Barrasso to Sec. Yellen: Biden Admin is Weaponizing the Tax Code Against American Energy Producers

Hearing

“I just came from the Energy Committee where we're discussing energy for America, which is affordable, available, and reliable for the American people.

Energy producers in my home state of Wyoming and across the country are facing a whole of government assault from this administration on that component of energy.

President Biden has shown time and time again that he's going to use every tool at his disposal to target the American energy industry.

He's making life very difficult for the men and women who are working to provide American families and our allies with affordable, available, reliable energy.

President Biden has recently banned leases for oil and gas. He's halted permitting of natural gas pipelines and storage facilities.

Last month, he announced a new export ban on liquefied natural gas. And once again, the Biden administration is proposing more than $110 billion in new tax increases on energy production.

My former colleague, Mike Enzi, used to always talk about a book. It was called ‘Hidden America.’ It says, from coal miners to cowboys, there are people who keep the lights on and who keep food on the table – people that many, many Americans don't see, don't know about, and the impact that they have on their lives.

This tax proposal that you and the president have come across is going to deny our energy producers the ability to recover costs associated with production.

Your proposal repeals necessary and ordinary deductions that give producers parity to every other business, large and small, in America.

To me, the tax code is being weaponized. Under your policies, many energy companies would cease to exist.

These are the very companies that keep the lights on in our homes, that put gas in our cars, provide the building blocks for materials that go into everyday products.

So what would you say to the small energy producer in Wyoming, for example, who is concerned that they're not going to be able to continue to operate if they can't deduct these expenses?

As you are well aware, emissions in the United States have been down, and down, and down, and down, and down over the last 15-20 years, and what's happening elsewhere around the world is that emissions are going up.

I would say that we're all trying to make energy as clean as we can as fast as we can — and to do it in ways that don't raise costs for consumers, because they're the ultimate deciders about how our country is governed, how we rule, and how we move forward.

This morning, I sent a letter to you and your department signed by 24 senators, I'm sure you haven't seen it yet, on the energy tax proposals — which I believe are disastrous.

Chairman Wyden, I ask unanimous consent to include this into the record. The letter outlines concerns about the tax proposals on oil, natural gas, coal producers we have been discussing.

I just want to give you a chance to clarify your energy tax proposals. In the Treasury Green Book, the summary of the administration's tax proposal says 'these oil, gas and coal preferences encourage more investment in the fossil fuel sector that would occur under a neutral system. This market distortion is detrimental to the long-term energy security.'

Do you believe that oil, natural gas and coal production is detrimental to energy security in the United States? Because I think you just said it is… It sounded to me like you were saying that additional coal production and oil and gas is detrimental to our country.”

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