-9999

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. LIEU. Mr. Chair, this amendment would create an exception allowing for a drawdown of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve if the Secretary determines that the drawdown would result in a net profit for the United States.

Let me tell you what this is all about. I can summarize this debate of the last 2 days into one sentence: Joe Biden lowered your gas prices, and Republicans are upset about it.

That is what this is about. Joe Biden lowered your gas prices last year, and that makes Republicans mad.

How do we know? They said it out loud. The gentlewoman from Georgia earlier this morning just said that Joe Biden lowered your gas prices for political reasons.

I don't care why the President lowers your gas prices. If any President can lower your gas prices, we should support that President's action.

If prices surge later this year, if gas prices surge again, Joe Biden should be able to use the tools at his disposal and lower your gas prices again. We should be giving the President even more flexibility to use the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to lower gas prices.

Joe Biden lowered your gas prices, and Republicans want to keep him from doing that again.

We don't want to stop the President from lowering your gas prices. We want Joe Biden to lower your gas prices again if he can do that.

There is another reason this Republican bill is so stupid. Not only did Joe Biden lower your gas prices, but the United States of America made a profit on it. Buy low, sell high. It was brilliant what Joe Biden did.

He released the Strategic Petroleum Reserve at a time when gas was high, and that helped lower gas prices, and then he refilled it at the lower amount. The U.S. made $4 billion on Joe Biden's action.

Republicans always want to say: Let's run government like a business. Joe Biden did exactly that when he lowered your gas prices and then made a $4 billion profit for the United States of America.

Adopt my amendment, which would make this stupid bill better, and then vote against this bill.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. LIEU. Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. LIEU. Mr. Chair, this amendment would limit oil and gas leasing on the Outer Continental Shelf if the leases would harm marine mammals.

Not only does the Republican bill keep Joe Biden from lowering your gas prices, it also is going to harm marine mammals. I rise today to try to improve this terrible underlying bill.

What this would do is it would prevent harm to marine mammals if my amendment were adopted. Currently, House Republicans are continuing their attacks on our public lands and public waters.

The U.S. is already the world's top producer of oil and gas, and the fossil fuel industry already has large portions of land that they are not using to drill. Of the over 26 million acres of public lands that fossil fuel companies control, half are unused.

As a co-chair of the California Coastal Caucus and a Member representing the beautiful Los Angeles County coastline, I know that my constituents and I want an end to all offshore oil drilling, not another expansion.

In October 2021, an estimated 126,000 gallons of crude oil spilled into our waters off the coast of Huntington Beach. This harmed our beaches, wildlife, and coastal communities.

Oil spills continue to be one of the greatest perpetual threats to our coastal communities and marine life. We simply cannot allow an expansion of offshore oil drilling.

We need to continue to build on the work of the 117th Congress to drive us toward true energy independence through renewable energies and new technologies.

Mr. Chair, I ask for adoption of my amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source