Pallone Condemns Republicans’ Meaningless Energy Resolution that Once Again Proves Their Inability to Govern

Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) assailed Republicans for bringing a worthless energy resolution to the House floor, H. Res, 987, that once again demonstrates their inability to govern:

Mr. Speaker, this resolution is a ridiculous waste of our time. It will do nothing to lower costs for the American people. It will do nothing to grow our economy. It will do nothing to help us continue our goal of leading the world in the clean energy transition. And it will do nothing to combat the worsening climate crisis.  

This resolution does absolutely nothing. It is nothing more than a long list of fabricated grievances against the Biden Administration and against the important work that Congressional Democrats have accomplished over the last few years. It reads as if Republicans just fed their same old dirty energy talking points into ChatGPT and asked it to spit out a resolution. 

Instead of focusing on real solutions to bring down energy costs for Americans, House Republicans are working to pass this meaningless resolution that falsely claims the Biden Administration is “anti-American energy.” But let’s look at the facts.  The United States is currently producing more energy than ever before in its history. And that includes energy from all sources – solar, wind, and yes, more oil and gas than ever before.  

And while we’re doing this, we’re also making incredible progress in addressing carbon emissions and air pollution. Last year, emissions in the United States fell by 2 percent, even as GDP grew by 2.4 percent.

So why are Republicans complaining? Why are they upset about the fact that we found a way to pursue energy security, while also lowering energy costs for American families, boosting our economy, and tackling the worsening climate crisis all at the same time?

I’m going to tell you why. Republicans don’t want anything to stand in the way of their oil and gas friends. They refuse to deviate from their polluters over people agenda, and they are wasting floor time on meaningless resolutions and bills that won’t go anywhere because they are simply not capable of governing. This Republican Congress is the least productive of any Congress since the Great Depression. They don’t have any new ideas or solutions, instead they just continue to gravitate to their comfort zone – doing the bidding of the oil and gas industry.

President Biden and Congressional Democrats have taken a drastically different approach. In stark contrast to Republicans’ polluters over people agenda, Democrats are fighting to lower Americans’ energy bills, grow our middle class with new good-paying clean energy jobs, and combat the worsening climate crisis.

Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, we’ve seen clean energy projects growing all over the country. New manufacturing facilities are making EVs, batteries, and other clean energy technologies, and they are all booming because of crucial investments from these two bills. This leads to emissions reductions, energy production, and of course, important new jobs. And it’s revitalizing communities across the country, with more than 271,000 clean energy jobs created since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act.

In fact, the sponsor of this resolution will get to witness the power of these investments in his own district in Washington State. Two companies, backed by Bipartisan Infrastructure Law investments of $100 million, are building next-generation EV battery plants in Washington State and are expected to create hundreds of new jobs.

And it’s not just the state of Washington that is benefiting – over half of the Inflation Reduction Act’s projects are located in congressional districts represented by Republicans, totaling more than 144,000 new jobs and over $262 billion in investments. We’re growing the economies in their districts and yet Republicans continue to complain.

The Republicans often talk about the Biden Administration’s so-called “war on energy.” They mentioned it today. I honestly have no idea what they’re talking about. American energy production is breaking records. Gas prices have remained stable over the last year, and the Energy Information Administration has forecasted that Americans are paying less for heating costs this year than they did last year.  

Other countries – and often our competitors – are investing rapidly in clean energy. If we pause our important work, we will fall behind. If Republicans have their way, we will stop competing, stop investing in the booming clean energy economy, and simply recommit to expensive, polluting fossil fuels as the way forward.  

I urge my colleagues to vote against this do-nothing resolution. And I urge my colleagues across the aisle to come up with better things for all of us to do with our time. And I reserve the balance of my time.

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