Senate Democrats are moving to block President Donald Trump’s national energy emergency and frustrate the president’s actions to lower energy prices.
On his first day in office, Trump declared a national energy emergency to unleash American energy production.
The 47th president took this action as energy prices skyrocketed under former President Joe Biden. Biden moved to halt oil and natural gas leases, banned offshore drilling, and sought to require a majority of new cars sold in the U.S. to be electric vehicles or hybrids by 2032.
Rather than focus on lowering energy prices for Americans nationwide, Sens. Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) have introduced a resolution to terminate Trump’s national energy emergency order.
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The resolution is privileged; therefore, the Senate has to schedule a vote on the legislation.
“While Donald Trump focuses on repaying the corporate polluter executives who donated to his campaign, it is the American people who will pay the price of his sham ‘energy emergency,'” Heinrich, the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said in early February. “His autocratic and unlawful attacks on clean energy investments will kill American jobs, raise costs on families, weaken our economic competitiveness, and erode American global energy dominance. Trump should end his destructive crusade on clean energy and start putting the interests of working people first.”
Kaine said, “The United States is producing more energy than at any other point in history. So why would Donald Trump spend his first day in office declaring a national energy emergency, and then halt crucial investments from the Inflation Reduction Act that are creating jobs, lowering energy costs, and supporting American leadership in the clean energy industries of tomorrow?”
Despite the Senate Democrats’ rhetoric, recent polls have shown that American people favor Trump’s energy dominance policies.
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A February Harvard-Harris poll found that 57 percent of voters, which includes 52 percent of independent voters, favor ending bans on offshore drilling in Alaska and elsewhere.
A Marquette University Law School survey released in February revealed that 60 percent of Americans back expanding oil and gas production.
“Senate Democrats are yet again attempting to block President Trump’s efforts to secure cheaper, more reliable energy—just when America needs it most. Their message to families is clear: pay more, expect less,” Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), the chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said in a written statement.
He continued, “Luckily, President Trump is committed to unleashing American energy and rescuing the country from the energy crisis that they have perpetuated. Senate Republicans won’t let Democrats delay and obstruct any longer and will ensure the President has the tools necessary to deliver the results the American people expect.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said on the Senate floor about the Democrats’ move to shutter American energy production:
Thanks in substantial part to a movement to shut down fossil-fuel-fired power plants before reliable sources of clean energy are available to replace them, America is running out of power even as we face huge new power demands. I realize this is an inconvenient truth to my Democrat colleagues. Why? Because it interferes with their plans to force the United States off conventional energy. If Democrats acknowledge that we are rapidly approaching an energy crisis, they might have to actually consider the consequences of their energy plans. If we don’t take action, we are going to be facing some very serious problems in the very near future, so I’m grateful to have a president who recognizes and acknowledges the energy emergency facing our nation. I look forward to working with him to unleash American energy production and achieve a secure, affordable, and reliable energy future.
Senate Republicans are also moving to unravel Biden’s climate change agenda.
The Senate Republican-passed budget resolution aims to facilitate “energy independence by unleashing American energy production through on and offshore lease sales, and stopping the Biden Administration’s natural gas tax, also known as the methane emissions fee.”
Congressional Republicans hope to pass a Congressional Review Act (CRA) that would bar California’s waiver to enact a state ban on new internal combustion engine cars by 2035 and progressive “zero-emission vehicle” quotas for auto makers.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) proposed a resolution to repeal the Biden-era regulation to rule on gas heaters, Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND) proposed one to undo Biden’s natural gas tax, and Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) proposed his resolution to stop the Biden rule blocking offshore oil and gas exploration.
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on X @SeanMoran3