Congress should unwind Biden’s disastrous energy policies to restore the American economy

By U.S. Sen. John Kennedy
R-Louisiana
https://www.kennedy.senate.gov/

If congressional Republicans intend to deliver on our promises of a booming economy and stable prices, we’d be wise to unwind quickly the disastrous energy policies that the Biden-Harris regime imposed on one of America’s most essential industries.

President Biden is using his final days in office to rub salt in the wounds of the American energy sector. Most recently, the Biden-Harris administration implemented yet another offshore drilling ban on more than 625 million acres of American coastline. He used an obscure 1953 law to prohibit all future leases in the restricted coastal areas, making it extremely difficult for the incoming Trump administration to reverse course.

Not only is President Biden ignoring American voters by forcing through another harmful energy policy after his party lost the White House, but he is also making it more difficult for President Trump to restore the American economy and ease inflation.

The Biden-Harris administration has taken every opportunity it could to make fossil-fuel-based energy production more expensive—knowing that high energy prices cause inflation and slow economic growth.

President Biden blocked the Keystone XL pipeline, killing thousands of American jobs. He issued more than 125 executive actions to cancel leases and halt development of new energy sources. He also prohibited the development of all new liquified natural gas (LNG) export terminals in the United States, jeopardizing several facilities in Louisiana. His administration did everything it could to otherwise saddle American energy producers with costly new regulations.

The Biden-Harris administration’s anti-energy policies drove inflation for the past four years. As of December, the average American was paying 29% more for electricity and 31% more for gasoline when compared to prices during President Biden’s first month in office. Families in Louisiana paid nearly $1,000 more to keep the lights on and their gas tanks full in 2024 alone.

High energy and gas prices also made it more expensive for businesses to operate. If a grocery store is paying 29% more to keep its refrigeration system running and 31% more for the fuel needed to transport produce, the business has no choice but to increase prices on everything else. That’s why Louisianians are paying $1,500 more per year on groceries than they were before President Biden took office.

The only way our country will crawl out from under President Biden’s high prices is if our economy grows rapidly, but we know that high energy prices slow economic growth.

President Trump will need every tool at his disposal to restore American energy independence and lay the foundation for the future. Congress can help. We should demand that the Department of Interior approve more lease sales, especially offshore. The department is supposed to adhere to a schedule of at least two lease sales each year. The Biden-Harris administration didn’t hold any lease sales last year.

Existing federal regulations also prolong the permitting approval process and cripple LNG and oil producers. Congress can reform the bureaucratic permitting process to reduce unnecessary judicial overview and make reviews concurrent rather than consecutive.

In 2019, presidential candidate Biden told activists, "I guarantee you, we’re going to end fossil fuels." Now, Americans’ real wages have still not caught up with inflation, and Russia has overtaken us as the European Union’s top LNG supplier.

It is going to take an all-hands-on-deck effort to unwind all of President Biden’s destructive energy policies, and Congressional Republicans should stand ready to take the handcuffs off American energy.

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