Boyle Highlights Biden-Harris Energy Record, Calls Out Trump’s Project 2025 At Energy Hearing

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Pennsylvania Congressman Brendan F. Boyle, Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee, delivered opening remarks at a Budget Committee hearing examining our energy future.

Ahead of the hearing, the Democratic Staff of the House Budget Committee released a new fact sheet highlighting the dangers of Trump’s Project 2025 energy agenda: Donald Trump’s Project 2025 Puts Polluters Over People, Democrats Invest in America’s Climate and Clean Energy Future.

(Click for video of remarks as delivered)

Ranking Member Boyle’s remarks as delivered:

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And first, before I give remarks in response on the topic of our hearing today, I will note that we are now 11 days away, 11 days and perhaps 14 hours from what would be a government shutdown without a continuing resolution passing the House and passing the Senate.

It is unfortunate that the Speaker and his leadership team have been spinning their wheels and wasting all of our time on a Republican-only approach, which failed miserably on the House floor last night. I again urge the Speaker and his leadership team to work with Democrats, both in the House and the Senate, so that we can avoid a costly and completely unnecessary government shutdown and we can do the work of the American people. Eleven days is not much time and the sooner the Speaker and Republican leadership realize that this highly partisan go-it-alone approach is failing, as we saw last night, and doomed to fail, the sooner they recognize that, the sooner we can get out of this mess and ensure that we avoid a costly government shutdown.

Now, on the topic at hand of the hearing, I appreciate the opportunity to have a hearing to celebrate the many successes of this administration when it comes to energy. Here is a fact: under the Biden-Harris administration, our total energy production is now at an all-time high, exceeding domestic consumption by a record amount.

This may be an inconvenient fact for some, but under President Biden and Vice President Harris we are now producing more oil than ever before. More than Russia, more than Saudi Arabia, and more than any other country on earth. In my home state, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, we've produced more natural gas over the last three years than any time before it.

The reality is, under President Biden and Vice President Harris, the United States is achieving energy independence. Specifically on the price of gas, I just checked this morning, I wanted to make sure I had up-to-date figures. Prices at the pump are now averaging $3.22 a gallon. That's the national average.

That is almost 70 cents below where it was a year ago. In real dollars, that is actually far below where we were about 15, 16 years ago during the tail end of the Bush administration. I would also point out that the price of oil obviously surged after Vladimir Putin's unjustified and illegal invasion of Ukraine, but because of actions this administration has taken as well as our European allies, I'm proud to say a barrel of oil today costs roughly one half of what it did following Putin's invasion. So this is a record that we can celebrate. I appreciate the words of the Fed chair yesterday when making the announcement that we are at the 2 percent target and therefore it can begin lowering interest rates.

No wonder that just this morning, literally as I speak, the stock market, the Dow and the S&P are literally at all-time highs. The reality is clear. The United States has bounced back from the worldwide pandemic better, stronger, and more secure than any other country on earth.

Now, when we look at that record of success, we need to recognize it is under threat. Donald Trump's Project 2025 would turn back the clock on all of this progress. Trump reportedly asked Big Oil for a billion dollars in campaign contributions. And his Project 2025 makes it perfectly clear what they would be getting in return.

Their extreme plans would destroy the Inflation Reduction Act. And along with it, they would threaten the 300,000 new jobs that we have delivered in clean energy as part of a generational transition. They would rip away the tax credits that are saving families money on their energy bills right now. They would gut the EPA and force out our children to drink dirtier water and breathe more polluted air.

Even as they would force families to pay higher costs, Trump's plans would cut taxes for the biggest corporations in America, delivering a $1.3 billion tax break to trust the five largest oil companies in America. American families cannot afford this dangerous agenda. So, Mr. Chairman, I thank you again and look forward to listening to our witnesses as well as our colleagues and I yield back.

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