House Republicans pass energy bill targeting Biden agenda as debt ceiling talks continue

WASHINGTON – The Republican-controlled House voted Thursday to pass legislation they say would reduce energy costs for families and restore American energy independence.

The bill passed 225-204 along party line votes.

The legislation comes as the GOP negotiates with the Biden administration on raising the United States' borrowing limit as the country is set to default this summer. In a letter House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., sent to to President Joe Biden earlier this week asking to restart budget negotiations, the speaker called for measures to lower energy costs and make America energy independent.

“I would like this to be part of a debt ceiling negotiation," House Majority Leader Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., said Tuesday of the bill.

Republicans say the legislation, dubbed the Lower Energy Costs Act, will reduce energy costs for American families by restoring energy independence. It targets the Biden administration's energy strategy, which the GOP has dubbed a "war on domestic energy production." 

Scalise introduced the legislation. It has nearly 50 Republican cosponsors.

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What's in the bill?

The Lower Energy Costs Act speeds up energy projects, eliminates or reduces certain fees related to developing federal energy resources and removes some funding for incentives to decrease emissions and greenhouse gases.

The bill would also waive environmental review requirements to expedite the development, importation and exportation of energy resources.

The Republican-backed legislation eliminates restrictions on importing and exporting oil and natural gas and prohibits a sitting president from declaring a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, also called fracking, or from restricting or delaying development of energy on federal land.

Other provisions in the bill direct the Department of Interior to conduct sales for the leasing of oil or gas resources on federal lands.

“There is no reason we should be getting energy from foreign countries when we can make it here. Cleaner, more efficient, and at a dramatically lower cost than anywhere else in the world," Scalise said Tuesday.

More: House passes Strategic Production Response Act in GOP effort to limit oil reserve withdrawal

Biden administration: Bill would 'take us backward'

President Joe Biden said he will veto the bill if it comes to his desk in its current form.

According to a statement, the bill will take the country "backward" and replace "pro-consumer policies with a thinly veiled license to pollute," raising costs for families by repealing household energy rebates.

The Biden administration claims the legislation will "pad" oil and gas company profits while undercutting public health.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: House GOP passes bill targeting Biden energy agenda