After abruptly adjourning last week’s Committee on Natural Resources proceedings in the face of Republican calls to address skyrocketing gas prices, today, Chair Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.)resumed advancing Democrats' big cats agenda, disregarding the fact that gas prices have climbed to $5 per gallon in the past week. When Republican members offered amendments to realign the committee’s focus to the current energy crisis facing Americans, Grijalva ended debate and silenced any further discussions.

"As members of the Committee on Natural Resources, we have a particular responsibility to steward America’s resources well," Ranking Member Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) said during the markup. "Part of that responsibility is overseeing our domestic oil and gas production, ensuring it is done sustainably. Yet this year, when America needs domestic energy more than ever before, this committee’s majority has yet to bring a single energy bill to markup. Instead, we spent last week, and now this week, talking about cats...There are ways Congress can and should be addressing this crisis, including incentivizing oil and gas leasing, reopening pipelines, and flipping the switch on American energy dominance. I and my colleagues have legislation introduced and ready to go that would do just that and more. Yet when we tried to refocus this markup on the issues that matter, Mr. Chair, you adjourned the meeting. Now, you’ve had a whole week to come back and include bills that would unlock American resources and provide immediate relief to struggling families. But we’re still talking about cats. That’s not Groundhog Day, that’s just the Democrat agenda."

Background

At the June 8, 2022markup, committee Republicans called attention to the real crises plaguing Americans: skyrocketing energy costs and inflation. After several Republican amendments to address historic gas prices were offered and after nearly two hours of debate, the majority chose to adjourn the markup rather than work together to address the ongoing energy crisis.

Today, rather than turn to the national energy crisis at hand, Democrats reconvened the committee to take up the same slate of legislation, but rather than allow Republican members to offer and debate amendments they had filed with the committee, the chair halted debate and refused to even consider nine additional Republican amendments. These amendments would have shone a spotlight on crises facing millions of Americans and provided real solutions to lower energy prices, such as issuing a five-year oil and gas leasing plan, ensuring the underlying legislation does not increase gas prices, and not increasing dependence on hostile foreign nations to meet our energy needs. Committee Democrats unanimously voted against each American energy proposal, choosing instead to advance their own "priority" agenda: the regulation of pet lions and tigers.