UNLOCKING OUR DOMESTIC LNG POTENTIAL ACT OF 2025

On 2025-11-20, Representative Sean Casten (D-IL-6) delivered a floor speech titled "UNLOCKING OUR DOMESTIC LNG POTENTIAL ACT OF 2025" in the House.

UNLOCKING OUR DOMESTIC LNG POTENTIAL ACT OF 2025

Congressional Record, Volume 171 Issue 196 (Thursday, November 20, 2025) [Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 196 (Thursday, November 20, 2025)] [House] [Pages H4841-H4849] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] UNLOCKING OUR DOMESTIC LNG POTENTIAL ACT OF 2025 Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 879, I call up the bill (H.R. 1949) to repeal restrictions on the export and import of natural gas, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House. The Clerk read the title of the bill. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 879, the bill is considered read. The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 1949 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Unlocking our Domestic LNG Potential Act of 2025''. SEC. 2. ADVANCING UNITED STATES GLOBAL LEADERSHIP. Section 3 of the Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 717b) is amended-- (1) by striking subsections (a) through (c); (2) by redesignating subsections (e) and (f) as subsections (a) and (b), respectively; (3) by redesignating subsection (d) as subsection (c), and moving such subsection after subsection (b), as so redesignated; (4) in subsection (a), as so redesignated, by amending paragraph (1) to read as follows: ``(1) The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (in this subsection referred to as the `Commission') shall have the exclusive authority to approve or deny an application for authorization for the siting, construction, expansion, or operation of a facility to export natural gas from the United States to a foreign country or import natural gas from a foreign country, including an LNG terminal. In determining whether to approve or deny an application under this paragraph, the Commission shall deem the exportation or importation of natural gas to be consistent with the public interest. Except as specifically provided in this Act, nothing in this Act is intended to affect otherwise applicable law related to any Federal agency's authorities or responsibilities related to facilities to import or export natural gas, including LNG terminals.''; and (5) by adding at the end the following new subsection: ``(d)(1) Nothing in this Act limits the authority of the President under the Constitution, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), part B of title II of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 6271 et seq.), the Trading With the Enemy Act (50 U.S.C. 4301 et seq.), or any other provision of law that imposes sanctions on a foreign person or foreign government (including any provision of law that prohibits or restricts United States persons from engaging in a transaction with a sanctioned person or government), including a country that is designated as a state sponsor of terrorism, to prohibit imports or exports. ``(2) In this subsection, the term `state sponsor of terrorism' means a country the government of which the Secretary of State determines has repeatedly provided support for international terrorism pursuant to-- ``(A) section 1754(c)(1)(A) of the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 4318(c)(1)(A)); ``(B) section 620A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2371); ``(C) section 40 of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2780); or ``(D) any other provision of law.''. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The bill shall be debatable for 1 hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce or their respective designees. The gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Guthrie) and the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) each will control 30 minutes. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Kentucky. {time} 1350 General Leave 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. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Kentucky? There was no objection. 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. [[Page H4842]] 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. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this bill. This bill would allow unlimited amounts of our liquefied natural gas, or LNG, to be sent abroad to any designation in the world including to our adversaries like China. This is all about China. The President gets up on a regular basis and says we need to export more LNG to China. My Republican colleagues say they worry about Beijing and what Beijing is doing to challenge us. Yet, they are going to allow with this bill unlimited exports to Communist China. By sending more American LNG abroad, this bill would reduce our energy resources at home, raising our constituents' utility bills at a time when they can least afford it. It just makes common sense that if we send liquefied natural gas abroad, it is going to raise the price here because there will be less here. It is just Economics 101, in my opinion. Americans are already being crushed by the rising cost of living. Now Republicans are making matters worse by pushing legislation that will only drive up monthly power bills even further. It is quite the departure from President Trump's campaign promise to cut American power bills in half. He said that during the course of the campaign that in the first year he would cut power bills in half. Instead, they keep climbing. Right now, thanks to the congressional Republicans' backward energy policies, electricity prices are climbing more than twice as fast as inflation. More than 80 million Americans are struggling to pay their utility bills, with many having to make the impossible choice of either paying for medicine and food or keeping their lights on. I think it is a disgrace that, instead of offering up solutions to this affordability crisis, Republicans are here today to just make it worse. Let's be clear, Mr. Speaker. It is a well-established fact that unlimited LNG exports would increase prices here at home. If my colleagues don't believe me, last year the Secretary of Energy noted: ``Unfettered exports of LNG would increase wholesale domestic natural gas prices by over 30 percent.'' Mr. Speaker, if you are a Republican who perhaps didn't trust the Democratic Department of Energy, I would certainly assume you could trust your own current Department of Energy. Just last week, the Energy Information Administration noted that it expects natural gas prices to increase by 16 percent next year due largely to increased exports of LNG. Mr. Speaker, 16 percent is on top of the 15 percent increase in natural g

Referenced legislation: HRES879, HRES879, HR1949