WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) spoke about President Biden’s unilateral, job-killing energy agenda on the Senate floor, lamenting his use of sweeping executive orders rather than working with Congress on bipartisan policymaking. Excerpts of Sen. Cornyn’s remarks are below, and video can be found here.
“I agree with President Biden that there is an imperative to restore unity and civility throughout our country. But for all of the talk of uniting, compromising, working together, the early pages of this new chapter read quite differently.”
“The policies that President Biden is addressing in his executive orders should be addressed here in Congress with bipartisan legislation.”
“It’s just providing a more expensive and, indeed, a more dangerous alternative. At a time when our energy industry is already suffering as a result of the pandemic, this project [the Keystone XL Pipeline] would have led to a positive cascading economic impact. Good-paying jobs, taxing revenues and economic benefits to local communities will evaporate because of this move.”
“I’m all for transitioning to cleaner forms of energy, but we have to deal with the reality of, for example, the fact that there are 280 million cars with internal combustion engines on our roads. How are families going to get to work, take their kids to school, or live their life if all of a sudden the very natural resource that they depend on for their cars is no longer available?”
“Rather than laying the foundation for a strong recovery, the Biden Administration is issuing executive orders that will harm American energy and send more business to our international competitors. And the administration is carrying out these changes without any input from Congress.”
“I understand the President’s desire to bolster renewable energy, and I think he’d find that if he explored energy policies with us in Congress, he’d meet more friends than foes.”
“I’d like to work with the Administration and our Democratic colleagues in the Senate, as I have in the past, to enact lasting policies that deliver reliable energy to the American people, and our friends and allies around the world, while prioritizing conservation.”
“This is not the time to implement unilateral, heavy-handed, shortsighted regulations. Our energy industry is still reeling from the effects of the pandemic, and the Administration and Congress need to take action to support its recovery, not stand in its way.”