Lauren Boebert

Ms. BOEBERT

Ms. BOEBERT. Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Ms. BOEBERT. Madam Chair, I rise to offer my amendment that utilizes the Holman rule to reduce the salary of EPA Administrator Michael Regan to $1. On his watch, Administrator Regan has used the EPA to impose Green New Deal policies, such as electric appliance and EV mandates, power plant closures, strict regulations on American energy production, and environmental justice initiatives. On Michael Regan's watch, the EPA has prioritized DEI over domestic energy, climate change over consumers, and EVs over our great economy. In a hearing with the Oversight and Accountability Committee, he was unaware that the EPA has never formally been authorized by Congress, something that someone who oversees an agency should know. If the body of government who is directed to create such agencies has never authorized them, well, then we have a problem. However, this hasn't stopped him from jeopardizing American energy security, overloading America's power grid, and raising costs for all American consumers and businesses. In fact, in March of last year, the EPA Twitter account posted, ``As a bicultural, bilingual, and bisexual woman, Iris deeply empathizes with communities at the intersection of overlapping crises of injustice, #climatechange, and environmental racism.'' We cannot have the head of the Environmental Protection Agency claiming that even the environment is racist. This is another season of all the questions are made up and none of the points matter. The American people want their government to work for them, not against them. This administration's Green New Deal regulations are increasing regulatory costs at a rate of $617 billion per year of rulemaking. Is that clear? $617 billion in just rulemaking alone. This isn't a bill that Congress is passing; it is just rulemaking by the agency itself. If they continue at the Obama administration's regulatory pace, this will cost American families $60,000. It is time to put an end to governing by the Green New Deal, which is very much a scam, and the first step is to get rid of Administrator Regan. Madam Chair, I urge the passage of this important amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. BOEBERT. Madam Chair, I appreciate my colleague, Mr. Simpson, here who is chair of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee. I believe that we absolutely have the authority to exercise the Holman rule. Congress, the House of Representatives, is a majority rule, self- governing body. We have rules that we vote on to put in place that allow us to govern and govern ourselves as Members of Congress. We have the Holman rule to have a check on unelected bureaucrats. I agree with my colleague that elections do matter and that we do need to get out and vote for the best candidate. However, my constituents in Colorado do not have the opportunity to vote for these unelected bureaucrats who are happy to stay in their position and wait out a majority of their disliking, and it is very difficult to remove them. My colleague is also correct in saying this is essentially a way of firing these unelected bureaucrats who are abusing their position, who are using their power, their job, and their position to hurt American citizens when they are creating rulemaking that is costing $617 billion per year and increasing the household costs of families by $60,000. I don't care if that is technically illegal or legal. It is immoral, it is unjust, and it is unsustainable. I stand by my amendment to reduce the salary of the EPA director, Mr. Reagan, to $1 and to exercise our House rule that we have voted on and that Mr. Simpson even voted on in the Rules package in January of 2023 and hold this unelected bureaucrat accountable. I am here to represent my constituents and save the American taxpayers money. Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. BOEBERT. Madam Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

Ms. BOEBERT. Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Ms. BOEBERT. Madam Chair, I am going to exercise the rule of the House to offer the Holman rule amendment here in this appropriations bill, and I rise to offer my amendment that reduces the salary of Melissa Schwartz, Director of Communications of the Department of the Interior, to $1. Melissa Schwartz is yet another horrendous and miserable use of taxpayer dollars. Look at this. She is a mask-wearing, quadruple-vaxxed Green New Deal extremist, and unfortunately, a liberal troll who has harassed me, even in committee hearing rooms. She shouldn't be employed at the Department of the Interior. Melissa Schwartz belongs under a bridge. Melissa had the nerve and lack of respect to confront me in the Halls of Congress following a Department of the Interior meeting. In this hearing, she had the audacity to come and personally attack a Member of Congress. This DEI hire made clear she doesn't work for the American people, and she is simply another misguided mouthpiece for liberal extremists that hates conservatives and people that disagree with her eccentric views. Rather than focus on agency priorities or the American people's priorities, facts, and seeking to do what is best for America, Schwartz spends most of her taxpayer time tweeting nonsense and trying to promote the Biden regime's radical new deal scam. Melissa and her colleagues believe that climate change is the ultimate threat to humanity. They are willing to kill American jobs and sacrifice the health of our economy at all costs as they pursue their extremist ideology. I am committed to taking a stand against the Biden regime's attempt to cripple American energy and cater to radical extremists. I urge my colleagues to exercise our voted-on House rule and implement the Holman rule and support my amendment that reduces the salary of Melissa Schwartz to $1. Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. BOEBERT. Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. BOEBERT. Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Ms. BOEBERT. Madam Chair, I rise today to offer my amendment that utilizes the Holman rule to reduce the salary of Director of Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Elizabeth Klein to $1. Ms. Klein is a radical environmentalist and a partisan hack comprised of special interests and mired in ethical conflicts. Her conflicts of interest were so severe that even Senator Manchin voted to block her nomination as Deputy Secretary of the Interior. As deputy director of the New York University School of Law's State Energy and Environmental Impact Center, Klein placed and paid the salaries of legal fellows in State attorneys general offices to advance Michael Bloomberg's radical environmental agenda. The use of private money to conduct public business is ethically flawed. Indiana's attorney general categorized Ms. Klein's program as an ``arrangement through which a private organization or individual can promote an overtly political agenda by paying the salaries of government employees.'' In just the first year of the program, SEEIC fellows participated in filing at least 130 regulatory, legal, and other challenges to President Trump's policies--successful policies, I might add. Now Ms. Klein is working for the Federal Government and on the other side of lawsuits that she helped file. Under President Biden's own ethics rules, she should be prohibited from participating in matters involving her former employer. During her testimony in the House Committee on Natural Resources, I questioned Ms. Klein about her failed nomination to become Deputy Secretary of the Interior. I asked if she had been provided with a recusal list and formally requested that she provide that list to the committee. Ms. Klein told the committee that she was happy to provide that list. Shamefully, it took a letter from the committee and this aggressive committee questioning for Klein to send the committee a very delayed recusal list that should have been in place almost immediately after her hiring. Ms. Klein spent several years funneling money from Michael Bloomberg to sue the Trump administration and pay for the Green New Deal scam lawyers she had placed in attorneys general offices across the country. Given her myriad of Federal lawsuits and conflicts, there should be little to nothing that Ms. Klein is allowed to work on at any subagency within the Department of the Interior. Senior Federal employees are required to be transparent in their ethical obligations and act impartially, placing their sole loyalty to the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America. Ms. Klein's history of infiltrating State governments with Michael Bloomberg's minions and supporting lawsuits against the Federal Government makes it impossible for her to meet the ethical obligations that her position of public trust requires. Ms. Klein's continued employment as the director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has been riddled with a controversial and extensive history of ethical conflicts. This is a stain on the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. Radical partisan extremists have no place in the Federal Government, especially those in charge of our energy security. Madam Chair, I urge my colleagues to support my amendment to restore integrity to the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. BOEBERT. Madam Chair, I care deeply about our environment. I want clean air. I want clean water. I want to be a good steward of the land that we have been gifted here in the United States of America. I don't believe that pursuing these extremist Green New Deal scam policies is advancing that agenda that we have. I don't want to spend tax dollars on these initiatives and this purpose. I want to do the work of the people, and I believe that my amendment gets us one step closer to that by reducing the salary of Ms. Klein to $1. Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. BOEBERT. Madam Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

Ms. BOEBERT. Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Ms. BOEBERT. Madam Chair, I rise to offer my amendment that redirects $2 million to hazardous fuel reduction activities within the Bureau of Land Management to prevent catastrophic wildfires and save lives. The year I was elected, Colorado suffered the worst fire season in Colorado history, with the three largest recorded wildfires we have ever had. Hundreds of homes were destroyed and evacuated, and Coloradans endured more than 100 days of fire. The Cameron Peak fire burned more than 208,000 acres and more than 460 structures to the tune of $6 million in property losses. The East Troublesome fire on the border of my district killed two people. Coloradans also suffered severe health issues resulting from significant smoke from these fires. Wildfire smoke causes serious disorders, including eye and respiratory tract infections, reduced lung function, bronchitis, exacerbation of asthma, and even premature death. Catastrophic wildfires also cause significant damage to the environment. A few years ago, NASA concluded that one catastrophic wildfire can emit more carbon emissions in just a few days than all of the vehicle emissions in an entire State over the course of an entire year. Decades of mismanagement have left our Nation's Federal lands vulnerable to insects and disease, ripe for catastrophic wildfires. The good news is, there is finally significant bipartisan support throughout the country to prevent wildfires, and the Forest Service is seeking to treat 20 million acres of national forest and grasslands and 30 million acres of State, local, Tribal, and private lands over the next 10 years. However, we need to do more, as Federal agencies have stated that more than 1 billion acres throughout the country are currently at risk of catastrophic wildfires. Our Federal lands are overgrown and poorly managed, making them more susceptible to wildfire, disease, and even bark beetle attacks. There are Federal lands in Colorado and the West where we once had 50 to 100 trees per acre, but now we see 500 to 1,000 trees per acre, proving the overgrowth of our forests. There are also 6 billion standing dead trees in the Western United States. Some people call that a problem. I call it a tinderbox waiting to ignite and burn. Fuel treatments are effective, and Federal agencies have made clear ``over 90 percent of the fuel treatments were effective in changing fire behavior and/or helping with control of the wildfire.'' Let's put the lives of the American people first, take significant action to benefit our environment by passing my hazardous fuels reduction amendment and redirecting $2 million to these hazardous fuels reduction activities within the Bureau of Land Management. Madam Chair, I encourage the adoption of my amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. BOEBERT. Madam Chair, I am proud of my party's work in reducing taxpayer spending by $1.8 billion in this bill, and I also am encouraged to find even more offsets where we can redirect funding and put them to a more appropriate use for the taxpayer, showing that their best interest is what we are all here serving in Washington, D.C., on their behalf for. Madam Chair, again, I support the adoption of my amendment that redirects $2 million for the fuels hazardous management in the Bureau of Land Management. I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. BOEBERT. Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Ms. BOEBERT. Madam Chair, I rise to offer my commonsense amendment that redirects $2 million of the inspector general to combat waste, fraud, and abuse within the EPA. As a proud member of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, I am a firm believer in increasing transparency of Federal programs and actions within the executive branch. Honest, hardworking Americans should be able to trust that their tax dollars are being spent responsibly and for their intended purposes. The EPA Office of Inspector General is charged with providing critical oversight over tens of billions of dollars that are spent by the EPA, U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, as well as more than $100 billion that is being doled out through the so-called Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the so-called Inflation Reduction Act that we all know did nothing to reduce inflation. Ask anyone you meet in the grocery store. Unlike other inspector general offices, the EPA IG did not receive additional funding from the Inflation Reduction Act, expansion act, to carry out the additional oversight mandates associated with this law. Oversight by the IG is critical to ensure that the EPA, as well as its grantees and contractors, are responsible stewards of scarce American tax dollars. The IG also seeks to root out fraud, waste, and abuse, mismanagement, and misconduct within the agencies it provides oversight to. Recently, the IG identified significant taxpayer risks and vulnerabilities that are associated with the administration's Clean School Bus Program. Sounds great, right? The inspector general pointed out: ``There is a high potential for, among other things, falsely substituting or duplicating requests from multiple Federal agencies for the same or very similar materials and associated labor.'' Ever since the passage of the Inspector General Act of 1978, inspectors general have uncovered billions of dollars of fraud and exposed numerous instances of criminal wrongdoing. The EPA IG is no exception. During the first half of the fiscal year of 2023, the EPA IG identified $135 million in wasted spending, fraud avoidance, and other monetary benefits to American taxpayers. However, vigilance by the EPA inspector general is needed now more than ever for the more than $100 billion of Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act that have been distributed and are still going out the door. Funding currently allocated in this bill for the EPA IG is significantly below the budget estimate, yet they are being asked to do significantly more. My commonsense amendment will help ensure that the inspector general has the funding and resources they need to provide strict oversight of the EPA. I have found a pay-for, so this is not deficit spending. We are not wasting taxpayer dollars. We are redirecting these $2 million. I urge my colleagues to support my amendment to redirect important resources to the inspector general. Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. BOEBERT. Madam Chair, I yield back.

Ms. BOEBERT. Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Ms. BOEBERT. Mr. Chair, from day one of this regime, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris declared an all-out war on American energy production and exploration. They have made very clear that they care more about appeasing radical climate change activists than protecting the millions of oil and gas workers and producers in America. I was disappointed but not surprised when the Biden regime finalized the rule titled Fluid Mineral Leases and Leasing Process, which mandates provisions from the partisan so-called Inflation Reduction Act, which increased the royalty rate for production on Federal lands while also increasing and creating new fees for domestic energy producers. This new fluid mineral leasing rule is further proof that the Biden- Harris regime is using every tool in their administration to dismantle American energy production. It increases bonding levels for production on Federal lands, proposes ending nationwide bonding, and increasing the minimum bond amounts for individual lease bonds and statewide lease bonds from $10,000 to $150,000 and from $25,000 to $500,000, respectively. This significant increase will tie up capital that would otherwise be put back into production and is unjustifiable as there are only 37 orphaned oil and gas wells on BLM-managed lands. These increases will impact smaller producers who can't afford to operate in the market. These additional fees will ultimately harm returns and reduce revenues to State and local governments by disincentivizing development on Federal lands. The rule also introduces the idea of using preference criteria to inform the BLM selection of lands for lease sales. BLM's rationale for this change is to avoid conflict in areas ``with sensitive cultural, wildlife, and recreation resources.'' This means that BLM field offices could avoid leasing in all areas with endangered or threatened species, critical habitat, or nearby recreation areas, a move that would greatly limit leasing on our Federal lands. With the wars happening in the Middle East and Europe, and with OPEC significantly lowering oil production, we cannot rely on other foreign nations to control our energy supply. America makes the cleanest energy in the world. We do it the most responsibly. American innovation, in particular fracking, has allowed America to be the global leader in reducing emissions since the year 2000. We need to stop buying oil and gas from Russia; stop begging OPEC, Venezuela, and Iran to produce energy for us; and start producing more energy responsibly here in America. I am ready to bring back the American roughneck and to drill, baby, drill because no one does it better than we do here in the United States of America. We must restore American energy dominance and produce clean, reliable energy right here in America. Mr. Chair, I urge the adoption of my amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. BOEBERT. Mr. Chair, I yield to the gentleman from Idaho (Mr. Simpson).

Ms. BOEBERT. Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. BOEBERT. Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Ms. BOEBERT. Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Ms. BOEBERT. Mr. Chair, I rise to offer my amendment that prohibits funds made available by this act to be used for the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Council at the Department of the Interior. In February 2022, Secretary Haaland established the first-ever Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Council, through Secretary's Order 3406, to incorporate these practices into the Department's work across many bureaus. Let's be honest here, the DEI agenda is a destructive ideology that breeds hatred and racial division. It has no place in our Federal Government or anywhere else in our society. DEI exists to be a jobs program for otherwise unemployable holders of gender studies degrees who ruin just about everything they touch. Since taking office, the Biden-Harris regime has implemented DEI policies across virtually every agency in the Federal Government. DEI is focused on coddling unequipped and incompetent employees, and I think we have seen that by all the resignations from these DEI hires in this administration in just a few short years. As we saw a mere 11 days ago, DEI hires and incompetency at the Secret Service were responsible for letting a deranged gunman come centimeters from killing President Trump. I am not talking about the folks who were there, the boots on the ground. I am talking about the disgraced Director of the Secret Service who resigned today after scrutiny from both Republicans and Democrats and those all throughout our country. Mr. Chair, we should no longer allow DEI in the Federal Government to continue to divide America and waste taxpayer money. It is absurd to fund these diverse policies, and it is time for Congress to put an end to them once and for all. The Department of the Interior should be focused on restoring American energy dominance, not pandering to radical leftists. This is not about race, gender, or anything else included in the DEI agenda of the left. This is about having the best, most equipped, most qualified personnel in their positions, no matter their race or gender. Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to support my amendment to abolish this demonizing DEI council, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. BOEBERT. Mr. Chair, may I inquire as to how much time is remaining.