Between 40 year-high inflation, record high gas prices, surging electricity costs, and an economic recession, American families are struggling to make ends meet. But instead of developing a plan to increase American energy production and solve this crisis, President Biden and Congressional Democrats have a different idea: burden the American people with higher taxes and keep more American energy locked in the ground with their poorly named Inflation Reduction Act.
Instead of reducing inflation, this law will increase the financial burden of nearly all Americans. According to the Joint Committee on Taxation and the Congressional Budget Office, the Inflation Reduction Act will increase taxes on millions of middle class Americans despite Biden’s campaign promise that “no one making less than $400,000 will pay a single penny more in taxes.” Couple this with the Biden Administration’s deeply flawed energy policies that have decreased our energy security and caused sky-high energy prices – all while increasing emissions in the process.
Americans cannot continue to bear the burden of Democrats’ failed climate and energy policies.
You read that right. Despite all the green rhetoric, the environment has gotten worse under the Biden Administration. While the U.S. reduced emissions by 10.2 percent during President Trump’s four years (or an average of 2.5 percent each year), U.S. emissions increased 6.2 percent during Biden’s first year in office.
Americans cannot continue to bear the burden of Democrats’ failed climate and energy policies. That’s why as a part of Leader McCarthy’s Commitment to America, he created the Energy, Climate, and Conservation (ECC) Task Force to identify and develop policy solutions that reduce emissions and lower costs based upon America’s energy resources – not foreign adversaries.
Over the last several months, the ECC Task Force rolled out a policy framework in six key issue areas focused on unlocking American resources, leveraging American innovation, cutting red tape to let America build our clean energy future and export our resources, restoring U.S. leadership so we can beat countries like China and Russia, adopting purposeful conservation efforts, and making our communities more resilient.
House Republicans are focused on solutions that make American energy cleaner, more affordable, and more accessible.
For example, while natural gas production increased by more than 90 percent from 2005 to 2020, the United States reduced emissions more than the next seven emissions-reducing countries combined during that same time period. In fact, without restrictive government mandates, the U.S. surpassed the goals Democrats attempted to set in their flawed cap and trade climate bills. The results are clear: free market innovation and conservative principles, not top-down and heavy-handed government regulations, led to emissions reductions and slashed energy costs for American households.
Unlike the botched policies we’ve seen under the Biden Administration, our agenda won’t kill American jobs or make American energy more expensive through increased taxes and regulation. Instead, House Republicans are focused on solutions that make American energy cleaner, more affordable, and more accessible so we can reduce emissions around the world while growing American jobs and lowering costs for the American people.
With proper leadershi and a cohesive energy strategy – something we are missing from the Biden administration – we can restore U.S. energy dominance, decrease global emissions, and help drive down energy prices. If Republicans earn back the House majority in the fall, we will be ready to enact this strategy.
Garret Graves represents the 6th District of Louisiana in the U.S. House of Representatives. He serves as the Republican leader of the Select Committee on Climate, and is Chairman of the Energy, Climate, and Conservation Task Force.