{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=58C4C5B7-3282-495B-97CE-1038692BDAF4", "Thune: Democrats\u2019 Hostility to All-of-the-Above Energy Strategy Fuels High Prices", "2022-09-22", "2022", "2022-09", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "Click here to watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today discussed how the so-called \u201cInflation Reduction Act\u201d will further erode America\u2019s energy security and do nothing to help alleviate the economic pain from which many Americans are already suffering as a result of high energy prices.\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as prepared for delivery):\n\n\u201cMr. President, high energy prices \u2013 like high grocery prices \u2013 have become a distinguishing feature of the Biden economy.\n\n\u201cElectricity prices increased 15.8 percent in August \u2013 the largest year-over-year increase since 1981.\n\n\u201c1981.\n\n\u201cI wasn\u2019t even married the last time we saw an electricity increase like this.\n\n\u201cNow I have grandchildren.\n\n\u201cUtility gas service was up 33 percent from a year ago in August.\n\n\u201c33 percent.\n\n\u201cAnd the price of home heating oil \u2013 which many households in places like New Hampshire rely on to keep their homes warm in the winter \u2013 has soared.\n\n\u201cAll told, the National Energy Assistance Directors\u2019 Association estimates that home heating costs for the winter heating season will average $1,202 \u2013 a 17.2 percent increase from last season.\n\n\u201cAnd I haven\u2019t even mentioned gas prices.\n\n\u201cGas prices may have decreased from their $5.00 high this summer \u2013 partly as a result of President Biden\u2019s problematic decision to draw down our nation\u2019s emergency petroleum reserves to their lowest point since 1985 with no plan to refill them \u2013 but customers are still paying $1.30 more per gallon than they were when President Biden took office.\n\n\u201cAnd the average price for a gallon of gas has increased this week, ending a streak of diminishing \u2013 although still high \u2013 gas prices.\n\n\u201cMr. President, if there\u2019s one thing we should be doing about high energy prices, it\u2019s increasing our domestic energy supply \u2013 including our supply of conventional energy, namely oil and natural gas.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m a longtime supporter of alternative energy, and I come from a state that derives a substantial portion of its electricity generation from wind.\n\n\u201cIn fact, in 2021, over 50 percent of our state\u2019s power generation came from wind, and 30 percent came from hydroelectric on the Missouri River.\n\n\u201cBut if it weren\u2019t for traditional fossil fuels backing up that generation, especially on days when the wind is still, we\u2019d be left in the dark.\n\n\u201cThe fact of the matter is, no matter how much Democrats might wish it were otherwise, alternative energy technology has simply not advanced to the point where our country can rely exclusively on alternative energy.\n\n\u201cAnd attempting to pretend we\u2019ve advanced further than we have, or have solved all the requisite supply chain hurdles, will lead to nothing but economic pain for American families.\n\n\u201cJust look at California, whose overreliance on alternative energy technology has resulted in an electricity grid that cannot sustain the demands being placed on it.\n\n\u201cCalifornians were recently asked to ration their energy usage and refrain from charging electric cars during certain hours to reduce strain on the grid.\n\n\u201cAnd yet the state has issued a final regulation that will require all new cars sold in the state to be electric or otherwise zero-emission by 2035.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t see this ending well for Californians.\n\n\u201cAnd this is the kind of unrealistic thinking that has permeated pretty much the entire Democrat Party.\n\n\u201cI am all for advancing clean energy technologies.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve done a lot of work here in Congress to advance clean energy, from renewable fuels to wind energy.\n\n\u201cBut until clean energy technology has advanced to the point where it can truly, reliably, and affordably supply Americans\u2019 energy needs, we need to continue to invest in responsible conventional energy production as part of the all-of-the-above energy strategy we need.\n\n\u201cOtherwise the high energy prices Americans are struggling with right now could get even worse \u2026 and persist long into the future.\n\n\u201cPresident Biden, of course, has been discouraging conventional energy production since day one \u2013 which is one reason why high energy prices have become a defining feature of the Biden administration.\n\n\u201cFrom canceling the Keystone XL pipeline to discouraging investment in conventional energy with a targeted ESG agenda to making it more difficult for oil and gas companies to develop leases, President Biden has shown a distinct hostility to conventional energy.\n\n\u201cLast month, the president signed into law the so-called Inflation Reduction Act \u2013 the partisan tax-and-spending spree Democrats jammed through Congress in August.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve mentioned the high energy prices Americans have been experiencing.\n\n\u201cWell, apparently Democrats think that the best solution to that is to pass a bunch of new fees and tax hikes \u2026 that will drive up energy prices.\n\n\u201cTheir so-called Inflation Reduction Act includes a slate of taxes on conventional energy production at the worst possible time.\n\n\u201cThe methane fee in their bill alone has the potential to drive up Americans\u2019 natural gas bills by 17 percent.\n\n\u201c17 percent.\n\n\u201cJust what Americans need while they\u2019re paying 15.8 percent more for electricity and 33 percent more for utility gas service and $1.30 more for every gallon of gas \u2026\n\n\u201cBut at least Americans can feel good about the fact that their tax dollars will be going to fund Democrats\u2019 Green New Deal fantasies \u2013 like tax credits for wealthy Americans to purchase electric vehicles.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s right.\n\n\u201cThe so-called Inflation Reduction Act \u2013 which, by the way, even the Democrat chairman of the Senate Budget Committee admits will do nothing to fix inflation \u2013 pours hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars into Green New Deal priorities.\n\n\u201cIn addition to tax credits for wealthy Americans, the Inflation Reduction Act also includes funding for things like expensive electric vehicles for the U.S. Postal Service, mitigating urban heat island hot spots and monitoring gaps in tree canopy coverage, and climate-related political activity.\n\n\u201cYes.\n\n\u201cClimate-related political activity.\n\n\u201cMr. President, Democrats succeeded in pushing through the Inflation Reduction Act \u2013 and its tax hikes on conventional energy \u2013 by promising one of their members a vote on permitting reform legislation.\n\n\u201cNow, real permitting reform is something I heartily endorse.\n\n\u201cToo many energy permits spend years mired in bureaucracy, leading to completely needless delays in energy development.\n\n\u201cCleaning up the permitting process would help advance both conventional and renewable energy production.\n\n\u201cUnfortunately, it\u2019s not clear that the permitting reform deal that was released last night will do anything to meaningfully address permitting delays\u2014and in some cases, could make things worse.\n\n\u201cFor one, it would expand FERC\u2019s authority to override state jurisdiction for projects the president designates as \u2018national interest facilities,\u2019 which is why the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission is opposed to it.\n\n\u201cAnd it would give states wide latitude to kill the very infrastructure projects the bill purports to expedite by expanding state Clean Water Act jurisdiction.\n\n\u201cIn other sections where this proposal seeks to shorten deadlines for various stages of permitting, which is a goal I support, the consequences for not meeting a deadline are merely notifying the Office of Management and Budget and the lead department secretary.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s hard to see this actually moving the chains, Mr. President.\n\n\u201cAnd on top of that, it\u2019s starting to seem extremely doubtful that Democrats actually have the votes in their conference to pass permitting reform legislation.\n\n\u201cRepublicans, thanks to the efforts of Senator Capito, have a meaningful, substantive permitting reform bill ready to go.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s supported by every member of our conference.\n\n\u201cAnd it would need the support of just 10 Democrat senators to pass.\n\n\u201cIt would be nice to think that there are 10 moderate Democrat senators \u2013 if the words Democrat and moderate can still go together in this time of the Democrat Party\u2019s rapid rush to the extreme left \u2013 who would be willing to join Republicans to pass our legislation and finally take a real step to ease the burden of high energy prices on American families.\n\n\u201cBut given the president\u2019s \u2013 and the Democrat Party\u2019s \u2013 hostility to any measure that would genuinely start addressing high energy prices, I\u2019m not holding my breath.\n\n\u201cMr. President, high prices \u2013 for energy and just about everything else \u2013 have become the distinguishing feature of the Biden economy.\n\n\u201cAnd if Democrats continue to take steps to discourage conventional energy production, high energy prices will be a Democrat legacy that lasts long into the future.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:29:59Z"]], "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://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=58C4C5B7-3282-495B-97CE-1038692BDAF4"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.6924180779606104, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": 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