August Pfluger: “I thank my colleague Mr. Duncan and Chair McMorris Rodgers for yielding. I appreciate the leadership of Gary Palmer on…”

“I thank my colleague Mr. Duncan and Chair McMorris Rodgers for yielding. I appreciate the leadership of Gary Palmer on this particular legislation, H.R. 1023, the Cutting Green Corruption and Taxes Act. As we sit here and listen, it has been pretty amusing. The reason we are here is because the American public is sick and tired of the games. The veil has been lifted. They know the facts. Affordability and reliability are the most important things, and we will get to the facts about the actual emissions that have been cut. Let's just start with the fact that this natural gas tax is unworkable. It was included despite never being considered, never being talked about with stakeholders in places like the Permian Basin that I represent. There was never expert testimony that talked about how to work this in. Instead of looking at emissions holistically, the natural gas tax was based on the single premise that if reliable energy is taxed, less of it will be produced. Let's ask the American public if they are for that. Especially as the EPA rolls out proposed rules to implement the natural gas tax, it is clear that we have to take action. There are dozens of rules that they are rolling out. When we talked to the directors of the EPA when they came before Congress this year, they didn't even know how they were going to implement this. They haven't talked to stakeholders. Why have they not been to the Permian Basin?…”