On the recordMarch 28, 2023
I wish to raise my voice against H.R. 1, this bill that has been given the moniker ``polluters over people.'' I think it is an appropriate moniker, and I will tell you why. It doesn't create energy independence any more than anything else we are doing in the energy sector. It doesn't save people money. This is money that will go into the pockets of Big Oil and big polluters. We all saw during the pandemic when the price of oil per barrel leveled off, the price at the pump per gallon kept going up and up and up, and everybody who was filling up their gas tank and feeling like they needed to get an onsite mortgage to do it, knew where that money was going. It was going into the pockets of the oil companies. You know what else it doesn't do? It doesn't save our government money. In fact, it costs our government money. $400 million extra this will add to the annual deficit if we pass this bill, this polluters over people bill. You know, the question is: Well, what does it do? Well, it does away, Madam Chair, with bedrock protections for the things that people count on the government protecting: clean air, clean water. It does away with the National Environmental Policy Act almost entirely, and it guts the Clean Water Act. This is not what Americans signed up for for their government. In fact, there are statutes, there are protections that were put in place during Republican and Democratic administrations over the years.…
