Critical Energy Bills Move Through Congress This Week

July 24, 2024

This week, the House of Representatives is expected to vote on two critical bills to advance American energy production while limiting the power of Washington, D.C. bureaucrats.  The Energy & Water Bill (H.R. 8997) and the Interior and Environment Bill (H.R. 8998) will slash funding for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by 20 percent and reject the Biden-Harris Administration’s illegal pause on American liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports. Additionally, these bills will expand access to critical resources that were blocked by the Biden-Harris Administration.

“These two bills are not only vital to American energy independence, they are also a serious step to reversing the insane policies of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris,” said Daniel Turner, Founder and Executive Director for Power The Future. “Chairman Tom Cole deserves all the credit for moving these bills and for using the power of the purse to get American energy back on track. These bills deserve bipartisan support in the House and they deserve to be heard in the Senate instead of shoved aside for political reasons.”

We are grateful the House Appropriations Committee has remained focused and is committed to helping America regain energy independence. A summary of the two bills is below:

Provisions in the Interior and Environment Bill include:

• Reducing funding for the EPA by 20%.
• Blocking funds for the American Climate Corps, Climate Justice Alliance, and eco-grief counseling.
• Stopping the Administration’s 30×30 initiative to ensure access to federal lands for mineral exploration and development.
• Requiring the Secretary of the Interior to resume quarterly onshore oil and gas lease sales and issue 5-year offshore oil and gas leasing programs on time.

Provisions in the Energy and Water Bill include:

• Rejecting the Biden-Harris Administration’s harmful pause on new LNG exports by removing the Department of Energy’s role in the LNG export application review process.
• Mandating transparency from the Biden-Harris Administration in its implementation of the revised definition of Waters of the United States (WOTUS.)
• Rejecting the Biden Administration’s wasteful spending on climate change programs and prohibiting implementation of costly and impractical clean energy mandates.