Debbie Lesko: “I am also ready to close. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, in closing, the bills…”

“I am also ready to close. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, in closing, the bills before us today, I believe, and many believe, are harmful to American jobs, Americans' quality of life, and Americans' security. These bills, like quite a few of the other bills passed by the Democrat majority, will die in the Senate. These are just more messaging bills, but the message underlying these bills is the false notion that domestic energy production is harmful. I cannot disagree more. Domestic energy production creates hundreds of thousands of well-paying jobs, lowers electricity bills, and prevents us from being dependent on foreign countries for oil and gas. As The Washington Post opined last year: ``As long as the economy requires oil, it must come from somewhere, and better the United States than a country with much weaker environmental oversight.'' In a bipartisan op-ed I have here, written by Jim Webb, a former Democratic Senator, and Jim Nicholson, it notes that: `` . . . because of current U.S. policy, major energy investments are moving to countries like Mexico where regulations could lag even farther behind ours. ``Over the last four years, as we have debated whether to open up carefully selected new areas for exploration on our side of the Gulf of Mexico, Mexico has leased over 20 million new acres on its side.…”