That is not sound policy. Texans like me say, that aint very smart. It hurts American Energy and is an abuse of federal power. That stings local communities that need energy for economic growth. Like wooi likewise, blocking Safe Pipeline Development in protest is not rational governance. We must reign in what i call the enterprise prevention agency, the e. P. A. Im thrilled that President Trump announced his new administrator for epa, our attorney general from the north, scott pruitt. My friends will have a horse to ride to get this thing turned around. White cheap natural gas has been a factor in the decline of coal power, the work from day one to find creative new ways to change the Clean Air Act to close down coal plants. Their Clean Power PlanClimate Change rule didnt stretch the law. It smashed the law. No surprise the Supreme Court agreed. Despite those liberal attacks, coal is still a big part of our power grid. In texas, my own state, coal is just a bit behind natural gas. In the last eight years, weve seen obama, e. P. A. Misuse the Clean Air Act to shut down an industry and abate states right on retail policy. Going forward, they must be written with a balance between Public Health benefits, real, Real Technology and economic impasse, jobs. I know yalls blood boils like mine when liberals who support epas trdrastic actions claim republicans dont care about our children or our environment. Thats a load of texas bull. We are the party, through teddy roosevelt, the international we are the party, sportsmen, who would love the open space and the outdoors. We are the party that cleaned up the smog i breath as a child in houston in 1972 so my daughter and son, our kids, can breath clean air that hits epa standards today. We have to have rational, common sense regulations and sensible laws. And we will not pass it on to our kids and grandkids that resemble the days where the cayuga river was on fire or smog filled the air across houston, texas. I believe we can find that balance and that has to be part of our mission for the 115th congress. Yall asked me to address Climate Change. Well, the Climate Change, says the book of genesis, i dont believe that humans are about to destroy our earth. You wont see the Commerce Committee advance a sweeping cap and tax bill. I think it is the wrong policy that would give great consequences to local communities from main street to wall street. To quote a freeloving texan, my first boss on capitol hill, United States senator, phil gramm, graham, a cap and tax bil is deader than elvis. However, our carbon missions, there are free market approaches which are worth talking about. One, rocks solid approach is to produce more American Natural Gas those who protest more natural gas are raging hypocrites. They forget the same pipes they fear are the ones that help get clean gas to the market and dramatically cut our Carbon Emissions in the last few years. There are also the renewables. The wind industry talks about how they are cost competitive. Really . Really . They are often located far from population centers. They will work, unless we have recent returns, at the federal level. In my home state of texas, we are number one america for production. Because, as a state, we have improved how we get that energy to market. In fact, we have one day recently where over half of our Power Production came from wind power but there had to be a free market and those subsidies have to end. Na that is a conservative response to liberals who want to throw this at nobles with no end. I do not support, like yall, d. C. Picking winners and losers, specially on energy policy. We need to get the feds out of the way and let the free market take over. P we should look at combining permitting with gas piping at the same time. It shouldnt be so darn costly. We have energy all across our country, all forms of energy should be able to get to market without the federal government throwing up roadblocks. Lets make sure that Nuclear Power has a way forward. We have to give that industry longterm storage and reuse p with fuel options. They need to know, people do, that the nrc will keep the public safe without adding layer upon layer of new costs that make those plants uncompetitive. We often make sure that the nrc is nimble in approving new reactor designs. Get the government out of the way and lets have what i call an energy cage match. May the best man win. And while were improving the flow of gas at home, we have to open up the markets to American Natural Gas and american natural oil. We keep getting on the cusps of fixing the natural gas act but fail to cross the finish line. Its time to get that done. Exporting natural gas creates goodpaying american jobs and helps our allies abroad. Expensive, expensive, russian gas if from Vladmir Putin strangles our Eastern European nato allies and the sheikhs in opec still control the Global Market and this control hurts beacons of freedom in bad neighborhoods, beacons like japan, like south korea, like india, who need our low cost energy for their security and ours. On electricity issues, congressional oversight doesnt end at the Clean Air Act. For too long, we have ignored the federal power act. The ferc is a sleepily sounding group by their impact on our electricity is tremendous. They oversee the markets, monitor our change of power generation, shape our grid. They interact with states as a modernized lec trisity sector. We start oversight hearings and that has to continue with the 115th congress. Congress does not have all the answers nor should it. If it did, i would be very, very scared. But i hope that new, conservative majorities in congress m can partner with the new Trump Administration to get these mr. Questions done right. American democracy and American Free trade p have i have been go more freedom to more people m in the worlds history than all of our wars combined. Free market principles guide us in a way that preserves our way of life, keeps our lights on and passes a booming economy on to our kids and grandkids with an environment we can be proud of. In closing, thank you very much m. Go, Navy Beat ArmyMerry Christmas to yall. Thank you. Questions, guys . Ill start off real quick. I wanted you to react to this. This is dan pfeiffer tweeting last night. Dan pfeiffer was the millennial speech writer for president obama. He says, at the risk of being dram matt if i can, scott pruitt at epa is an es sen tigs threat to the planet. What does a scott pruitt appointment mean for the future . It is common sense again. It basically means that d. C. Loses power. It goes back to the state. He fought that oklahoma, fought, fought, fought with our governor, greg abbott, our attorney general, our attorney general, ken paxton. Im excited. I hate to quote phil gramm over an over. The fact that those guys are attacking mr. Pruitt. He would say, hey, my friend, scott, if people aint saying bad things about you, you doing something wrong. Guess what, my friends. He is doing something right. I am excited to have him come before our committee and say things that i want him to say, like, lets involve American Energy. Lets have clean water, clean air. Lets not stagnate. Lets grow and make the world a better place, help allies, hurt bad guys. We can do a lot of things with the new Trump Administration and scott up there as the epa administrator and majorities in the house and senate. Yes. We have heard some talk today about the reigns act. The problem is that it will be repealed with the next proliberal congress and whatever other things they have in mind. Have you thought about supporting the regulation freedom amendment, the constitutional version of the reigns act which has been endorsed by the rnc and the American Farm bureau and in the republican platform . I have thought about that. We have talked br the reigns act. Right now, we want mr. Trump in there. He told us in late july, that comes to my desk, ill sign it. That means now the accept nat h senate has to act. Once we do that, lets make this permanent. We wont have the white house forever. Make sure a democrat or a liberty gets in there, that stays on forever. Thats a constitutional amendment. Thats really important. That gives d. C. A voice. If an executive order crosses the threshold in terms of jobs or cost, we can say yea or nay. It dies until we approve it. Opt out. Thats awesome. Thats the constitution. Now, mine is much more worn than his. Mine is very special. Who signed my constitution . John hancock. It is not the john hancock from greatwood but ben county. He has signed my constitution. Thats great. What can the Trump Administration do with the pipelines, the Keystone Pipeline, and access . I might trauk alk to mr. Trud say, lets pass keystone, asap. The whole federal apparatus except for the white house. Mrs. Clinton, twice, mr. Kerry, once, all the states along the Pipeline Route said we are good to go. People forget, thats a keystone xl pipeline that caused the problems. There is a Keystone Pipeline thats been falling off from the tar sands to our country since 2007. 500,000 Barrels Per Day coming along the same route going to illinois. The Keystone Pipeline creates good paying american jobs. We all know that. It makes us less dependant upon oil we cant control from opec or russia. It helps out an ally. One thing im going to propose, too, is how about this idea, instead of opec, how about napek, north american patrol for exporting countries, three of us, our neighbor to the north, us, and mexico. Dont forget about mexico. Exciting, new president there wants to go private. He has got our guys down there working. They will be pushed to the side. They will be the dominant play are. They have a lot of oil and gas doup there. Offshore, the gulf of mexico. Onshore, have you heard of the Eagle Ford Shale plate in my home state. It goes all the way down to the border. It is only natural gas, so it doesnt have to have a visa to cross the rio grande. It is there in mexico. Lets help them tap that. We can trust them. Right now, you guys, the guys that got the thing stopped to build a pipeline from mexico to west texas, they are coming down to spread their ill will in my home state. They wont be successful. We have to keep up the fight. These guys are going to come and come and come. Again, with our new epa administrator, the guy is going to be anal ply ally as opposed opponent. I have a question to take some of the pressures off the miners . That is a real bear to kill because the corn lobby is very powerful. It comes down to ethanol. A colleague from illinois, the corn state, he supports it. We have had some talks about that. We cant come to agreement. But there is good news out there. Again, another quote from phil gramm. Facts are little persistent things. The facts are Getting Better and better. Groups that support Climate Change, fear Climate Change, hydrocarbons are saying ethanol makes it worse. It does. The same is all the same. Upstream, get that corn to market. Man, you are driving tractors, having fertilizer, all these missions. It is even worse. So hopefully, and thats a big hope, because they dont have common sense, liberals will say, we should support getting rid of ethanol. It is making the planet worse. Then, on the flip side of that, hey, guys, how about more in Nuclear Power. Guess what . Zero hydrocarbons from Nuclear Power. It is really, really safe. But, of course, as i mentioned, my comments, what happened in japan, came across the pacific through the Obama Administration to wipe out new Nuclear Power. Again, we are hitting people with the facts, as phil gramm says, just feed people the facts, the fact s, the facts. Maf American People are smart. Once they get the facts, they will get it right every time. Thats our mission. Please join me in thanking congressman olson for his remarks today. We are going to take a short break now, about 20 minutes. The next panel will start at 11 00 a. M. Thank you all. Ladies and gentlemen, how is the day going so far . Pretty cool, huh . Cool. Thats a great word. Okay. Well, it is my distinct honor to introduce your next