Jeff Duncan: “Let me state again that H.R. 21 is about strengthening the SPR by requiring nonemergency use to be accompanied by a plan…”

“Let me state again that H.R. 21 is about strengthening the SPR by requiring nonemergency use to be accompanied by a plan to produce American resources. Mr. Chair, I invite the Members across the aisle to actually go out and talk to oil and gas producers, understand leases, understand that every square acre out in the ocean or on land doesn't have oil or gas under it. They have got to find it. They have got to start drilling, exploring, and producing. And once they produce, they have got to pipe that either to the beach or put it on a ship to be taken to refineries. They have a permitting process for pipelines that do that, permitting processes to get the well actually permitted once they discover resources. Go and learn. Go and learn for yourself about this. Educate yourself on how America attained its low emissions. If you care about the air quality, you care about climate change-- natural gas is what got America there. Educate yourself on that, and we can have a better debate about future resources and future energy production. This debate tonight is not about any of that. It is about the SPR. It is about the fact that the Biden administration drew down on the SPR for one purpose: to lower gas prices for Americans right before an election. That is influential politics. This is about efficient, clean American energy production. Efforts to reduce our production means the world relies more on nations that do not impose state-of-the-art controls on emissions.…”