Biden Pivot On Willow May Dull Impact Of GOP Energy Package

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) will today unveil the Lower Energy Costs Act, a package of more than 20 energy bills designed to boost domestic energy production, reduce regulatory burdens, and limit dependence on "hostile foreign dictators" for energy.

• Scalise said: "...why would you want to be begging Russia and Saudi Arabia and Venezuela to produce energy when we can produce it here in America cleaner than anyone?”
• House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said of the package, symbolically numbered HR1 a signpost of high legislative priority: “The Biden administration has kneecapped American energy production... increased costs for every American and jeopardized our national security [and] made the rest of the world more reliant on dirtier energy from Russia and China."
• The GOP attack may be blunted by President Biden's decision yesterday to approve the USD$8 billion Willow project in Alaska, undermining a GOP claim that Biden admin policy obstructs O&G projects on federal land.
• The move signalled a major pivot from Biden’s campaign pledge: “No more drilling on federal lands, period,” and has drawn criticism from environmental groups and progressive Democrats.