigerators and freezers they buy. It puts the interests of Americans first.

I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 7637, the Refrigerator Freedom Act, and I thank Representative Miller-Meeks for leading this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I have a company in my district that makes refrigerators. The R&D, research and development, that go into designing a refrigerator is mind-boggling to me.

I thought refrigeration was pretty simple, but they optimize where the milk is stored and where the meat goes and hot spots in the refrigerator to make sure that temperatures are consistent and foods remain fresh for a longer period of time, not because some government mandate said that that refrigerators need to be more efficient but because the market demands it.

If the market demands it and they can provide that to meet the market challenge, then they will end up with more market share. That means more units sold, and this company rolls a new refrigerator off the line every 4 seconds. It is crazy.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter), who is a valuable member of the Energy and Commerce Committee and also chair of the Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials Subcommittee.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Van Drew).

Mr. Speaker, the funny thing is, if manufacturers wanted to make a more efficient appliance, they could, and I would tell them to go for it. The manufacturing alliance and all the trade groups that were mentioned don't need something from the government to tell them to do something more efficient. If they think there is a market for it or they think that they have some desire to be more efficient, they can do it. They don't need the government to tell them to do it.

The way government operates around here, especially under a Democratic administration, is that they are coming up with a solution that is looking for a problem. If a problem doesn't exist, they create one, and they create a regulation to manage it and grow government.

Ronald Reagan, talking about Democratic government, said that their solution is: ``I am from the government, and I am here to help.''

Democrats continue to want to throw more money at problems that they see. The gentlewoman from Florida went through a whole litany of things the Democrats would focus on, but do you know what, America? She left the border out of that. Over 16 million people have crossed the border. That wasn't on her list.

She wasn't talking about lowering interest rates on mortgages so people can actually buy their first home. Right now, they can't because it is out of reach. It is unaffordable.

She didn't talk about lowering prices at the grocery store or Walmart or anywhere else you shop because the Biden administration's inflationary practices have driven up costs everywhere on everything since day one of the administration, from energy costs to food and other items that you purchase.

I kind of chuckled at her little sign there, but I am reminded of Will Rogers. He was talking about government spending, I think, but he said that really the only time the taxpayer is safe is when Congress isn't in session because Congress seems to muck it up by growing government and wanting to tax to get money to feed that growing government. Will Rogers was probably right.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from Iowa (Mrs. Miller-Meeks), the author of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Iowa (Mrs. Miller-Meeks).

Mr. Speaker, I have no additional Members on our side of the aisle, and I am ready to close. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

I will say it again. Enacted in 1975, the Energy Policy and Conservation Act provides specific criteria for DOE to follow in order to propose a new appliance efficiency standard. They may only propose a new standard if it results in a significant conservation of energy, is technologically feasible, and is economically justified.

The new regulations are not economically justified, they are not necessarily technologically feasible, and there is not a significant conservation of energy.

The Biden administration has consistently ignored these requirements by proposing and finalizing standards that violate this statute.

The gentleman from New Jersey is younger than I am, but I grew up during the seventies' energy crisis. I was being flattering. I don't know how old Frank is, but we both grew up during the seventies' energy crisis, and we did some things around the house that my dad mandated. They weren't government mandates.

When you left the house in the summertime, you turned the thermostat up so the air wouldn't run at whatever temperature you wanted it, 72, 70, whatever, when nobody was home.

We combined trips to the store so that you would go by the gas station and by the grocery store and other stops and make one trip versus going in and out.

He ingrained in me to cut the lights off, much to the chagrin of my children and what I have tried to teach them. When you leave the room, you flip the switch off, so the lights weren't on when you weren't there.

I will say this: The agencies in Washington, D.C., could learn a lesson from that. When I ride down Independence Avenue at night, all the lights are on at the Department of Energy, and I know most of the employees are gone.

In the wintertime, we turned the thermostat down, and we put something warmer on.

I grew up poor. Not poor poor; we lived on a mill hill, a textile community, when I was little. These were dad mandates. These weren't government mandates.

Now we see the government really becoming Big Brother. There are State governments, in most instances, which tell you where you can set your thermostat, when you can water your yard, and when you can charge your EV.

Big Brother is telling you to do more and more things, telling you what kind of car you can drive by really pushing EV mandates down on America when the consumer choice isn't that. We are seeing that kind of reverse trend in this country and the demand rise for traditional gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles.

Here again, we see a government mandate telling manufacturers you have to create an appliance that is inefficient. It is going to cost the consumer more money on the front end, and it will take them a lot longer to pay it back for an appliance that is usually worn out before they have gotten the repayment back.

My dad taught us not to stand there with the refrigerator door open. In fact, smart refrigerators, I think, ding now if you hold the door open too long because it loses that coolness. It creates inefficiency. I don't think that was a government mandate either. I think that was technology the industry came up with.

We don't need more Big Government. We don't need more government regulation like this. It is going to cost the consumers more money and affect their quality of life.

This is simple legislation just to push back against this administration and the mandates that the American public does not need and will lower their quality of life, their standard of living, cost them more money, and will not yield the cost savings that will be mandated.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for actually holding this Special Order to talk about what happened in 2017.

One year ago tomorrow marks the day we had baseball practice right before the game. It was the day before the game, and Ron DeSantis, now Governor of Florida, the Representative from that State, rode to practice with me.

That morning, we were on the field. I was starting shortstop. Ron was starting third baseman. As we did at every practice, we had infield practice and then we had batting practice. During batting practice, many of us were out there shagging balls. Ron was standing at third, I was standing at shortstop, and Ron said: ``When are you thinking about leaving, Jeff?'' He said: ``I have got a meeting I can get to if we could head on.'' I said: ``Well, you have done infield and batting practice, and I have.''

Chairman Mike Conaway from Texas was in the batting cage batting, and I said: ``Let's let Chairman Conaway finish, and then we can go.''

Conaway finished. We ran off the field. I ran around the pitcher's mound. Steve Scalise was at second base. I fist-bumped Steve as I went off the field and went to the dugout. Tom Rooney was at first base. Tom said: ``Duncan, what time is it?''

I got my bag. I had a bag that I kept keys, phone and all that in. I came out told him what time it was. Tom had to leave, so he left, and he was the first one out of the gate.

Ron DeSantis went off the field, and then I went off the field. Out in the parking lot, I was stopped by a gentleman who said: ``Excuse me. Can you tell me who is practicing today, Republicans or Democrats?'' I said: ``This is the Republican team practicing.'' He said: ``Thank you.''

It turned out that was a shooter. I was face-to-face with him for a brief interlude before he left the parking lot to go into his van by the YMCA and load his weapons and get prepared to fire about 137 rounds at my colleagues who I left on the baseball field that morning as I drove back to the Capitol.

There were a lot of God winks in that event that morning. I can't thank anyone but my Lord and Savior for getting me off that field and away from danger. I would have been standing at shortstop. Ron DeSantis would have been at third base. Trent Kelly was the third

baseman after Ron left. The first shot was fired at Trent and hit a chain link fence. One-eighth of an inch definitely saved Trent's life. It rattled the gentleman, and I think it made him erratic and start shooting my colleagues, spraying bullets across the field that hit Steve Scalise, Zack Barth, and Matt Mika, and others.

It turns out that the gentleman had come from Illinois to the Washington area to assassinate Republicans. He had a list in his pocket with six or eight names on it that he wanted to kill. My name was on that list. I was face-to-face with him. Thank God he wasn't prepared at that moment because he had targeted me specifically. He had my name, my address, my age, my physical description, and a number of other things.

There were a lot of God winks on that field that day. We are just thankful that no one died, especially our Majority Leader Steve Scalise, my good friend, who the next year, after he recovered from his wounds, came out on the baseball field and had the first pitch in a live pitch baseball game off a bat hit directly to him. He was at second base. I was at shortstop. I came around to back him up behind the bag, and I was the first one there to take him in my arms and hug him and just praise God that he was there for that moment.

As I wrap up here and give others a chance to share their memories, I will give a special shout-out to some heroes of that day. That is David Bailey and Crystal Griner, who were there as Steve's detail, who actually fended off the shooter and kept, I think, much more harm from being done if that shooter had been able to get on the field. Then the Alexandria Police Department showed up 11 minutes, 12 minutes after the shooting started. That is how quickly it happened. They dispatched the assassin, who the FBI said was hoping to die by suicide by cop.

He was an assassin. Let's call him what he was. He knew he would probably die that day, but he wanted to take out as many Republicans as he could. It was a tragic day that day, but it was special because no one died. Everyone lived. There were so many God winks that were there.

Mr. Chair, I rise in support of H.R. 6192, the Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act, and I thank Congresswoman Lesko for leading this effort and many others in this Congress.

Throughout hearings in this Congress, the House Energy and Commerce Committee has heard countless times how the Biden administration's energy policy puts special interests over affordability and reliability for Americans.

Through the Department of Energy's appliance standard program, the Biden administration has abused their authority by setting aggressive standards on a variety of home appliances.

Mr. Chair, I don't want Americans to be fooled about this. This effort by the Biden administration isn't about saving American consumers' money, it is solely about ending American's use of natural gas, period.

They started with gas stoves and now they have announced plans to impose burdensome regulations that will raise the cost and reduce the performance of dishwashers, air conditioners, refrigerators, clothes washers and dryers, and several other products that Americans rely on every day.

This is part of their whole-of-government approach to pursuing climate policy over all else.

Secretary Granholm said in our DOE budget hearing just last week: We are obsessed with reducing the amount of energy Americans use. This administration hates fossil fuels and anything that uses fossil fuels.

Their solution is to reduce emissions and preserve energy reliability. Instead of harnessing the abundant resources we have in this country, they want to reduce the quality of life for Americans by telling them how to cook their food and wash their clothes, how much water they can use, and what type of car they can drive.

Congresswoman Lesko's bill puts energy affordability and reliability ahead of the dark money climate lobby this administration is beholden to. This bill reforms the Department of Energy's appliance standard setting process to clarify the DOE's regulatory authority and prohibits new standards that are not cost effective or technologically feasible.

Because of this administration's reckless spending and regulatory agenda, the cost of everything is increasing in the United States of America.

The last thing they should be doing is making the home appliances that Americans rely on even more expensive.

Mr. Chair, I urge all my colleagues to support this commonsense bill and thank Congresswoman Lesko, again, for leading this important effort.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for the time, and I rise in support of S. 870, which includes a bipartisan and bicameral nuclear energy package.

I first thank my colleague, friend, and ranking member of the Subcommittee on Energy, Climate, and Grid Security for leading this effort in the House along with me, Congresswoman Diana DeGette.

I thank the chair and ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Chairman Carper and Ranking Member Capito, for leading this effort in the Senate.

Finally, I thank the chairwoman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, for making nuclear energy a policy priority in this Congress.

Now, this package of nuclear bills is comprised of the work of many Members of both the House and the Senate on both sides of the aisle, and I thank them for their work in advancing the peaceful use of nuclear energy here in the United States.

The ADVANCE Act, which is a Senate bill, and the Atomic Energy Advancement Act, which is a House bill, will expand nuclear energy by modernizing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and programs at the Department of Energy.

The bill updates our regulatory framework to restore America's nuclear dominance and encourage innovation while also maintaining the NRC's global gold standard of safety. Now, more than ever, it is essential that America leads in the nuclear energy space.

As we approach a nuclear renaissance here in the United States, a future which will see small module reactors, microreactors, advance fuel reactors, and reprocessing of commercial spent fuels, it is exciting times.

When Congress first passed the Atomic Energy Act over 70 years ago, we ushered in the age for the peaceful use of the atom and cemented American nuclear leadership globally.

Our adversaries, like Russia and China, are working to undercut our strength and seeking to dominate the nuclear markets and supply chains.

A robust and growing nuclear industry is critical for reducing carbon emissions and providing reliable, affordable, and clean energy to the American people.

This nuclear package will help bring America's nuclear promise back and secure, once again, the United States' position as a global nuclear leader.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Washington, our chairwoman of the full Energy and Commerce Committee, for yielding time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1023, the Cutting Green Corruption and Taxes Act. By repealing the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, H.R. 1023 protects taxpayers from waste, fraud, and abuse.

This bill would repeal and rescind the $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, commonly referred to as EPA's green bank, which was originally enacted in the Inflation Reduction Act. This is nearly three times the amount of funding EPA received in their 2023 budget.

It is completely outside the scope of the EPA's mission, and they don't have the capacity nor the expertise to manage a $27 billion climate bank. They are not a financial institution. Even worse, they are funding projects that benefit China. Solar panels, EVs, and wind turbines all have supply chains tied to the Chinese Communist Party.

In addition to repealing the green bank, this bill would also repeal the natural gas tax. This tax is especially troubling for small and independent oil and gas producers that will not be able to afford to maintain their operations. This tax comes in addition to a suite of methane regulations that creates a structure unworkable for small and midsize companies.

There are about 9,000 independent oil and gas producers in the United States. For the gentlewoman from Michigan who just spoke, 75 percent of them will go out of business in the State of Michigan if the methane tax stays in effect. These companies are not Big Oil. On average, they employ just 12 people.

The methane regulations included in this natural gas tax would crush these producers, but that is the goal, isn't it, of the Biden administration and the left, to end U.S. oil and gas production and to use taxpayer money to prop up their climate special interests.

In fact, we said yesterday President Biden got on an airplane, Air Force One, and flew to Saudi Arabia to beg the Saudis and OPEC to increase their fossil fuel production while at the same time killing U.S. fossil fuel production. It is not that they don't like fossil fuels because he went to Saudi Arabia to beg for more. He just doesn't like fossil fuels produced in this country.

Mr. Speaker, we have to stop the madness and increase American energy independence.

Mr. Speaker, we are showing how misguided this $27 billion green bank is, and the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Joyce) knows about fossil fuel production and what this would mean to the great State of Pennsylvania that produces a lot of energy.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Joyce).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Allen).

Madam Speaker, we pointed out yesterday that Americans are paying more for transportation fuels than they were just a few short years ago before the Biden administration started this war on energy. They are paying higher utility bills because green energy projects are costing more and driving up utility rates.

If anybody watched the debate that the gentlewoman from Florida mentioned a minute ago, which occurred in our committee this week, they will see that we need to build out a pipeline infrastructure to deliver resources,

produce American resources, deliver those resources, utilize those resources, and export. There is energy poverty in the world; not just in the United States, but globally. We can help with that by exporting more U.S.-produced, cleaner burning natural gas.

Georgia has been leading on this issue and here is another Representative from Georgia to talk about it.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter).

Madam Speaker, this $27 billion green bank will benefit China, so it seems like the Biden administration and the House Democrats support China over the American people.

Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Pfluger). He is somebody that knows energy being that he is from the Permian Basin.

Madam Speaker, I have no additional speakers, and I am prepared to close. I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.

I was just informed by staff that I have 10 minutes left on this debate. I promise you, I am not going to take that, but I could because this issue is important to the American people.

The border issue is number one across the country because we are being invaded across our southern border, and it is not secure.

The second biggest issue the American people are interested in are their utility bills and the price at the pump, what it costs them to fill up their tank to take their kids to school, to go to work, to earn the money that is taxed by this government and spent recklessly by this government.

We see $27 billion given to an EPA that doesn't have the mechanisms set up to be a bank, to do grants, to do these type of funding mechanisms. We pointed that out this week during energy week. We have talked about energy since we got here Tuesday, but I promise you, this isn't the end. We are going to continue to talk about American energy because it is time for America to become energy dominant once again, to be a net exporter of oil and to increase our LNG exports.

We see this war by the Biden administration on American energy. He doesn't mind fossil fuels because he went and begged the Saudis to produce more to help lower the price because it is an election year. He has drained the SPR, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, to the lowest level since 1980. The SPR is set up to handle national emergencies-- times of war and times of other climatic events that happen to help the American people. However, he drew it down for political purposes to lower the price at the pump because it was an election year, and we haven't refilled it.

All these issues that were brought out this week during energy week have been important to the American people. The Republicans have pointed out that a lot of this $27 billion is going to end up in the Chinese Communist Party because they will be the beneficiary, just like Vladimir Putin is the beneficiary of lowering American energy production. He hasn't stopped. He is selling energy all over the world to help fund his war in Ukraine.

Money that is going into the pockets of the oligarchs in Russia is funding the invasion and the battle that is going on in Ukraine right now. We could stop that. We ran the Germans out of oil during the Battle of the Bulge. It helped us win World War II. It was an energy issue then. It is an energy now. We could take the money away from Vladimir Putin and his ability to keep funding the war in Ukraine.

However, today this bill talks about the EPA and their green bank and that slush fund that only caters to the radical environmentalists on the left. We are talking about the methane tax that is going to hurt producers across this Nation. It is going to drive energy prices up.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support Gary Palmer's bill that we are debating today. It has been a heck of an energy week, and I am glad that the United States Congress is finally focusing on American energy producers to be energy dominant, energy secure once again.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill, stop this green bank, end the methane tax, and help make America be stronger once again. Yes, we passed

this bill or versions like it two or three times. We can pass it 10 more times, get the United States Senate to actually wake up and do their dadgum job and start taking up bills that the House passes in order to help make America stronger, to lead once again in the realm of American energy because energy is the foundation of everything. The American people know it. I am glad the United States House of Representatives, at least on our side of the aisle, understands that, as well.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 1085, I call up the resolution (H. Res. 987) denouncing the harmful, anti-American energy policies of the Biden administration, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H. Res. 987.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 987 to denounce the harmful anti-American energy policies of the Biden administration, led by Congressional Western Caucus Chairman Dan Newhouse.

From day one, the Biden administration has waged war on American energy. Their actions and policies have jeopardized our grid security, caused America to become more dependent on foreign adversaries like Iran, Russia, China, Venezuela, and others, and increased energy costs for everyday Americans.

Energy is foundational to everything in American life. American energy

powers our country, employs our workers, and drives our economy.

When the cost of energy goes up, so does everything else. Since President Biden took office, the administration has taken over 170 regulatory actions to make it harder to produce and deliver American energy.

President Biden and House Democrats are doing everything in their power to regulate American energy workers out of existence, and they don't care how it negatively impacts communities in South Carolina or any other State around the country. They are putting the needs of the radical climate lobby over hardworking Americans.

Americans know gas prices hit a 4-month high this week, with a national average of $3.46 a gallon. In May 2023, it was calculated that nearly 20 million households in the United States were behind on their utility bills. That means they couldn't pay them or were having trouble paying them.

In President Biden's first 26 months in office, energy prices increased roughly 27.2 percent, the largest increase of any of the past seven administrations.

President Biden's policies have directly contributed to these unaffordable energy bills. He started his first day in office by canceling the Keystone pipeline, eliminating the potential for 11,000 energy sector jobs.

He continues to block domestic mineral development while simultaneously forcing a rush to green agenda, which makes the United States reliant on foreign countries like China that use child labor, have inhumane working conditions, and do their mining in a very environmentally insensitive way.

To distract from high energy prices, President Biden directed the largest drawdown of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in the Nation's history.

Now, the SPR, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, is there for national emergencies--in time of war, hurricane, and other natural disasters. He drew it down for political purposes.

Under Democratic control, the SPR has been drained to its lowest level since 1980 as an election year gimmick. It puts America at risk, though, not having that Strategic Petroleum Reserve available.

President Biden's anti-American energy policies know no end. They are taxing natural gas, blocking pipelines, banning LNG exports, which help American producers but also help our friends and allies around the globe, and imposing aggressive EPA regulations.

Just yesterday, the Biden administration announced a rule that would mandate that nearly two-thirds of new vehicles must be all-electric by 2032, regardless of cost, functionality, or consumer choice, which should drive the market for automobile production.

Congressman Newhouse's resolution denounces these policies and encourages domestic energy production of reliable and affordable energy sources.

Republicans have solutions, and those solutions will reverse the Biden administration's war on energy. The House recently passed H.R. 7176, the Unlocking our Domestic LNG Potential Act, to reverse the Biden LNG export ban.

We also will be taking up this week H.R. 1023, the Cutting Green Corruption and Taxes Act, to repeal both the EPA greenhouse gas reduction fund and the EPA's recently proposed natural gas tax.

Republicans are leading to unleash American energy and deliver more affordable and reliable energy to all Americans.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, the hardworking Americans, the taxpayers in this country, know that the rush to green policies of the Biden administration have made energy more expensive.

The Democrats are going to say: Well, oil and gas production is higher than it has ever been in this country.

Yes, it is, but it has nothing to do with the policies coming out of the Biden administration, which started a war on American energy on day one.

There is not a single policy you can point to that the Biden administration has put forward that would increase oil and gas production. In fact, they have done everything to harm oil and gas production in this country.

Oil and gas production increases are due to the policies of the last administration and policies that were set forth over the last decade-- nothing to do with the Biden rush to green policies that have made energy more expensive.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Scalise), our majority leader.

Madam Speaker, it is interesting that the gentlewoman across the aisle mentioned Ukraine because as the majority leader so succinctly pointed out, Joe Biden's policies of shutting down American energy production is actually funneling money to Vladimir Putin to help him pay for the war in Ukraine, to pay for the Russian Army to go in and kill Ukrainians.

It is hypocritical for them to talk about Ukraine in the light of American energy production.

The gentleman from Washington State, the chair of the Western Caucus has a great resolution that points out all of the things that the Biden administration has done to kill the American energy golden goose laying the golden egg, helping the economy.

Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Newhouse).

Madam Speaker, in World War II, we stopped the Germans in the Battle of the Bulge by running them out of fuel. We can influence the war in Ukraine by stopping the flow of money to Vladimir Putin through his sale of oil and gas by becoming an energy leader once again. America has the ability.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Carter), a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Georgia.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Weber).

Madam Speaker, I yield an additional 15 seconds to the gentleman from Texas.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Idaho (Mr. Fulcher).

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time, and I am prepared to close.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, my friend and colleague from South Carolina, Trey Gowdy, when he served in Congress said this: There is a stubborn thing about facts. It is that they are facts.

This resolution is facts.

Things the Biden administration has done to hurt American independence are costing Americans more of their hard-earned dollars to pay their basic utility bills and transportation fuels to go to work, take their kids to school, to ball games, or to go to their houses of worship.

It is costing them more today to fill their tanks than before the Biden administration took office. In fact, as we pointed out, on day one, the Joe Biden administration started a war on American energy by stopping the Keystone pipeline. He has had fewer lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico than any other President in decades. He had three. President Obama had 20 lease sales.

As the majority leader said, instead of President Biden getting on Air Force One after the invasion of Ukraine when energy prices were going up and we were approaching a congressional election cycle, President Biden, instead of getting on Air Force One and going to the OPEC cartel in Saudi Arabia and begging them to produce more fossil fuels--they claim to hate fossil fuels--but we are going to beg OPEC to produce more so that we can consume more.

Instead of going to Saudi Arabia in the Middle East, President Biden should have got on his plane and gone to North Dakota, or gone to Pennsylvania to the Marcellus shale, or gone to Louisiana, or gone to the Permian Basin in Texas and begged American producers to produce more so that Americans could use American-produced resources.

That is a winning strategy for America: to be energy independent.

I am glad the Democrats on the other side of the aisle are talking about energy production being up right now; it is, but it has nothing to do with the Biden administration policies. There is not a single policy or regulation that the Biden administration has put forward that has done anything to help American producers produce more and increase that production.

All that production is the result of the Trump administration and past administrations that have leased more property and produced more resources. It takes years to produce a well. It takes years to go out and find the resources, develop that well, and get that oil and gas online.

That didn't happen overnight, and it didn't happen in the last 3 or 4 years. It has happened because of policies in the past.

I thank my friend for praising President Trump's ability to unleash American energy potential. That is a winning solution. Americans know it. They know what they were paying at the pump before the Biden administration, and they know what they are paying now. This bill points it out. These are the facts, and the facts are undisputed.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H. Res. 987, and I yield back the balance of my time.