By Jacob Fischler, Louisiana Illuminator
WASHINGTON – The U.S. House on Thursday approved a bill packed with Republican energy priorities meant to counteract the Biden administration’s approach and boost U.S. oil and gas production.
Numbered H.R. 1 as a signal that energy policy is the House majority’s top legislative priority, the bill includes a package of GOP proposals, ranging from reforming the process for gaining federal approvals for energy projects to condemning President Joe Biden’s cancellation of the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline.
“Voters awarded House Republicans with the majority in Congress to fight President Biden’s radical energy policies and lower costs for American families, and today, we are working to make that a reality,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican who was the bill’s lead sponsor, said in a statement following the vote.
Four Democrats, Jared Golden of Maine, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington state and Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, joined almost all Republicans present in voting for the bill. Pennsylvania’s Brian Fitzpatrick was the sole Republican to oppose the bill. The final tally was 225-204.
House debate stretched throughout the week on the bill, which has virtually no chance of becoming law as written. It would need 60 votes in the U.S. Senate — meaning at least 11 Democrats and independents would have to support it. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York pronounced it “a partisan, dead-on-arrival, and unserious proposal for addressing America’s energy needs” in a March 15 floor speech.
Biden has also pledged to veto the bill.
The measure would repeal parts of Democrats’ massive climate change law from last year, including a methane pollution fee that funds grants for clean-energy projects to benefit low-income communities. It would also require the federal Bureau of Land Management to hold quarterly auctions for oil and gas leases.