GOP leaders are preparing to vote on legislation to counteract the Biden administration’s energy agenda.
This week, the House will vote on the Lower Energy Costs Act — a bill aimed at “reducing the regulatory burdens” on infrastructure development and “increasing the production and export” of the American energy industry.
“This bill counters President Biden’s attack on our domestic energy and includes permitting reforms that will speed construction for major infrastructure projects across the country,” claimed House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
A statement from the House Energy and Commerce committee claims the bill would restore “American energy independence” by increasing domestic energy production and reforming permitting processes to allow more construction.
Other aims of the legislation include “streamlining energy infrastructure and exports … boosting the production and processing of critical minerals” and generally reversing “anti-energy policies advanced by the Biden administration.”
However, Republicans have a mere four-seat majority in the House and could face stumbling blocks if they choose to add contentious amendments, including one that would approve a 300-mile pipeline to transport natural gas from Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania to North and South Carolina, according to the Washington Examiner.
Even if the bill passes through the House, the chances that it will pass in the Senate are slim.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) flatly denied any chance that the bill would pass in the Senate because of its alleged prejudice toward fossil fuel production.
“House Republicans rolled out a partisan, dead-on-arrival proposal to address America’s energy needs,” Schumer alleged. “H.R. 1 will lock America into the most dirty, expensive, and volatile sources of energy.”
Roger Shafer, senior adviser for the Dallas Young Republicans, told The Dallas Express he thinks this bill is a vain legislative attempt by GOP leaders.
“I’m glad the GOP-led House is taking an initiative to placate their constituents about crushing energy costs on the American middle class,” wrote Shafer in a statement. “However, this bill has no chance of passing the Senate or surviving a veto from the President’s desk.”
“The GOP excels at pursuing lost causes, but when they have power to change law, they always fold,” he continued, citing the party’s failure to overturn President Obama’s Affordable Care Act.
The Lower Energy Costs Act would require the Department of the Interior (DOI) to immediately resume quarterly lease sales on federal lands for oil and gas production — something that was paused by the Biden administration. The bill would also authorize federal lands to be used for more energy development.
“The main goal is to lower energy prices,” said House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-AR). “But there’s some benefits that come along with that, like energy security and also national security. And in the process of that, you get economic growth in the U.S.”
While the legislation has garnered support from energy industry organizations, such as the American Clean Power Association and the International Association of Drilling Contractors, critics maintain that the bill would not help Americans.
The Biden administration’s Office of Management and Budget claimed in a statement that the Lower Energy Costs Act “would raise costs for American families by repealing household energy rebates and rolling back historic investments to increase access to cost-lowering clean energy technologies.”
“Instead of protecting American consumers, it would pad oil and gas company profits — already at record levels — and undercut our public health and environment,” the statement continued. “The Administration strongly opposes this bill.”
The statement concluded that President Biden would veto the legislation if Congress passed it “in its present form.”