congressional_record: CREC-2025-02-26-pt1-PgS1383-2
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| CREC-2025-02-26-pt1-PgS1383-2 | 2025-02-26 | 119 | 1 | TERMINATING THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY DECLARED WITH RESPECT TO ENERGY | SENATE | SENATE | ALLOTHER | S1383 | S1390 | [{"name": "Michael F. Bennet", "role": "speaking"}, {"name": "Elizabeth Warren", "role": "speaking"}, {"name": "Jeff Merkley", "role": "speaking"}, {"name": "Peter Welch", "role": "speaking"}, {"name": "Marsha Blackburn", "role": "speaking"}, {"name": "Ron Wyden", "role": "speaking"}, {"name": "Shelley Moore Capito", "role": "speaking"}, {"name": "Joni Ernst", "role": "speaking"}, {"name": "Charles E. Schumer", "role": "speaking"}, {"name": "Tim Kaine", "role": "speaking"}, {"name": "Edward J. Markey", "role": "speaking"}, {"name": "John Hoeven", "role": "speaking"}, {"name": "John Barrasso", "role": "speaking"}] | [{"congress": "119", "type": "SJRES", "number": "10"}, {"congress": "119", "type": "SJRES", "number": "10"}, {"congress": "119", "type": "SJRES", "number": "10"}, {"congress": "119", "type": "SJRES", "number": "12"}] | 171 Cong. Rec. S1383 | Congressional Record, Volume 171 Issue 38 (Wednesday, February 26, 2025) [Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 38 (Wednesday, February 26, 2025)] [Senate] [Pages S1383-S1390] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] TERMINATING THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY DECLARED WITH RESPECT TO ENERGY S. J. Res. 10 Mr. BENNET. Mr. President, I wanted to come down here and talk a little bit about energy with my colleagues in the Senate today, and part of the reason why is that as you know, Mr. President, and others know, the President of the United States has declared an energy emergency, and he did it on the day he was inaugurated here in the Capitol, on a day when he had lots of comments about the fact that God had saved him so that he would be there to be inaugurated--that this was going to be the greatest moment in American history, and that we had an energy emergency because there was an insufficient production of oil and fossil fuels. As anybody who reads the newspaper in America knows--and there may not be anybody left who has access to a paper, but I encourage you to do it; it is a lot better than what you are reading on Twitter these days--the United States has actually produced more oil than we ever have produced in our history. In fact, last year, with the Biden administration, we produced more oil than any country in the history of humanity. The same is true for natural gas. The same is true for LNG exports. The United States produces more oil than any other country in the world. We produce more natural gas than any other country in the world. We are the leading exporter of liquefied natural gas, which, by the way, has been incredibly important recently because we have allowed our allies in Europe to get off the Russian oil that they were on and replace that with liquefied natural gas produced by American citizens, exported by American citizens, to break the back of Putin's ability to restrain Europe's participation in the war, because we were able to replace half their energy. I am so glad that we were able to do that. And we are also the world's leading producer of renewable energy, as well, and we have seen a huge amount of growth in solar, a huge amount of growth in wind, and I like to think of Colorado as the place that started an awful lot of that. We are both a producer of fossil fuels and a producer of renewables. We know it takes everything to drive this economy, but we want to do all of this in a way that is cognizant of the very real climate issues that our globe faces and that our country faces. The good news for the United States is there is no country in the world that is better positioned to lead the transition of our energy economy in this world than the United States of America. We are the wealthiest country in the world. We have the biggest and most abundant supply of fossil fuels and nonfossil fuels. We are less corrupt than almost any country on the face of the planet, and especially less corrupt than economies that are dominated by petrochemicals and by oil and gas around the world. We are the innovators in the world. We have a commitment to the rule of law. All of that puts us in this incredible position to lead. I believe, 30 years from now or so, we are going to be in a place where we are able to say, not just to the American people but to the world, that we are at net zero from a carbon point of view and that we were able to get there through American technology and through American leadership and American ingenuity and American exports; that we took a strategic approach; that we had a plan that made sense; and that we captured, along the way, every--every--molecule that we could find of fugitive methane from oil and gas and from agriculture and from landfills; that we said yes to wind and solar; that we said yes to nuclear and yes to geothermal; that we said yes to investing in emerging technologies, like hydrogen, like carbon capture, and like the carbon dioxide removal bill that I have with my friend Lisa Murkowski from Alaska, which just goes to show you that you can have a bipartisan approach; that we can move to a position of real leadership that can help us create an economy again that America, when it grows, it grows for everybody, not just the people at the very top--because we have got good energy jobs that are concerned with the production of oil and gas and the production of all those other forms of energy. By the way, just on that point--and I will be brief here because I know my colleague from Massachusetts wants to speak. On that subject, this Senate is about to get rid of the commonsense methane regulations that were passed in the last administration that are based on the work--that fee based on the work--that we had done in Colorado, working with industry, as the last administration did to create certainty, to create predictability, to send a message to the world that we want American gas to be the cleanest gas of any gas in the world. And having us capture that fugitive methane is a hugely important part of that. We are saying no to that now. We are saying yes to the air pollution that is going to result. We are saying yes to the climate pollution that will result. I say to my colleague from Massachusetts while she is here, I take no pleasure--and the President knows this--from the fact that Donald Trump is our President. I regret that he is our President, but he is our President. And one of the ways that he got to be our President is that he was elected twice. And, in fact, more people voted for him this time than voted for him last time. I regret that. I am sorry for that, and I think there are lots of reasons for that. But I think one of the reasons for that is that there is a mythology out there that the Democratic Party believes that we are going to turn fossil fuels off yesterday; or that we are going to turn fossil fuels off next week; or that we don't respect the men and women who work in our energy fields or in our energy processing across the country. If there are Democrats who feel that way, I disagree with them, because the worst thing we could do at this moment when we have the energy abundance that we have, when we have the economic freedom we have, when we have the lack of corruption that we have--the worst thing we could do is elect a climate denier to be President whose most creative approach to energy was Sarah Palin's shopworn ``drill, baby, drill,'' which is what he announced under the dome of the United States Capitol the day he was inaugurated President and said--completely untruthfully--that we were in an energy crisis, when what we have is an energy abundance and no excuse--no excuse--for not leading the rest of the world in making sure that this transition on net-zero carbon is accomplished and that we do it in a way that protects our economy; that we do it in a way that protects our national security; that we do it in a way that recognizes the contribution that people have [[Page S1384]] made for generations in Northwest Colorado and all over our economy to be able to drive this economy forward. And to the extent that the failure is a failure of the Democratic Party to make clear our position, I want to own that failure and that responsibility. It is not Donald Trump's fault that he was elected. He ran; he won. We own some of the fact that he got elected. And I think on this issue, we have not communicated clearly to the American people what we believe. And as a result of that, once again, our children and grandchildren have a climate denier in the White House, even though a majority of the American people believe that climate change is real and that we should be doing something about it. And those of us who are advocates on this, on this side, have to be very clear--much clearer, he said poorly and unclearly--but let me say again--have to be much clearer about what we stand for, which is for a transition that makes sense and that science commands and for the respect of people that are working in the energy industry no matter what part of the industry they are working in. And the fact that Donald Trump--even when oil is at $73 a barrel at his inauguration and we are producing more than we have ever produced in the history of mankind for the United States--thinks we are in an energy emergency or he claims that we are surprises me not at all. Since he said he was going to drive prices down, the price of eggs are so high today as we meet here, you need a mortgage practically to buy a dozen eggs in the United States of America. We can do better than that, and we can do better than his ``drill, baby, drill'' energy policy. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts. Ms. WARREN. Mr. President, I want to thank the Senator from Colorado for your energetic leadership in this area. I am very grateful for your voice on this and for the work you do for the people of the country and, also, for everybody around the world. We have got to deal with this problem; so, thank you. I rise today in support of Senator Kaine and Senator Heinrich's resolution to terminate Donald Trump's Executive order declaring a national energy emergency. I just want to start by being clear about what is going on here. Donald Trump promised to gut our environmental laws if Big Oil CEOs gave him a billion dollars for his campaign. He was quite open about this. How could he do that? Well, he has figured it out. He declared an emergency that he has focused on that emergency will give him a chance to pay those oil executives CEOs back. Now, this order is not a serious attempt at lowering anyone's energy costs. And you know how I know this? Because a true strategy to lower people's costs would include clean energy sources like wind and solar, which this order deliberately excludes. So what does this Executive order do? It lets big oil and gas companies off the hook on following our environmental laws and regulations. And those are the rules that make sure that you have clean air to breathe and clean water to drink. Why would Donald Trump do this? It is simple. He does not care about lowering anyone's costs or helping create good jobs. All he cares about is his rich as hell--those were his words--his rich as hell donors and helping them make more money. Let's be clear. Energy prices are too high. Americans are feeling those high prices. Energy prices have been on the rise for the past decade. And last year, one-third of Americans had to cut back on necessary spending in order to pay their energy bills. Americans are looking for real solutions. And that is why Democrats got to work and passed the biggest climate package in the history of the world to unleash American innovation and to support a clean energy future. Now, America is producing more energy than ever before, including through offshore wind projects off the coast of Massachusetts, and we are creating good jobs while we are doing it. Clean energy jobs are now over 40 percent of all the energy jobs in the United States. They are growing twice as fast as other industries, but Donald Trump is now trying to unravel all of that progress. Why? In order to please his big oil and gas donors. And this sham will have real consequences for our communities-- raising energy costs and cutting American jobs. Look no further than Somerset, MA, to see what is happening. At Brayton Point in Somerset, there is an old coal-fired powerplant that closed down years and years ago. But a private company called Prysmian had decided that they want to turn part of this plant into a factory to build undersea cables to support American offshore wind farms. They want to build the cables so we can bring that power in and use it, that clean power in and use it here in the United States. That project would be transformative for Somerset. It would create about 250 to 300 good manufacturing jobs and would deliver more than $10 million in annual tax revenues. That is a big deal for a small town. So for the last few years, local officials and our Massachusetts Federal delegation has been working hard with the Federal Government to help turn that idea into a reality. But last month, the company suddenly announced they are ending the project. No more jobs, no more tax revenue. And why? Because of Donald Trump's attacks on clean energy. Somerset's experience is just one of the experiences felt by many communities all around this country. Yes, Somerset will bounce back. But Donald Trump is cutting jobs and raising energy costs on communities all across this country just to please his oil and gas donors. And it is communities like Somerset that are paying the price for that. Make no mistake: We will fight back, that is why Democrats are here today. That fight starts with ending this sham of an Executive order. I urge my colleagues to vote yes on Senator Kaine and Senator Heinrich's resolution. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon. Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, here is the question: Do we pursue the 20th century energy vision featuring dirty, expensive fossil fuels, or do we pursue the 21st century energy vision featuring inexpensive and clean, renewable energy? Trump's energy emergency declaration is about one thing: He is choosing the strategy of dirty, expensive fossil fuels. You know, he asked the powerful, big oil companies to contribute a billion dollars to his campaign, and now he is paying them back at the expense of the American people. Families lose; billionaires win. The plan. The plan features giving fossil fuel companies the power to seize public lands. It features giving fossil fuel companies the power to skip environmental assessments, environmental assessments that show how their projects will poison the air, pollute the water, kill wildlife, and despoil our ecosystems. It is the plan of giving fossil fuel companies the power to bypass the public comment period so the public can't weigh in about the terrible ideas the fossil fuel companies are putting forward. The public can't weigh in about the drilling rigs and the leaky pipelines and the export terminals polluting their communities. This is not government of, by, and for the people; it is government of, by, and for the oil and gas companies. Families lose; billionaires win. This emergency declaration is certainly a sham because renewable energy costs less than fossil fuel energy. The International Renewable Energy Agency found that the cost of new wind or solar is at least 30 percent cheaper than the cost of running most fossil coal plants. So it is no surprise that in 2024, 94 percent of the new energy on the grid came from renewables, from harnessing the power of the sun and the wind. Prioritizing expensive fossil fuels over cheap renewables drives up the price of energy that families pay on their bills every month. That is Trumpflation. Exporting more fossil fuels mean families pay more at the pump, and they pay more to heat their homes. That is Trumpflation. And burning more fossil fuels intensifies climate chaos and wildfires and [[Page S1385]] hurricanes. It blows the top off the cost of insurance for people's homes as insurers flee the markets. That is Trumpflation. Meanwhile, fossil fuel companies make even bigger profits. Families lose; billionaires win. You know, this is not a red State or a blue State issue. Since August 2022, investments from the Inflation Reduction Act have created more than 400,000 clean energy jobs with more than half of those jobs in red States. In fact, 19 of the 20 Congressional districts at the top of clean energy investments are represented by my colleagues on the Republican side of the aisle. What are the top three States overall of clean energy job growth? Idaho, Texas, and New Mexico--two out of those three States represented by Republicans in the Senate. For wind energy, it is Texas, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Illinois--four out of five States represented in this Senate by Republicans. For solar energy it is California, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, and Arizona--three out of five of those States represented by Republicans. So this is not a blue versus red situation. Nearly 3.5 million Americans now work in the clean energy field, more than a million of those jobs in red States. And it is estimated that these investments will continue to create hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country. Prioritizing fossil fuels will kill this job growth for working Americans. So this strategy, this energy emergency strategy, this is an energy strategy in which families lose; billionaires win. And there are far fewer good-paying jobs for Americans. And, by the way, prioritizing fossil fuels is helpful to China. If we have a national energy emergency, we shouldn't be fueling our competitors by selling our energy to China to make their economy run better. If we have an emergency, we shouldn't cede the future of clean energy and all the jobs it will create and the less expensive energy it creates to China. We would want to make these products here and export them to the world, not have to buy them from China, helping China's economy grow at the expense of our own. This phony national emergency declaration comes down to this: Do we want families to win or do we want billionaires to win? Let's come together, red States and blue States together, and say: We want these jobs. We want this clean energy. We want this less expensive energy for America because we are fighting for the families, not for the billionaires. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont. Mr. WELCH. Mr. President, there are just two issues: One is about the policy, the energy policy, that the Trump administration is announcing, and we can have a debate about that. I am in full support of the comments that my colleagues have made. But there is another issue that, in many ways, is more important, and that issue is whether this U.S. Senate will accede to relinquishing its authority as a separate and independent branch of government to a President who tries to seize that power by claiming a phony emergency. What justifies this action, as far as President Trump is concerned and legally, is the assertion that we have an ``energy emergency.'' And by invoking that term, he is saying to Congress: Get lost. This needs immediate attention that only the Executive can give. And getting lost means that we don't act as an independent branch of government and fulfill the constitutional responsibility we have to be separate, independent, and a check and balance on Executive power. That is a separate question from whether Members agree or disagree with the ``drill, baby, drill'' policy, but it is fundamental to the well-being of our democracy. Congress, in the past, has never come close to relinquishing that authority. And whether you are a Democrat or Republican, if you are a U.S. Senator, you have to defend the institution, not because it is good for me or you or any other Member of the Senate, but it is good for America. We rely on that system of checks and balances. So the question is, Is it an emergency? And as my colleagues have laid out, no, we have never had more production of power in our history. We are exporting power. The power situation is not an emergency. There is power abundance. Now, second thing, as many of my colleagues are saying, there are real consequences because, essentially, what the President is doing is going all in on fossil fuels and casting aside the opportunities that come--economic opportunities as well as cleaner climate opportunities-- with clean energy. I am not going to repeat all of the information provided by starting with Senator Kaine, but it is true. And, you know, selling out, as some of my colleagues say, to the fossil fuel industry--the President was reported to have said ``get me a billion''--what I don't understand is why you would kill jobs in the clean energy sector that is producing cheaper power and good jobs. There is no justification for an Executive or Member of Congress doing that. The other final point is that we are having this bizarre debate about whether there is a climate situation caused by carbon emissions. Reality is, we all know it is happening. We are all victimized by these wild weather events. And there are only two explanations that explain the actions of the administration: One is they just favor fossil fuels no matter what. There is a lot of truth to that. The other is, there is a lack of confidence on the administration about the capacity of the American people, the American innovators, the American entrepreneurs to take full advantage of solving the issue of climate change by building out clean energy, by doing efficiency. That really, really works. And a confident person, a confident country doesn't deny problems exist. They acknowledge them, face them squarely, and then solve them. And in the process of doing that, they all end up better and have a stronger economy as well. So there is no emergency. We must stand first for the separation of powers and the authority of Congress and not allow us to be stripped of that by an Executive; and, second, we have to have a wise policy that is going to create jobs, be sustainable for our economy and for our future. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee. Human Trafficking Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, there is an issue that I have spoken about so often on this floor, and it is one that should concern each and every one of us; and that is the issue of human trafficking and sex trafficking that is happening in this country. And what we have learned is that today in the United States a child is either bought or sold for sex every 2 minutes. Now, think about that and think about the harm that is happening to children because of this amount of human trafficking and sex trafficking. What we also have learned is that, globally, this has turned into a $150 billion-a-year business. This is something that we also have learned affects every town, city, and community in our Nation. It is pervasive. In Tennessee, my home State, there were 1,170 reports of human trafficking through November of last year, and that is according to the data we have from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations. Now, that number was actually down from the number in 2023, which had been 1,432 reports, and that was because of the effort that our Governor, Bill Lee, the Tennessee General Assembly, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations made into fighting this human trafficking and trying to bring an end to what truly is modern-day slavery. But, unfortunately, what we saw as we looked at the data was that last year's total of 1,170 was still 62 percent higher than the number in 2019. So as we have looked at this in recent years, what you have seen is an explosion of human trafficking and sex trafficking in this country. While we know that human trafficking has been a problem over a period of time, the concern is this heinous crime and how it has exploded in the recent past. Now, there are some reasons and some contributing factors to the escalation numbers, and one of them is during the Biden administration, basically they surrendered our southern border to cartels and gangs and criminals and traffickers. Many of us have been to the border. We saw what was happening on the border during the Biden years. And as a result of the inaction that [[Page S1386]] took place there, every town in this country became a border town, and every State became a border State. And because of the drugs, because of the human trafficking, the sex trafficking, the American people suffered the consequences. Just this month, earlier this month, authorities charged eight Venezuelan illegal aliens in Middle, TN, for trafficking women across our border for the purpose of sexual exploitation. That was eight Venezuelan illegal aliens. After entering our country illegally, the criminals conducted their operation out of Nashville motels between 2022 and 2024. And like so many criminal illegals in our country--no surprise--they are tied to the violent gang Tren de Aragua, which has plagued cities across this country with organized crime. All too often these traffickers target not only vulnerable women, they also target children. According to our TBI data, there were 514 reports of children being sex-trafficked in Tennessee in 2024. That is 1 year, 514 reports. That was more than twice the number of reports of adult sex trafficking. The report also notes that there has been an increase in the number of unaccompanied minors who were trafficked into our country and exploited. This should come as no surprise. Under Biden, hundreds of thousands of unaccompanied children have reached our southern border, while many more arrived with adults who falsely claimed to be their relatives. Although Biden had a responsibility to place these children with vetted sponsors, his administration, obviously, did not do that. We have learned that they lost track of more than 320,000 migrant children who face the threat of abuse, trafficking, and sexual exploitation. Thankfully, after 4 years of failure under the Biden administration, President Trump is working to secure our border, to protect our communities, and to bring human trafficking to an end. And there is so much more that Congress can do to support this effort. Last week, I introduced the bipartisan GRACIE Act, which would require the recording of all Child Protective Services interviews with children and adults. Although 60 percent of child sex trafficking victims in our country have engaged with the foster care system, too often CPS staffers miss the signs of abuse. By recording interviews, we can increase the likelihood that child trafficking victims will be identified and rescued. Last month, I also reintroduced a package of bills that will do much to combat human trafficking. My SAVE Girls Act would provide States, local governments, and nonprofits with the resources they need to end the trafficking of young women and girls. My National Human Trafficking Database Act, meanwhile, would establish a national human trafficking database at the Department of Justice and incentivize State law enforcement agencies to report their data. To help bring an end to trafficking at the border, I also introduced the End Child Trafficking Now Act, which would require a DNA test to determine the relationship between illegal aliens at the border and any accompanying child. Now, it is so important to note, I have introduced this bill before, and I did it because during the Trump administration, there was DNA testing. It was ended during the Biden administration. They said it took too much time. I inquired about the amount of time. It took 45 minutes. What we know from the time we did DNA testing, 30 percent of the children that were DNA tested by border agents shared no relation to the illegal aliens who were falsely--falsely--representing themselves as family members. I think 45 minutes is worth it to save the life of a child. And my PRINTS Act, which has been reintroduced, would give Customs and Border Protection the authority to fingerprint noncitizens under the age of 14 to combat the horrific practice called child recycling. Just this week, I also sent a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi requesting that they release the complete, unredacted flight logs from Jeffery Epstein's private jet. In addition, I also requested Ghislaine Maxwell's little black book and all video surveillance footage from Epstein's residence in Palm Beach, FL. After years of stonewalling by former Director Wray, we still do not have all the necessary information regarding Jeffrey Epstein's crime, who his associates were, and who was involved in his global human trafficking and sex trafficking ring. That is information we need if we are going to bring an end to this practice of human trafficking and also if we are going to bring justice for the women and children that were abused and trafficked during these human trafficking and sex trafficking rings. It is past time to bring this practice to an end. With these efforts, we can provide this administration with the tools they need in order to bring an end to this practice. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon. S.J. Res. 10 Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, first of all, I want to thank Senator Kaine for his extraordinary leadership on this. I think America is at a crucial time on energy policy, and Senator Kaine cuts right to the heart of the debate. Donald Trump wants more tax cuts for the ultrawealthy, and he is willing to pay for those tax cuts by raising your energy bill. Here is how the flawed idea goes down. Clean energy today is plentiful. Clean energy today is cheap. Clean energy today is generating thousands of good-paying jobs. I was involved deeply in writing the Inflation Reduction Act. I developed this law that created the clean energy tax credit package, and it is making progress in communities across the country. What Donald Trump is talking about doing--and Senator Kaine has spelled this out--is defying the reality of the marketplace. For example, we are constantly seeing people in the fossil fuel business saying that this isn't time for ``drill, baby, drill.'' They have been very blunt about saying that doesn't make sense from a marketplace standpoint. What we want to do as it relates to clean energy is to build on the progress we have made--making sure clean energy is part of an ``all of the above'' program that is technologically neutral and competing in a marketplace with choices. Under the Kaine legislation, we can have that reality and not the flawed idea that we would somehow benefit from having more tax cuts for the ultrawealthy and somehow that will take care of people's energy situation. It won't. If you go with tax breaks for the ultrawealthy and this program that is based on ``drill, baby, drill,'' it is going to create rising energy costs for working families across the land. I urge my colleagues to support the Kaine proposal. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia. Waste Emissions Charge for Petroleum and Natural Gas Systems Mrs. CAPITO. Mr. President, I rise today in support of my friend from North Dakota, Senator Hoeven's Congressional Review Act resolution to block the implementation of the Biden administration's waste emissions charge, otherwise known as the natural gas tax. Since the day this regulation was finalized last November, I pledged that I would work with President Trump and my colleagues in the Congress to repeal this misguided, anti-energy tax. Today in the Senate, that is exactly what we are working to do. We must recognize that we are in a critical moment for American energy. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation has found that over the next 10 years, due to a rise in energy consumption and the early retirement of our existing fossil fuel generation, our country could face major electric generation and reliability concerns. We must take action now to ensure that our future demand is met, that the lights remain on, our homes remain warm, and our economy keeps moving for Americans all across this country. We can do this by continuing to invest in natural gas. Over 60 percent of Americans every day heat their homes, their water, or their food with natural gas. Natural gas is responsible for over 40 percent of the electricity generation and fuels more than half of our industrial sector's process heat. While the natural gas tax fails to recognize this reality, let's look at what is [[Page S1387]] true. Fracking and shale gas have both revolutionized and transformed American energy, leading to lower prices, job growth, and increased American energy security. According to the Energy Information Administration, the rapid expansion of natural gas-fired powerplants in this country has decreased the power sector's carbon dioxide emissions by 35 percent over the last 25 years. Natural gas has the potential to further reduce American greenhouse gas emissions if we continue to increase production. Natural gas is an affordable, reliable, and clean source of energy vital to our country and our economy. We should be expanding natural gas production, not restricting it. Instead, the natural gas tax will constrain American natural gas production, leading to increased energy prices and providing a boost to the production of natural gas in Russia. Simply put, repealing the natural gas tax is a win for our economy, a win for our national security, and a win for our environment. As part of establishing this tax, the Democrats' so-called Inflation Reduction Act ordered the EPA to revise its subpart W requirements in order to facilitate the reporting and calculation of the tax. The EPA's subpart W revisions blatantly disregard and overstep even the partisan mandates of the IRA and would excessively increase the tax burden on American energy under this natural gas tax. The revised emission factors within subpart W reporting requirements make broad assumptions about oil and gas operations and technologies that will lead to inaccurate reporting for many owners and operators. The rule would not only radically expand the scope of emissions required to be reported by each facility under the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, but it also excessively expands the number of facilities that are covered by subpart W and consequently responsible to pay the natural gas tax. Due to this uninformed and artificial overestimate of U.S. methane emissions, some smaller operators who were once below the waste emissions threshold are now at risk of seeing their reported methane emissions inflated and owing large sums under the natural gas tax. If not repealed, this rule will arbitrarily increase the costs and burden of reporting under subpart W, motivated by the Democrats' interest in growing the revenues generated by their natural gas tax. This will make it even more difficult and expensive to produce, transport, and consume American natural gas and in turn will hurt both American families who rely on the energy and the environment of the communities we live in. It is important that we note that our effort today works in tandem with this Chamber's recently passed budget resolution. As chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, I have long intended to stop the natural gas tax, and we will continue to pursue this through the reconciliation process. Today's vote on the CRA provides all Senators the opportunity to put our vote on record after witnessing the Biden's EPA bait and switch on the implementation of this misguided policy. I encourage my colleagues to support the CRA that is central to our mission of American energy dominance and reject this tax that will bolster our adversaries, increase energy costs on American families, and put our energy future at risk. I would like to yield, but before I do that, I would like to thank my colleague from Iowa for letting me step in front of her to make my speech. I appreciate that. I know she will be supporting this. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa. S.J. Res. 10 Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, for over a decade, I have led the charge to expose government abuses, curb reckless regulations, and protect hard- working taxpayers from Washington's overreach. As my colleagues have so rightly discussed, the actions by the Biden administration made it necessary for President Trump to declare a national energy emergency on day one. The Biden administration's green energy programs artificially incentivized electric vehicles using billions of taxpayer dollars, with only 60 charging stations to show for it. Folks, that is just one of the many energy-related billion-dollar boondoggles by the former administration. As chair and founder of the Senate DOGE Caucus, I committed to preventing unchecked bureaucrats from issuing regulations that impose significant new costs and stifle growth. Every day, DOGE is uncovering just how far the Biden administration went to conceal its reckless spending through the Federal Agencies, especially regarding their climate pet projects. Instead of transparency and objective analysis, Biden's bureaucrats relied on manipulation, inflated so-called ``net benefits,'' and completely disregarded economic reality in their rulemakings. And they were prolific, churning out nearly 110,000 pages of regulations just last year. That is 1 year and 110,000 pages--the highest number ever. Between November 2023 and January 2025 alone, Agencies issued 50 final rules using shady accounting gimmicks, slapping over half a trillion dollars in regulatory burdens onto hard-working Americans. This included a relentless push to regulate truckers out of business, based on the audacious claim that its extreme emissions rules would somehow create $99 billion in benefits for society. But here is the reality, folks: These policies make everything more expensive for families, they kill jobs, and they hurt our small businesses. It doesn't stop there. The Department of Energy cited billions in so- called ``climate net benefits'' and the ``social cost of greenhouse gases'' to justify heavyhanded mandates, ignoring the very real costs passed on to farmers and manufacturers. For too long, unelected bureaucrats have ignored the voices of job creators and working families, pushing costly regulations while hiding the true impact. This is why my RED TAPE Act is critical. My bill ensures that Agencies can no longer manipulate a cost-benefit analysis to push their own agenda. It requires Agencies to prioritize data- driven, measurable economic benefits, not vague ideological justifications. While some Federal employees complain about the new directives from the Trump administration, they should take a moment to understand that hard-working Americans who have had to show up to work and take risks to open businesses will no longer tolerate having to foot the bill for regulatory overreach. I am voting no on this effort to end President Trump's national energy emergency. I support the President's efforts to make energy more available and affordable to power economic growth. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Moreno). The Democratic leader. Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I want to thank Senators Kaine and Heinrich for introducing this resolution and for taking the floor to highlight Donald Trump's energy emergency gimmick. We Democrats are using every tool available to expose Republican hypocrisy, revealing the so-called energy emergency for what it is. It is a shameless power grab by Republicans to pay obeisance to Big Oil, plain and simple--nothing more, but nothing less. Republicans are raising prices by excluding clean energy from their emergency, meaning families could see electricity bills go up by $500 a year. Republicans are killing jobs by gutting domestic energy investments that we made, that have created so many new good-paying jobs. Republicans are rewarding China by weakening our economic competitiveness and ceding American energy leadership to our adversaries. The hypocrisy is simple. On the one hand, they say we need more energy for AI and for everything else, but then, on the other hand, they greatly curtail the cheapest form of electricity we could make, which is solar and then wind, because, really, what they are doing is just hugging Big Oil because Big Oil hates clean energy because they know clean energy eventually means the great reduction of polluting oil and gas and what they put into our atmosphere. Senators Kaine, Heinrich, and all Democrats will continue to shine a spotlight on Republican attacks on domestic energy in the weeks and months ahead. I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia. [[Page S1388]] Mr. KAINE. Mr. President, I rise to conclude the debate. I believe the vote will follow these remarks. I want to thank my colleagues. Seventeen Democrats appeared on the floor to speak on behalf of S.J. Res. 10. I needn't repeat the comments I made at the beginning. I will be very brief. No. 1, there is no energy emergency. We have established the United States is producing more energy--more oil, more gas, more renewable energy--than at any time in the history of this country and that we are now a dramatic net-energy-surplus nation, as we are producing more and more energy than we consume every year. That surplus is great because we can export to develop both reducing the trade deficit and helping other nations wean themselves off their reliance on petrodictators. Second, President Trump's energy emergency declaration is a sham. He ignores the facts of America's energy dominance in order to benefit Big Oil because he told them he would do that. Last summer, he said: If you support me for President and invest in me, I will give you rollbacks in environmental laws on day one of my administration. And that is precisely what he did. We can tell that that is what he is doing by reading the exact terms of the energy emergency, in which he sidelines critical environmental laws so long as you are producing oil and gas but not if you are producing wind and solar. If the President really wanted to accelerate energy, he would not leave out wind and solar. Instead, he is doing the bidding of Big Oil by trying to kneecap wind and solar in his energy emergency declaration. But it is more than the words on a page in the declaration; it is also in his actions. I have many projects in Virginia that have announced with great fanfare--including announced by our Republican Governor--that have relied upon tax credits provided in the Inflation Reduction Act or other incentives in the bipartisan infrastructure law. These are projects all over Virginia--rural areas, urban areas-- creating big jobs to create clean energy that will bring prices down. President Trump has undertaken a series of actions to put in jeopardy all of these projects in Virginia, to jeopardize the jobs and to jeopardize the energy that would be produced that would lower costs, and he has done the same thing in every State in this country. So we need to reject this energy emergency so that we can have a true energy innovation economy and bring prices down for everyday consumers. I have listened to the comments of my Republican colleagues as they have argued against my S.J. Res. 10, and they have basically made two arguments. The first is the argument that they don't believe renewable energy is reliable. So, for that reason, they justify the President's leaving out renewable energy sources in his energy emergency order. To the contrary, 94 percent of the power that was added to the American electricity grid in 2024 was wind, solar, and battery. Colleagues may stand on the floor and mouth the words that renewable energy is not reliable, but let's look at what the market is doing. The market is investing in these energies because they are reliable, they are American, they are clean, and they are cheap. And I would venture to say that those investing in these sources are more expert about what is reliable and what is not than Members of this body, with all respect. The second argument that is being made by my colleagues is that they support ``all of the above'' energy, and they use that to argue against S.J. Res. 10. My S.J. Res. 10 is about ``all of the above'' energy, and it is against the notion of leaving out wind, solar, and battery technologies that are driving our green energy economy. The question is, If you are not opposing, really, because of reliability concerns and you are not really advocating for all of the above, what is the real source of the opposition? The real source of the opposition is this: People do not want to stand up against Donald Trump. They don't want to stand up against a President who declares a fake emergency. They don't want to stand up against a President who is unplugging jobs in their States. They don't want to stand up against a President whose actions will lead to increased energy costs for consumers. They don't want to stand up to a President who is targeting and reversing investments that they even voted for when they voted for the bipartisan infrastructure law. At some point, the question to my colleagues is, When will you stand up? How much do prices have to go up on everyday Americans before you will stand up? How many jobs do you have to lose in your State before you are going to stand up? How many end runs of congressional statutes will you allow a President to take and be voiceless before you stand up? That is what this is about. I urge my colleagues to stand up for an American innovation energy economy. Don't let President Trump use a fake energy emergency to kneecap it. With that, Mr. President, I yield to my colleague from Massachusetts. Mr. MARKEY. Mr. President, I thank my great friend from the State of Virginia. I thank him for his leadership on this. I thank him for bringing out this very important subject because the American people are being robbed by the fossil fuel industry in broad daylight, and the Trump administration is driving the getaway car. As the Senator from Virginia just said, in the United States, in 2024, 94 percent of all new electrical generating capacity installed is wind and solar and battery technologies--94 percent. What I am hearing on FOX News and what I hear from the--not ``all of the above'' but-- ``oil above all'' crowd is: Oh, my God, it is terrible what is happening in our country. Look at the war that is being declared upon oil and gas and coal. Saying that wind and solar and batteries are a war against oil and gas and coal is like saying that the cell phone was a war against the black rotary dial phone. It is not a war. It is the entrepreneurial, innovative spirit in our country that is coming up with new technologies and new ways to solve the problem. Just like, by the way, the black rotary dial industry, they didn't like it. They didn't like it at all. They had a monopoly, but there is a way to get around it. There was a way to have, out in the marketplace, new ways of generating communications technologies, and now there are new ways of generating electricity--new ways. They hate it. The incumbents hate it. They hate it because they had a bottleneck. It could only be they. It could only be oil, gas, coal. Then, all of a sudden, a new generation of young people arrived, and they say: No. Climate change is threatening this planet, and there are new, innovative ways that we can move. So what is at the bottom of all of this? The oil, gas, and coal industries are scared--they are petrified--in the same way as the black rotary dial phone industry, in the same way that the horse-and-buggy manufacturer was scared. There is an automobile now. Oh, no, what am I going to do? How about getting in the transportation business rather than the horse-and-buggy industry? How about becoming, maybe, an auto dealer in Ohio? How about moving on, rather than being a horse-and-buggy company? No. No. We are stopping that. We are stopping that. There are not going to be any roads. We are not going to build any roads for automobiles. That would be terrible. So that is what we have. Right now, we have a war against innovation, a war against nonpolluting sources of electricity; a war against a generation of young Americans who are saying the planet is dangerously warming, and there are no emergency rooms for planets--$300 billion worth of damage in two storms, Hurricane Milton and Hurricane Helene; $250 billion worth of damage in the fires of LA. That is $550 billion worth of damage in just three incidents, and that is just the tip of the iceberg of what is coming. So what the young generation is saying is, Can we please install wind and solar and batteries and all-electric vehicles? Can we be smart? Can we think ahead? Can we have a generational response? And what is happening is the oil, gas, and coal industries are just calling in their chips. They are just saying that they want to kill everything--kill innovation. By the way, I was the chairman of the Telecommunications Committee in [[Page S1389]] the 1990s, when we were still in that old era. Believe me. Those old companies love their monopolies. There are three wires that go into people's homes: the cable wire, the telephone wire, and the electricity wire. So now we are on the third wire, the electricity wire. Are we going to make that competitive, too, or not? And they are petrified. Just today--this is unbelievable--the Trump administration announced that he wants to lay off 65 percent of the Environmental Protection Agency's staff. Those are our frontline fighters who ensure our water is safe, that our air is clean, and that our land is not polluted with toxins and chemicals. They want to turn the EPA into every polluter's ally. That is their goal. That is what they want to have. That is not what the younger generation wants in our country. The EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin also told the White House that he wants to get rid of the EPA's authority to regulate dangerous greenhouse gases based on the threat they pose to public health or welfare. It is known as the endangerment finding. Do greenhouse gas emissions cause warming that endangers the coastlines? that endanger cities like LA? that lead to $300 billion storms just ravaging through States? Do you know that the Supreme Court decided 5 to 4? In April of 2007, the Supreme Court said: You must determine whether or not there is an endangerment, EPA; and, EPA, if you make that determination that it is an endangerment, you then have to do something about it. That is what is ticking them off. No one will tell you. In a footnote, in his dissent, Justice Scalia said: I am voting no. Justice Scalia said: What is next--the regulation of flatulence from cows? Where are they going with all this craziness? Do you know where we are going? Do you know where we went? We went to 94 percent of all new electrical generation capacity in the United States, in 2024. It is wind, solar, and battery technologies. That is where we went because there was an endangerment because you knew what was happening. By the way, even the IRA that was passed just in 2022 has already unleashed $400 billion of public and private investment. It has created 400,000 new jobs--400,000 new jobs--in the clean energy sector. Oil and gas and coal are petrified. They are the black rotary dial phone of 2025. They can see what is happening. It is change. It is a brandnew era. It is almost as though, somehow or other, they have found enough allies here to lock us into the past--to lock us into the 19th century, to lock us into the 20th century. Kids don't want to go backward. They don't want to look at the world in the rearview mirror. They want to look ahead to a brighter, better, safer, cleaner future, and that is what is going on. It is threatening the business model of all of these people. So I directly questioned Lee Zeldin on this exact issue in his hearing before the Environment and Public Works Committee because I knew he wouldn't have the courage or the ability to stand up to the demands of Trump's Big Oil and Big Gas and Big Coal donors because, if these donors tell Zeldin to wipe any policy meant to protect public health and the planet off the books, it seems he is ready to take out an eraser and to hop to it, regardless of the science, regardless of the law, regardless of the well-being of the American people in the long run, especially young people. The Green New Deal generation, they want change. They want action. They want to move the same way we moved from a black rotary dial phone to this. It only took 20 years. It would have seemed impossible to a black rotary dial phone manufacturer, but it happened because you trusted young people to do the work. What else is Trump doing for his fossil fuel friends? He is taking their money while he costs you your money. Trump's billionaire oil and gas donors promised him $1 billion last April in a meeting if Trump would take all of the clean energy incentives off of the books--$1 billion. This is all pay-to-play. They raised the money for him, and he delivered a sham energy emergency Executive order that is already forcing working families to pay more in order to line the pockets of those big oil, big gas, big coal donors. This emergency is a lie. The United States is already the world's largest oil and gas producer. It is the largest exporter of LNG in the world. It is a lie. It is a lie. It is a lie. Everything Donald Trump says about an energy emergency is a lie to the American people because he has to lie to cover up the fact that oil and gas production is up. But they are so greedy, they want this body and the EPA to kill wind and solar, battery storage technologies, all- electric vehicles. That is how greedy they are. It is not enough that they have their largest production capacity in history, because this is really an excuse for Trump and Musk to rig the rules for Big Oil so they can produce the dirty energy while they easily seize Americans' lands and pollute the air and water. They want to go on public land now to drill for oil and gas, even though we don't need it. We don't need it. There is a revolution that if we just let it unfold, it would be 94 percent next year, 94 percent the next year. What they are afraid of is 10 years from now, when everyone says, oh, I love this new world we are living in, the nonpolluting, nongreenhouse gas world of renewable energy. The real emergency, the real crisis is the climate crisis itself, which continues to turbocharge extreme weather. It is costing lives, billions in damages, sky-high energy bills, insurance rates out of control in all these States that are having these superstorms and fires. Yet Trump is dismantling programs that reduce energy prices, lower heating bills, keep our air and water clean, and create jobs while trying to ram through the dirty energy projects that will do just the opposite. And what does he want to do? He wants to take out a chain saw. That is what he wants to do. He is taking out his chain saw. He wants to call this waste, fraud, and corruption, a revolution that creates this incredible economic-- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The time for the proponent is expired. Mr. MARKEY.--to chop all of those programs down at the knees. We are going to fight it every single step of the way. I thank Senator Kaine, and I thank Senator Heinrich for giving us this time on the floor to be able to explain to the American people what is going on. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Dakota. Waste Emissions Charge for Petroleum and Natural Gas Systems Mr. HOEVEN. Mr. President, I am pleased to come to the floor again today to discuss my resolution to block the Democrats' natural gas tax, which I will call up right after we vote to affirm President Trump's national energy emergency declaration. The Biden administration's tax and regulatory onslaught over the past 4 years have driven up the cost of energy and led to a national energy emergency for our Nation. One of the most egregious examples is a new tax on natural gas, and that is why I am leading S.J. Res. 12, a Congressional Review Act resolution to block this tax from taking effect. My resolution will rescind the rule implementing the Democrats' natural gas tax that the Biden administration finalized late last year. Congressional Democrats and President Biden mandated this new tax under the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, which was, of course, the Inflation Acceleration Act, taking inflation all the way up to 9 percent. The Environmental Protection Agency issued its final implementing rule on November 18 of last year. The EPA's natural gas tax rule imposes stringent methane emissions charges on qualified petroleum and natural gas infrastructure, starting at $900 a ton for emissions in 2024; it then goes up to $1,200; and then, ultimately, up to $1,500 per ton in 2026 and subsequent years. Unless overturned, this would be the first time the Federal Government has ever imposed a direct tax on emissions. This new charge can equate to an effective tax increase on natural gas on top of other taxes of more than 5 percent. This will have a disproportionate impact on small oil and gas producers in my home State of North Dakota and across the country, many of which already operate on thin margins and cannot afford the high costs to comply with this onerous rule. [[Page S1390]] Simply put, this is a punitive tax that will be passed along to consumers and will force energy developers to shut in production. That means higher prices to heat your homes. That means higher prices to cook your food. That means higher cost of natural gas for all consumers. Also, less supply of domestic energy means higher gas bills for consumers and an increased reliance on energy imports. Instead of new taxes and regulations designed to stifle production, we should be supporting innovation to maximize the use of our abundant and affordable oil and gas reserves. Our energy producers utilize the latest and the greatest technology, enabling more energy production with the best environmental stewardship. Today, the United States is the world's largest oil and gas producer, and at the same time, we have also led the world in emissions reductions Since 1990, U.S. natural gas production has doubled--this is an interesting stat. Since 1990, U.S. natural gas production has doubled; yet at the same time, we have reduced total emissions by 20 percent-- double the output--double the output and a 20-percent reduction in emissions. We have been able to increase crude oil production by 60 percent over the same time period. When I was Governor of North Dakota in 2000, our State was producing less than 100,000 barrels a day. We took that up to 1.5 million barrels of oil a day. This doesn't just happen overnight. It is because we work to provide the regulatory certainty to empower innovation and entrepreneurial spirit to unlock the potential for energy development in our State and in our country. As North Dakota became an energy powerhouse, our State producers have worked hard to meet the challenges of managing growing volumes of natural gas associated with oil production. North Dakota producers have endeavored to dramatically increase the targeted gas capture rate from 74 percent to 95 percent over the past 10 years, again, through innovation, through technology--the latest and greatest methods that we have implemented. Producers want to improve on that rate--and we continue to--but the Biden administration and its Green New Deal allies tried to make it-- and, in fact, did make it--harder to permit the very gathering systems that we needed to capture that natural gas. So they impeded our ability to reduce emissions. Instead of supporting more gathering lines and interstate pipelines, the Biden administration's natural gas tax will hinder domestic production. Further, because our Nation generates over 40 percent of our electricity from natural gas, burdensome taxes on natural gas producers will result in more expensive and less reliable electricity, more inflation for consumers across the country as a result. Also, less production at home makes other nations and our allies abroad more dependent on adversarial nations that have no regard for environmental standards. Think Russia. Think Venezuela. Think OPEC. At the end of the day, energy security directly impacts our economic and national security. This is about taking the handcuffs off and empowering our energy producers to increase supply and bring down prices for American families and businesses. That is why we are working to roll back the Biden administration's disastrous policies on energy, like this natural gas tax. I want to thank EPW, Chairwoman Capito, and the 25 other cosponsors of my resolution. I urge all of my colleagues to support this Congressional Review Act resolution. I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues and the Trump administration to repeal this misguided tax on natural gas, while increasing energy production across the board in this country with good environmental stewardship that will truly make America energy dominant once again. I yield back all remaining time. The PRESIDING OFFICER. All time is yielded back. The clerk will read the title of the resolution for the third time. The joint resolution was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading and was read the third time. vote on S.J. Res. 10 The PRESIDING OFFICER. The joint resolution having been read the third time, the question is, Shall the joint resolution pass? Mr. WYDEN. I ask for the yeas and nays. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There appears to be a sufficient second. The clerk will call the roll. The assistant bill clerk called the roll. Mr. BARRASSO. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from North Dakota (Mr. Cramer). The result was announced--yeas 47, nays 52, as follows: [Rollcall Vote No. 95 Leg.] YEAS--47 Alsobrooks Baldwin Bennet Blumenthal Blunt Rochester Booker Cantwell Coons Cortez Masto Duckworth Durbin Fetterman Gallego Gillibrand Hassan Heinrich Hickenlooper Hirono Kaine Kelly Kim King Klobuchar Lujan Markey Merkley Murphy Murray Ossoff Padilla Peters Reed Rosen Sanders Schatz Schiff Schumer Shaheen Slotkin Smith Van Hollen Warner Warnock Warren Welch Whitehouse Wyden NAYS--52 Banks Barrasso Blackburn Boozman Britt Budd Capito Cassidy Collins Cornyn Cotton Crapo Cruz Curtis Daines Ernst Fischer Graham Grassley Hagerty Hawley Hoeven Husted Hyde-Smith Johnson Justice Kennedy Lankford Lee Lummis Marshall McConnell McCormick Moody Moran Moreno Mullin Murkowski Paul Ricketts Risch Rounds Schmitt Scott (FL) Scott (SC) Sheehy Sullivan Thune Tillis Tuberville Wicker Young NOT VOTING--1 Cramer The joint resolution (S.J. Res. 10) was rejected. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Justice). The Senator from North Dakota. ____________________ |