Brett Guthrie

Mr. GUTHRIE

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on this legislation and to include extraneous material on H.R. 3109.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, the American economy is fueled by petrochemical refineries providing affordable diesel and gasoline to families, critical inputs for our manufacturers, and products imperative for the maintenance of our defense systems. The national security component of a viable refining industry cannot be overstated, and we must not forfeit these essential supply chains. Under the previous administration, we saw the impact of an energy retreat: higher prices for families and businesses, emboldened adversaries, sluggish economies, and increasing reliance on other nations. Unfortunately, this is still the case in States like California, where a hostile regulatory environment has forced refineries to reduce operations. In fact, the Golden State is expected to lose 17 percent of its capacity in the next year. This has led to an average gasoline price of nearly $5 per gallon, an increased fuel dependence on Asian producers, and jeopardizing the fuel supply chain of military installations in their State. We must not let this become status quo across the country. H.R. 3109 requires the National Petroleum Council to collect and examine information regarding the role of petrochemical refineries in the United States and their contributions to affordability, security, and reliability. The report will assess opportunities to expand capacity as well as current risks to refineries. H.R. 3109 will provide the Committee on Energy and Commerce the information we need to enact policies to deliver affordable, reliable, and clean energy to all Americans. I thank Representative Latta, the chairman of the Energy Subcommittee, for his leadership on this issue. I urge all of my colleagues to support H.R. 3109, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GUTHRIE

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, the price is different around the world because of the way it is distributed. The price of natural gas is the price of natural gas. To use it, you have to get it to market. You have to have it there. To use an example my friend from Illinois said, Mr. Speaker, that you have a real-world example, he said there was a terminal that went offline that was supposed to export natural gas. It burned, so it went offline. There was natural gas moving to that terminal. All of a sudden, for a few days, you had an excess of capacity of natural gas. The argument would be, we would have the same production of natural gas if we just shut down all of the ports. If you can use one as an example, if you shut them all down and continue to produce the same level of natural gas, the price would drop. The issue is, there is a certain point where it costs you to produce natural gas. You have to reach that point. What we are saying is, there is a world price for natural gas. If you continue to expand markets for people to ship natural gas, you will continue to have natural gas, and they will continue to drill to meet those market demands around the world. If you shrink the demand around the world artificially by banning the exports, then they are not going to produce as much natural gas, and it doesn't affect the price. You can point to times when there are disruptions in the supply, but overall, it is basic economics. That is how it works. Mr. Speaker, also, you can call what President Biden did a pause as opposed to a ban, but I know from the time he implemented the pause or ban until President Trump came into office, you couldn't ship natural gas. Either pause it or ban it, I think that is saying the same thing. Mr. Speaker, this is important. We do want to beat China. I have a tremendous amount of respect for my ranking member. We want to work together to beat China, and we are going to work together to beat China because that unites all of us. Everybody in this room and everybody in this Chamber wants America to be first. We are going to work together to do that. I think this is important. We may disagree on this policy. I think it is important. I encourage my colleagues to vote for this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I should have introduced my good friend from Texas (Mr. Babin) as a colleague and fellow chairman, the chairman of the Committee on Science. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Arrington), chairman of the House Committee on the Budget, my good friend.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Pfluger), the sponsor of the legislation and a valued member of our committee.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Cammack), another distinguished member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Chair, I yield to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Balderson), another good friend. I am yielding to all of my good friends, but I yield to a very valued member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I will say that we want the world price produced by what we have here in our country. The price does fluctuate on a stop price day-to-day. However, just because we are sitting on massive reserves of natural gas where our friends in Europe are suffering, where our friends in Korea and Japan are asking for it, the argument is, if you don't export any natural gas, the argument some people seem to be making is the price would go down, but that is just not true because the producers are going to produce to world price. A real problem in price of natural gas is getting it distributed to where it needs to go and that is pipelines. I hope we can work together on permit reform. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Oklahoma (Mrs. Bice).

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I was actually in a meeting with Europeans at the highest level of government, and when they talked about needing more LNG exports from the United States and criticized the ban, somebody made the point that my friend just made to them and said: Well, I understand all of your terminals are full. You couldn't receive any more anyway. They said: We need the world price to come down. We have to have the world price come down. Energy prices in Germany are three times what they are here. Could you imagine trying to compete in the global economy when energy prices are three times as high and when you have a neighbor just a few countries over that has an unprovoked and illegal invasion of another country? We can't just dismiss that this is important to Europe as well just because they have full terminals. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from West Virginia (Mrs. Miller), my good friend from a neighboring State and a good neighbor.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, there are still protections in place so the President can sanction and not send to any adversaries. What this does is prevent a President from suspending LNG gas exports for some reason at a time when our friends in Europe are literally begging for it, and I know our friends from Japan and Korea are asking for it. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Weber), the vice chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee and my good friend.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Allen), a very valuable member of the Energy and Commerce Committee and my good friend.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from Georgia.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 1949.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, in February 2016, the first cargo of U.S. LNG set sail from the lower 48, making the United States a natural gas exporter for the first time since the 1960s. Since then, exports have increased from 5 billion cubic feet per day in 2016 to nearly 12 billion cubic feet per day in 2024, making the U.S. the global leader in LNG in less than a decade. U.S. LNG has played an undeniably important role in providing affordable, abundant, and clean energy to the world. This could not have been more evident than in 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, disrupting global commodity markets and leaving Europe without secure access to energy. Immediately, for our friends in Europe, U.S. producers began sending cargos of American gas to the Continent to fuel their economies and heat their homes, helping some of our most important global allies and friends. However, in January 2024, the Biden-Harris administration announced an illegal and indefinite ban on new export authorizations, all in the name of vaguely stated climate change goals. Current law is clear. Requiring a statutory presumption in favor of exports are in the public interest. Plus, the vast majority of studies show that not only do LNG exports boost our energy security but they also help maintain low domestic natural gas prices for Americans. The Biden-Harris administration's action not only jeopardized our European allies but it threatened the faith and credibility of American companies' contracts. It emboldened Russia and other nefarious actors and created uncertainty for domestic producers of natural gas. H.R. 1949, the Unlocking Our Domestic LNG Potential Act of 2025, would ensure this catastrophic policy decision is never made again by removing DOE from the statutory authorization process. This legislation maintains the President's authority to impose sanctions on foreign governments, prohibiting imports or exports, if justified. Free trade, open markets, and competitions have resulted in the U.S. emerging as a global energy superpower. Lifting these restrictions will help maintain this dominance at a time it is needed most. Mr. Speaker, I urge all my colleagues to support H.R. 1949. At a meeting a couple of years ago with people at the highest levels of the German Government, they said they needed American LNG gas to rain down on them because of what was going on in Eastern Europe and Ukraine. High natural gas prices around the world fund the Russian Army. That is how they fund their army. It is not that friends are buying from them but, as the world price goes higher, the Russian price goes higher from the people who do choose to buy from them. We are not talking about affecting those people. The President still needs to have the authority. We are talking about our friends and our allies who are dependent on us. I worry about what we do here in our country, but also America cannot cut itself off from the rest of the world and have our friends and allies look elsewhere to other people for the natural gas they need to run their economy. They will do that if we don't step in and do this at this time. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, this bill does nothing to prohibit the President, or whoever is President, from limiting LNG exports, sanctioning China, or tariffing China. There is no limit to that. The people who are begging, I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, for our energy is Europe, who are our friends. I do know from just recently meeting with friends from Japan and Korea they want the natural gas that we have in our great State of Alaska. This is important. The chairman of the Energy Subcommittee is a leader on this issue and has fought for reliable and sustainable energy. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Latta).

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Babin), my good friend.

Mr. GUTHRIE

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor and remember the life of Danny Buckman. A native of Lebanon, Kentucky, Danny Buckman was born on February 2, 1954, to Robert ``Bobby'' Ray and Mary ``Pauline'' Buckman. Danny was a lifelong farmer in Marion County who truly loved what he did--growing corn, soybeans, and tobacco, and raising hogs and beef cattle. Farming wasn't just his work; it was a way of life he took great pride in. He was a devoted husband, father, and grandfather who found great joy in his family. Danny and his wife of 39 years, Sheliah, raised six children--Emily, Olivia, Ben, Katie, Laura, and Elizabeth--and were blessed with two grandchildren, Mia and Finley Ray. Danny was a man of quiet faith and deep roots, a lifelong member of Our Lady of the Hills Catholic Church in Finley, Kentucky. Friends and family often said the same simple and powerful sentiment: ``Danny was a good man.'' One friend put it best--``He may have been a small man, but he was a big man when you needed him to be.'' On August 27, 2025, Danny Buckman passed away at the age of 71. My thoughts and prayers are with his wife, children, grandchildren, and all those who loved him as we remember and celebrate a life so well lived.

Mr. GUTHRIE

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Seth Gold for his service to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio and graduate of The George Washington University for both a Bachelor of Science in Public Health and Master of Public Health--Seth began his career on Capitol Hill as a Health Legislative Assistant for Dr. Michael Burgess (TX-26) in 2016 before moving to the Senate to work as Health Policy Advisor for Senator Rob Portman (OH) in 2017. In May 2021, Seth joined the Subcommittee on Health for the House Committee on Energy and Commerce when I served as Subcommittee Republican Leader, and later Subcommittee Chair, under Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers. During his time under Chair Rodgers and myself, Seth was an invaluable Professional Staff Member and under his leadership--our committee strengthened Medicaid through the Working Families Tax Cuts, which established Medicaid work requirements and expanded home and community-based services to new beneficiaries. After serving two Chairs and three Subcommittee Chairmen, Seth will soon depart Capitol Hill and move to Louisiana to serve as the Policy Director for the Louisiana Department of Health. I wish him the best, congratulate him on his new role, and thank Seth Gold for his service to the House Committee on Energy and United States Congress.

Mr. GUTHRIE

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of my dear friend, Sheriff Jerry ``Peanuts'' Gaines. Sheriff Gaines dedicated his life to serving the Warren County community for nearly half a century. Prior to his service in law enforcement, Sheriff Gaines served our Nation in the United States Army and as a Warren County Magistrate. In 1978, Sheriff ``Peanuts'' Gaines was first elected as Warren County Sheriff, serving until 1982, and then was re-elected, serving from 1987 to 2018. His 41 years of service to our county made him the longest serving sheriff in the history of Kentucky. He was a five-time President of the Kentucky Sheriffs' Association, the 1995 Sheriff of the Year, President of the National Sheriffs' Association and the only Kentucky sheriff to ever serve as President of the Kentucky Association of Counties. Sheriff Gaines was also a founding member of the Kentucky Sheriffs' Association's Boys & Girls Ranch, which has served children in every part of the Commonwealth. I offer my deepest condolences to the Gaines family, the Warren County Sheriff's Office, and to all who had the pleasure of knowing Sheriff Jerry ``Peanuts'' Gaines. His legacy will endure for generations to come. He will be remembered as a stranger to none. He exemplified his kindness and love for people daily. I thank him for selflessly answering the call to serve and devoting his life to making Warren County a better place. His service should inspire us all.

Mr. GUTHRIE

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the birth of Reese Patricia Fritsch. Reese was born on October 7, 2025 at 2:45 P.M. at Luminis Health Anne Arundel Medical Center weighing seven pounds, two ounces and measuring 21 inches long to loving parents Taylor and Kristin Flukey Fritsch, who serves as a valuable member of my team on the Subcommittee on Health for the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. I'm grateful to have Kristin as a part of the Energy and Commerce family, and I'm excited for her and Taylor to start their family with their newest addition.

Mr. GUTHRIE

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Bank of Edmonson County for 100 years of service to its local community. Founded on October 5, 1925, by brothers Jesse, Luther, and David Alexander alongside business paltners George Woodcock and N.E. (Ed) Vincent, this local financial institution has served the residents of Edmonson County well for a century. Their foresight during the 1920's, followed quickly by the trials of the Great Depression, laid the foundation for a community-focused institution that has not only endured but thrived. The Bank of Edmonson County has guided its customers through economic shifts, new technologies, and changing conditions with one main mission in mind: ensuring customers are its highest priority Established with the goal of building a local bank to serve as a pillar of trust and local investment, 100 years later, they continue to focus on supporting Edmonson County and the surrounding area faithfully. From its humble beginnings with just $15,000 in capital, the bank has grown into a $200 million enterprise, with locations in multiple counties in Kentucky. I congratulate the Bank of Edmonson County for its 100 years of service.

Mr. GUTHRIE

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor and congratulate Mr. Stephen D. Austin, Assistant Chief of Army Reserve, on his retirement from the U.S. Army Reserve as a Department of the Army Civilian, Senior Executive Service Tier 3. Mr. Austin's career is a testament to unwavering dedication and distinguished service. Over the course of 26 years in uniform and 19 years as a civilian leader, he has served in positions with increased responsibilities, culminating in his role as Assistant Chief of Army Reserve. A native of Oregon and a proud graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, Mr. Austin has left an indelible mark on the lives of countless Soldiers, Army civilians, and their families. Even after retiring as a Colonel in the U.S. Army, Mr. Austin's passion to serve endured. In June 2015, he returned to the Army Reserve as a member of the Senior Executive Service, where he represented the Army Reserve in the formulation and synchronization of policy and strategy at the national, departmental, and service levels. His leadership has been instrumental in shaping the development of policy, resourcing, and plans that generate, sustain, and integrate Army Reserve capabilities in support of our Nation. Mr. Austin's professionalism, integrity, and tireless commitment to service have been evident in every role he has held. His legacy is one of excellence, and his contributions have strengthened the foundation of our military and its future. I also want to extend my deepest gratitude to his children--Sarah, Grace, Naomi, Camille, and Nate--for their unwavering support throughout his career. The sacrifices made by military families are profound, and their strength and resilience are vital to the success of our armed forces. As Mr. Austin embarks on this next chapter, I wish him and his family a future filled with peace, joy, and well-deserved rest. The United States Army Reserve--and indeed, our Nation--is better because of his service. I thank Steve for his extraordinary career and your enduring commitment to our country.

Mr. GUTHRIE

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Balderson for sponsoring the GRID Power Act. Mr. Speaker, this is part of the strategy we all have to do to produce more power so we can have cheaper power. Demand is rising. We need supply to rise. We need supply of dispatchable power to rise. I do believe in the all of the above. I also believe it is also the best of the above. Dispatchable power is important, and I encourage a ``yes'' vote. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Balderson), my good friend and sponsor of this legislation, who is a leader on the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wittman), who is a good friend of mine and a leader in Congress in energy policies and national security policies and a member of the Committee on Armed Services.