On Thursday afternoon, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) joined Fox Business Network’s Kudlow to discuss how H.R. 1, the Lower Energy Costs Act, will work to restore America’s energy independence and protect families’ hard-earned dollars. Leader Scalise highlighted how the Lower Energy Costs Act will boost all forms of energy production by cutting red-tape regulations, lowering prices across the board for American families. Additionally, Leader Scalise slammed President Biden’s hypocrisy in shutting down pipelines here at home, while promoting energy production in foreign countries like Russia and China. Leader Scalise also called out President Biden for attacking blue-collar workers by raising taxes, implementing ESG policies, and killing American jobs.
On H.R. 1, the Lower Energy Costs Act:
“I think the more Americans find out about the Lower Energy Costs Act, they’re going to want this not only to be passed through the House, but they are going to want President Biden to sign it, because it’s going to lower energy costs for families who are paying too much because of President Biden’s attack on American energy.
“And so, as you were talking about, I call it a one-stop-shop. Right now, if you’re trying to get permitting for pipelines, for example, it’s almost impossible to do. They don’t want, the Biden Administration doesn’t want pipelines to move energy. They want to make it harder to produce American energy. So, right now you might have to go through five different agencies, and each one of them is going to drag their feet. It might be over a year, two years, before you get an answer. So they just kill these projects.
“If you just went to one agency – you take, for example, where all of the regulations are rolled into one place – we streamline the regulations. And that really, by the way, that lowers costs for families. People know when they’re paying 20, 30 percent more for energy. If it’s a cold winter, as it’s been, you’re trying to heat your home, you’re paying a lot more than you were a year ago because of President Biden’s policies. So let’s streamline it.
“And then, of course, we go into opening up more leasing. We deal with streamlining of permitting, and a lot of other places, too. Moving energy to places, the Northeast right now, because New York’s blocked pipelines, so you can’t get Pennsylvania shale to other parts of the New England states. And they’re paying a lot more because you have to ship it in from foreign countries.
“Why should you have to ship your energy in from foreign countries, paying a lot more, higher environmental costs, by the way, if you can get it from your neighbor in Pennsylvania? We streamline that process, as well. So, it’s going to be great for American energy, it brings in more federal revenues, but it also lowers costs for [families]. That’s why we’re bringing forward the Lower Energy Costs Act, H.R. 1.”
On producing energy in America instead of relying on foreign countries:
“It lowers costs for families, but look, I was meeting with some Farm Bureau folks from different parts of the country earlier this week. And the two things they tell you: Number one, their diesel costs are dramatically higher, and [two], their fertilizer costs are higher. And a lot of that is because of [President] Biden’s anti-American energy policies. And so by getting these policies right, just going back to allowing Americans to produce, we do it cleaner than anybody else in the world.
“Look, these far-left socialists, these big government socialists, they wake up every day trying to beat up on America. They trash America and they act like we’re destroying the planet. Nobody is more environmentally friendly than the United States of America.
“Things are going to get produced in the world. China’s building a new coal plant every week. And China is, by the way, getting a lot of the jobs that [President] Biden’s running away from America. It emits four or five times more carbon and to make some of the same products in China than America. And by the way, in case you didn’t see the spy balloon, they’re not an ally of ours.
“So why don’t we make more things here, rare earth minerals? And, you know, Speaker McCarthy touched on this. [Rep.] Pete Stauber’s bill, he’s from Minnesota. He knows a thing or two about rare earth minerals. They’ve made it almost impossible to mine in America. So what does that mean? China mines most of those rare earth minerals. You want to make electric vehicles? Most of those supplies are coming from China. Why would we want to be more reliant on China? Let’s make it here. And we do it better than anybody else in the world.”
On cutting red-tape regulations to open up pipelines:
“In fact, that’s in our bill, too. You’ll love that component, as well. And, you know, whether it’s Keystone XL, which [President] Biden said no to – and remember, [President] Biden’s not against all pipelines. He was just against American pipelines. He said yes to Russia getting a pipeline, while he was begging Putin to produce more oil. This is lunacy. And people get this. People, when they’re paying four or five dollars a gallon at the pump, they get it. When they’re paying 30 percent more for their household electricity cost, they get it. That’s why they’re going to love the Lower Energy Costs Act.”
On offshore and onshore leasing, and promoting all forms of energy production:
“Yeah, and in fact, we do real permitting and leasing. [President] Biden’s canceled so many lease sales, you know, over and over again. There’s mandated lease sales in law and he’s ignored it. The courts have told them to do it and they drag their feet. So we put some strong language there so that we’d have more leasing.
“Look at the State of the Union the other night. On one hand, he derided oil companies saying they’re not drilling enough. And then he said ‘Oh, and by the way, in 10 years we won’t need oil in America.’ I mean, nobody believes that.
“It’s not like transitioning away from something. We’re a country that, like everywhere in the world, that’s industrialized. We’re all going to use more energy. We need all of the above: We need more oil, natural gas, we need nuclear power. Wind and solar are part of that, too, but they’re not going to replace what we have.
“There’s language that even promotes the windmill development in places like the Gulf of Mexico, where there’s interest in private investment, not federal money. [President] Biden loves it when taxpayer money is subsidizing things that fail. How about we get the private sector to put their money into making things work? And so, every form of energy is going to compete against itself. But the bottom line is we need more of all of it. We don’t need less of one and more of the other – that’s more costly. People are paying too much already. We don’t need to close down the things that work.”
On President Biden’s disastrous budget:
“From the things we’ve already seen – and look, I’ll quote our Budget Chairman, the new Republican House Budget Chairman Jodey Arrington said this bill’s dead on arrival. Trillions in new taxes, raising costs for families, [President] Biden talked about raising the corporate rate. All that means is when you go to the grocery store, you’re going to pay more. If you go to a department store to buy clothes for your kids for school, it’s going to cost you more. Who wants to pay more? Big government socialism has failed every time it’s been tried. We don’t need more of it.”
On President Biden’s policies attacking American workers:
“There’s been an assault on blue collar workers. You’ve seen it just with this ESG legislation that we’re sending over to President Biden right now. President Biden put policies in place that lower the returns on 401(k)s for working families, at the same time that he’s helping these billionaire elitists who want all these policies at the cost of lower returns for lower income families. Stop siding with billionaires over hard working taxpayers. We’re going to stand up for those hard workers.”