House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) was featured in the Weekly Republican Address highlighting the potential of America’s energy abundance to create jobs, save consumers’ money, and increase our global leadership. The House will vote next week on a series of solutions to help deliver these benefits. Join us in this effort as we say yes to America’s energy promise. Follow the conversation on facebook and twitter with #Yes2Energy.
Text of Weekly Republican Address
So let’s talk about energy - how it affects our daily lives, and how Republicans are working to make it more affordable, reliable, and beneficial.
Not too long ago, we thought America’s energy needs could only be met through increasing foreign dependence. It’s a scary thought, particularly as we watch the chaos unfold overseas and gasoline prices closing in on four bucks a gallon here at home. I hear constantly from working families struggling with the cost of filling the tank just to drive to and from work.
Energy is at the core of American life. It supports jobs and our economy, and it affects everything from the price at the pump and the monthly electric bill to the cost of groceries - all of the things that Americans need to make ends meet. Schools, churches, hospitals, and manufacturing plants in my home state of Michigan and around the country … they all depend on affordable energy.
That’s why, this coming week, the House is going to vote on bills designed to make the most of America’s abundant energy supplies by building pipelines and transmission lines to connect our energy abundance to consumers, and by using our energy strength to fight back against hostile nations who use their resources to hold the rest of the world hostage.
We have already taken steps to modernize permitting, approve major energy projects, cut red tape for hydropower plants, and keep American coal in our energy mix.
But we’re not going to stop there.
We are offering more predictable regulations that encourage investment, lower prices, and create jobs here at home. We’re making targeted energy efficiency reforms, which will also help reduce costs and eliminate waste. And we’re focusing on the safety and reliability of the electrical grid to protect against everything from security threats to brownouts and blackouts. We’re working to keep nuclear power safe and sustainable for the long-term.
That’s what we mean by an “all-of-the-above" energy strategy. Fossil and renewable fuels, expanded production and conservation … together, these steps could help save money for American families, create the new jobs and industries that we want, and strengthen our position across the globe.
It’s very different than President Obama’s vision. His recently announced EPA rules for power plants is going to make it harder to use all of our American resources, and could well force states to ration energy, which certainly is going to make it more expensive to power our homes and factories. His record of energy development on federal lands remains dismal. And we all may rue the day that his president decided he could not say yes to the job-creating Keystone XL pipeline, which is going to displace energy from hostile parts of the world like Venezuela and the Middle East and replace it with supplies from our ally, our friend, Canada; instead, the project is in regulatory purgatory, and America waits and waits.
We can do better, yes we can. The U.S. has entered an era of energy abundance, and now we need the architecture - the infrastructure and policies - to support it. That’s exactly what Republicans are working to deliver.
Thanks for listening, have a great weekend.
