Crossroads GPS supports passage of S. 3445, the Domestic Energy & Jobs Act, a comprehensive package of energy legislation focused on economic growth, job creation, and lowering energy costs for American families and businesses.
The focus of this legislation is to ensure an “all of the above” approach to energy production and to protect American jobs from the overreaching regulations of Washington bureaucrats. It encourages production in oil, gas, coal, wind, solar, and other renewables, while streamlining the permitting process so that new energy development can be brought online quicker. It also allows leasing in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska and accelerates the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, a project estimated to bring 830,000 barrels of oil to U.S. refineries every day. A summary of the legislation is available from its primary Senate sponsor, Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota.
A bipartisan majority of the U.S. House of Representatives passed a similar bill (H.R. 4480) on June 21. However, when that bill arrived in the Senate, Majority Leader Reid refused to take it up. Instead, he buried it in the Senate Energy Committee where it has received no hearings.
With the introduction of a Senate version of this legislation, there is a new opportunity for Senate leadership to take energy policy seriously. This is a comprehensive bill with a broad array of provisions to increase production and grow the economy. Crossroads GPS urges all senators to put politics aside and tackle this pressing national issue with the diligence it deserves.
