Scalise Announces Energy Week

Press Conference

"Well, good to see all of you out here in West Virginia as Republicans in the House come together to talk about our agenda for the rest of this year. It's been a very busy Congress. And if you look at – with a slim majority – the things we've already been able to achieve, and my colleagues have already touched on it, major, major policy initiatives that we've come together to pass. Whether it was with a five-seat majority or a two-seat majority, or now maybe by next week, a one-seat majority, we still have been able to find a way to fight for those hardworking families who are sick and tired of the far-left agenda of Joe Biden and his allies in Congress that have risen costs for so many things.

We focused on energy, passing H.R. 1 to lower energy costs for families. Whether it's pumping gas at the gas station, or when you pay your household electricity bill, people know they're paying too much because of the far left agenda here in Washington. To pursue a radical agenda that makes no sense for America: Shutting down American energy while President Biden flies to Saudi Arabia and begs them to produce more energy; while President Biden lowers penalties against countries like Iran, so they can sell their oil on world markets, making tens of billions of dollars that they never would have made before. To fund terrorism: Iran is the largest state sponsor of terrorism funding organizations – terrorist organizations – like Hamas, that attack our allies like Israel. Why would you want to allow them to make more money producing energy when we should be the world's dominant energy producer? Yet Joe Biden is going in the opposite direction.

In fact, next week on the House floor, we're dedicating the week to what we're going to call ‘Energy Week.’ [We’re] bringing bills on the House floor next week that will promote American energy, to lower costs for families who recognize this. They know there's no reason they should be paying more for energy and benefiting countries like Russia. When Joe Biden does a ban on LNG exports – as in essence, he did – it hurts LNG production in America but it emboldens countries like Russia. Why would you want to help Putin fund his war machine by giving him more leverage over Europe when we were providing LNG in America to our friends in Europe? These are the decisions that Joe Biden has been making unilaterally, that are hurting American families here at home and hurting our allies abroad.

And then of course, with border security. We passed H.R. 2, the strongest border security measure Congress has seen in decades. And we asked Democrats to join with us; they chose not to. Every single Democrat voted against the bill in the House that would secure America's border because they want an open border. But American families don't want an open southern border. They want to get this under control because they see the crime, the decimation, the murders, like Laken Riley, that shouldn't be happening. Except Joe Biden, using his own executive power, took action on his own to open that southern border.

And we're going to continue to fight for those families the rest of this Congress, however slim our majority may be. Because we've shown that we can come together, sometimes in ways where Democrats won't join us, but days like yesterday, where we're all able to come together to pass a bill dealing with Tik Tok and confronting the threat that China poses to the data – the privacy of over 150 million Americans. Over 84% of the House voted for that bill yesterday, Republican and Democrat, and hopefully the Senate will take it up quickly, as well, to say we're not going to let China have access to the personal data of over 150 million Americans. And I thought it was another bright day where this House Republican majority is leading the fight for those families who are struggling.”

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