WORK HIGHLIGHTS OF WESTERN CAUCUS

On 2025-03-27, Representative Julie Fedorchak (R-ND) delivered a floor speech titled "WORK HIGHLIGHTS OF WESTERN CAUCUS" in the House. The speech addressed the economy and also covered the environment, foreign policy.

WORK HIGHLIGHTS OF WESTERN CAUCUS

Congressional Record, Volume 171 Issue 56 (Thursday, March 27, 2025) [Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 56 (Thursday, March 27, 2025)] [House] [Pages H1325-H1330] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] WORK HIGHLIGHTS OF WESTERN CAUCUS (Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Mr. LaMalfa of California was recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.) Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak here as we conclude the week. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to take the time today to highlight some of the work that we are doing in the Western Caucus, made up of over 90 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives. I have been privileged to become the chair of that group this year. Chairing the caucus, I get to bring up a lot of key issues on the floor and kind of illustrate to the people who are watching and wish to pay attention how important the issues are that we are taking up and continue to advance while working with the Trump administration. One of the cornerstones, indeed, is energy. We call ourselves the Western Caucus, but the issues are a little beyond the Western States. Indeed, they are rural issues. They are issues that affect all of our States and the opportunity to strengthen our entire economy with what we have available in the Western States and in rural areas. Indeed, our oil and our energy come from many, many parts of the country. The original oil patch was actually in western Pennsylvania. The Western Caucus is less about maybe what the real estate is, but more about the concepts of advancing rural issues and the ability to extract resources and to utilize resources in an ecologically sound way. We are all about that, too. The U.S. gets a bad reputation sometimes that people who are in these industries are misconstrued by environmental groups and such as being against the environment and against doing things properly. The bottom line on that topic is that unleashing American energy and our mineral resources, strengthening agriculture, and tackling the real challenges facing our country, like the devastating wildfires in the West, are key issues that the Western Caucus faces. One of the things that can help with some of these issues will be modernizing the Endangered Species Act that has been around for over 50 years, and I see the futility as it is interpreted these days in layer after layer of court decisions and lawsuits that basically just hamper the ability for us to do the things we need to do to have stronger energy availability and have the other resources that are key to a strong economy for our country and not import all of these products. Indeed, with the goals set out, at least by some, to have further electricity usage for appliances, which we have talked about this week on this floor, there is requirements. There is people being mandated to change what their appliances are powered by. When you have a gas-powered stove, gas water heater, and on and on with mandates, whether it is my home State of California or has come through the previous Biden administration, this has taken away consumer choices and taken away the best choice for a lot of people for how to power these devices. That extends also to automobiles, trucks. If you have it, a truck brought it. That is an important aspect to remember, as well, is that just by merely sweeping away the ability to have gasoline and diesel, as California is doing and that they are trying to do and that the Federal Government had been doing until the end of the Biden administration, that is going to cost a lot. It is going to make it a lot less convenient and a lot more difficult to get raw materials and products from where they are created to where they are needed. The Endangered Species Act is part of the issue that needs to be modernized, as well as getting over the lawsuits and litigation that is used as a weapon, whether it is by Federal agencies or by so-called NGOs or environmental groups. We have been working in this Chamber, as I mentioned, this week to help deliver solutions to lower energy costs, cut red tape, and reverse the Biden administration's relentless overreach, from blocking costly energy efficiency mandates on consumer products to stopping unnecessary restrictions on American manufacturing and energy production. We want these things to be manufactured here by American workers, using American technology, American efficiency, and the cleanliness that comes with it. We are much more efficient and much cleaner than what happens in Chinese manufacturing. Our natural gas that we use in this country is actually cleaner than Russian natural gas. We should be exporting more of that to Europe and helping them out instead of them becoming dependent on the long reputation we have had with Russia there. When we are talking about these overreaches by government by these regulations, it really drives up prices, burdens businesses, and makes us more dependent on foreign products, foreign energy, et cetera. Let's restore American energy dominance, support these industries that put food on the table, clothing on our backs, and shelter above us. We should support them to make our country stronger and more independent. We will push back against the policies that are failing and harming rural America. Mr. Speaker, I look forward to hearing from my colleagues, some of whom will be joining me during this time here, and what they are working on as part of our Western Caucus partnership here. I see a couple of my colleagues have arrived here. I would like to recognize, if the gentlewoman is ready, my executive vice chair. The gentlewoman from Utah (Ms. Maloy) is with us here--I am pleased to have her as a partner and friend on the Western Caucus--to inform us on the issues that are particular to Utah, but also the Western States, as well. I am really, really pleased that she has stepped up to be in this role here, and I appreciate her quite a bit. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Utah (Ms. Maloy). Ms. MALOY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I am grateful for the opportunity to be here today, and I commend my colleagues in the Western Caucus for their unwavering dedication to preserving the values and livelihoods of rural America, the Western States, and our Western values that we both represent. I will highlight today three pieces of legislation that I have introduced. One of them addresses abuses of the Antiquities Act, one of them addresses the inefficiencies and unfairness of our permitting system, and the other one addresses the need to get geothermal energy up and going more quickly and more efficiently. Mr. Speaker, I will start with the Antiquities Act. For decades, the executive branch, Presidents of the United States, mostly Democrats, have used the Antiquities Act of 1906 to designate vast areas as national monuments, and that is in an authority that we delegated to them in the Antiquities Act of 1906. The abuse of that narrow delegated authority has resulted in restricted access to lands, hindered economic opportunities, and it has left local voices unheard and frustrated. In my district, the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument was created by Bill Clinton in 1996, over the objections of Utah's Governor, Utah's Federal delegation, and local, county, and State- elected officials. Those frustrations and scars and wounds have not healed in the years that have passed since then. Mr. Speaker, my Ending Presidential Overreach on Public Lands Act ensures that the decisions of this magnitude affecting public lands are made collaboratively, respecting the role of Congress with our jurisdiction over public land, and taking input from local voices. It should be Congress that makes those widespread, large-scale land management decisions. Mr. Speaker, the next one I will talk about is the FREE Act, which encourages agencies to look at the permits they issue and determine which ones can be done by permit by rule, which means they have a predetermined list of requirements for a permit and firm timelines on making those decisions. An applicant can bring an agency everything on that list, and the agency can either say: Yes, this is adequate for [[Page H1326]] a permit, and issue the permit, or say: No, it is not adequate for a permit, and give the applicant what they need to do to remedy that so that we can have quicker permitting, especially on infrastructure projects. Right now, it takes years and millions of dollars to permit infrastructure projects, especially in States like Utah, where most of the land is managed by the Federal Government and everything we do has to go through multiple layers of Federal processes. Lastly, the GEO Act addresses the time that it takes to permit geothermal energy projects. Geothermal energy is abundant in Utah. We are leading out in a lot of ways on developing new geothermal resources. Yet, the time it takes to get the permit to build a geothermal plant is prohibiting us from developing some of the resources and getting clean, reliable baseload power online that this country needs now and will need even more in the future. {time} 1230 These three bills are not all of my bills, but I wanted to highlight those three today because they are about safeguarding public lands, fostering economic growth, and empowering our communities. They are about letting ranchers, families, small businesses, and entrepreneurs benefit from thoughtful and responsive government as opposed to government that drowns out their voices and ignores their needs. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support these measures, which offer pragmatic solutions to real challenges in Utah, throughout the West, and throughout the whole country. Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, I thank Ms. Maloy for her remarks. I appreciate it. Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the gentlewoman a little bit about the Antiquities Act be