{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://comer.house.gov/2024/7/comer-opens-hearing-on-oversight-of-the-epa", "Comer Opens Hearing on Oversight of the EPA", "2024-07-10", "2024", "2024-07", "Republican", "House", "KY", "James Comer", "C001108", "comer.house.gov", "comer", "https://comer.house.gov/media", "scraper", "WASHINGTON\u2014House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) today delivered opening remarks at a hearing on \u201cOversight of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.\u201d Chairman Comer detailed how the EPA under the Biden Administration has pushed a whole-of-government climate agenda, including the implementation of burdensome regulations and sweeping executive orders that have raised energy costs on all American consumers and businesses. Chairman Comer emphasized the Biden Administration must put the interests of the American people first instead of appeasing left-wing special interest groups and climate scaremongers. To alleviate the financial burden on Americans across the country, Chaiman Comer concluded EPA Administrator Michael Regan must halt the excessive rules and regulations pushed by the EPA and work in actual partnership with Congress.\n\nBelow are Chairman Comer\u2019s prepared remarks.\n\n.\n\nToday we are conducing oversight of the Biden Administration\u2019s Environmental Protection Agency.\n\n.\n\nEPA Administrator Michael Regan leads EPA as it implements President Biden\u2019s environmental agenda.\n\n.\n\nNot only did President Biden have a disastrous debate performance, but his entire presidency has also been disastrous for the American people.\n\n.\n\nPresident Biden\u2019s radical agenda has pushed out massive, costly regulations.\n\n.\n\nFrom the moment he stepped into office, President Biden\u2014or at least those around him\u2014pushed out sweeping executive orders and regulations aimed at transforming critical sectors of our economy.\n\n.\n\nFrom transportation to power generation, this Administration has enacted a whole-of-government approach to change how these sectors operate in service to the Left\u2019s radical climate agenda.\n\n.\n\nAnd no cost is spared.\n\n.\n\nBut folks at home across this country will be left footing the bill for the price of these massive rulemakings.\n\n.\n\nEPA\u2019s largest regulations, such as the tailpipe emissions rules for light-, medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, have been estimated to cost nearly $900 billion dollars to implement.\n\n.\n\nThose rules require automakers to completely redesign their operations to produce more electric vehicles\u2014regardless of what consumers are demanding in the actual marketplace.\n\n.\n\nInstead of letting consumers and the market decide what products fit their lifestyle needs, the Biden Administration wants to force them into these decisions, no matter the cost.\n\n.\n\nEPA is also implementing costly regulations designed to force coal-fired power plants out of the power-generation sector.\n\n.\n\nCoal produced over 16 percent of the total electricity generation in the United States in 2023 according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.\n\n.\n\nIn Kentucky, over two thirds of our electricity is generated by coal-fired plants.\n\n.\n\nBut EPA\u2019s rules will force the premature retirement of reliable sources of electricity like coal plants at a time when electricity demand continues to rise.\n\n.\n\nRemoving reliable power generation capabilities undermines the stability of our electric grid and puts consumers at risk of rolling blackouts and forced rationing of electricity.\n\n.\n\nAs these rules go into effect, Americans will be left literally powerless.\n\n.\n\nHow can the Administration push to electrify the U.S. vehicle fleet on the one hand while it undermines the reliability of the electric grid on the other?\n\n.\n\nDuring the 118th Congress, this Committee has investigated numerous regulations of various sizes and scopes, but one theme keeps reappearing: Higher costs of regulations leads to higher costs for consumers.\n\n.\n\nThe Biden Administration has either ignored or refused to learn this basic economic lesson.\n\n.\n\nIt\u2019s very simple.\n\n.\n\nWhen the federal government imposes new massive regulations, the costs of compliance don\u2019t just magically vanish into thin air.\n\n.\n\nThose costs are passed to consumers who will be faced with higher prices and fewer choices in the market.\n\n.\n\nThe numbers are staggering.\n\n.\n\nBy their own estimates, the Biden Administration\u2014in just three and a half years on the job\u2014has imposed over $1.6 trillion dollars in estimated new federal regulatory costs.\n\n.\n\nAnd $1.3 trillion dollars of those costs\u2014over 80 percent of the total\u2014are from new EPA regulations.\n\n.\n\nAmericans already started seeing higher prices and fewer choices because of regulations, and we can expect it will only get worse as these rules really kick into high gear.\n\n.\n\nGas prices have skyrocketed, utility bills continue to increase, and inflation has eaten into every household\u2019s spending power.\n\n.\n\nAdministrator Regan, you committed at your confirmation hearing to build \u201cconsensus around pragmatic solutions\u201d and to \u201cwork in partnership with Congress.\u201d\n\n.\n\nWell, Sir, the sheer cost of the regulations coming out of the Biden Administration doesn\u2019t strike me or many Americans as \u201cpragmatic solutions\u201d at all.\n\n.\n\n$1.3 trillion dollars just from the EPA is setting us down a dangerous path of overregulation.\n\n.\n\nI hope that we can impress upon the Administration today how much it needs to start putting the interests of the American people first, and not simply look to appease these well-organized, left-wing special interest groups and climate scaremongers.\n\n.\n\nAmericans cannot afford the bill that they will ultimately be left paying by this Administration.\n\n.\n\nThank you, and I now yield to the Ranking Member for his opening remarks.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:24:45Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://comer.house.gov/2024/7/comer-opens-hearing-on-oversight-of-the-epa"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0366570204496384, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}