Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have proposed a fossil fuels-friendly bill they are calling the Low Energy Costs Act of 2023. If the bill passes, it will face two major hurdles: the U.S. Senate (where Democrats increased their small effective majority in the 2022 midterms) and Democratic President Joe Biden.
House Democrats who are critical of House Resolution 1, a.k.a. the Low Energy Costs Act of 2023, have another name for it: the "Polluters Over People Act." And one of the progressive Democrats who is being especially vehement in her condemnation is Rep. Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez (D-New York), who began serving her third term in January.
Speaking on the House floor on Tuesday, March 28, AOC declared, "The central argument and logic of this bill is that if you give big oil everything they want, then perhaps they will lower our gas prices. It's a form of trickle-down fantasy that just will not make life easier for everyday Americans."
The Bronx/Queens congresswoman went on to say that fossil fuel companies "already have thousands of unused permits on public lands, and yet, they want even more. This is not a problem of supply, it is a problem of greed and abuse of market power." And she slammed the bill as having "everything that" an "oil lobbyist" could "want."
AOC is not the only well-known Democrat who has been slamming the Low Energy Costs Act. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) has said that if HR1 passes in the House, it will be "dead on arrival" in the U.S. Senate. And Biden has said he would veto HR1 if it went to his desk for approval.
The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has issued a statement condemning HR1 and warning that it "would raise costs for American families by repealing household energy rebates and rolling back historic investments to increase access to cost-lowering clean energy technologies."
OMB warned, "Instead of protecting American consumers, it would pad oil and gas company profits —already at record levels — and undercut our public health and environment."
On March 27, the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) published, on its website, a listicle laying some reasons to oppose the bill — which, according to NPCA, would "gut existing environmental laws" and "worsen climate change."