Posted on Tuesday, February 18, 2025
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by Tayte Christensen
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18 Comments
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After the Biden administration surrendered the hard-won energy independence achieved during President Donald Trump’s first term, the Republican-led House of Representatives is taking action to ensure future Democrat administrations cannot unilaterally cripple the American energy sector.
Earlier this month, the House passed H.R. 26, the “Protecting American Energy Act,” a bill that “prohibits the president from declaring a moratorium on the use of hydraulic fracturing [or fracking] unless Congress authorizes the moratorium.” The move comes after President Joe Biden waged a regulatory war on the oil and gas industry throughout his four years in office. The 46th president targeted fracking operations in particular, which have long been the bane of environmental activist groups.
The legislation, which was sponsored by Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX), passed by a vote of 226-188. All House Republicans voted in favor of the bill, along with 16 Democrats – an unusual (if relatively minor) display of bipartisanship that reflects Democrats’ vulnerability on the issue of rising energy costs.
Pfluger said the bill is vital to Republicans’ efforts to overturn the Biden administration’s energy policies. “When President Biden took office, his administration took a ‘whole of government’ approach to wage war on American energy production, pandering to woke environmental extremists and crippling this thriving industry,” Pfluger said in a statement after the bill passed. “My legislation that passed today is a necessary first step in reversing Biden’s war on energy by preventing the federal government from banning the use of hydraulic fracturing.”
Pfluger represents Texas’ 11th Congressional District, which includes the Permian Basin. The region, which spans West Texas and into southeastern New Mexico, is the highest-producing oil and gas area in the U.S. The basin was a leader in the U.S. shale revolution that popularized fracking and horizontal drilling in the early 2000s.
AMAC Action was an early supporter of the Protecting American Energy Act, with Chairwoman Rebecca Weber writing that the legislation “demonstrates a commitment to safeguarding the American energy industry, which is critical to our economy, national security, and energy independence” in a January 13 letter to Pfluger. “Your legislation… ensures that America remains a reliable energy producer, even as external challenges and misguided federal policies threaten its future,” Weber added.
Other Republican lawmakers have also praised Pfluger’s bill, saying it will secure and create more jobs for American workers and will advance President Trump’s pro-energy policies.
“House Republicans are putting an end to the Democrats’ war on American energy,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said. “Today’s passage of the Protecting American Energy Production Act helps restore American energy dominance and protects the jobs of hardworking men and women.”
Fracking was a major point of contention in the 2024 election, with Kamala Harris’s shifting stance on the practice making headlines. During her ill-fated 2020 campaign, Harris stated there was “no question” she would ban fracking as president. But in 2024, she claimed she had changed her mind and no longer supported a ban.
The Competitive Enterprise Institute notes that “fracking accounts for about half of US crude oil production and about two-thirds of natural gas production.” Furthermore, “natural gas is the source of 43 percent of American electricity generation, and it heats more than 50 percent of homes directly.”
The Protecting American Energy Act now moves to the Senate, where it will need 60 votes to pass. A similar version of the bill, which was introduced in the 118th Congress by Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC), also passed the House in 2024 but died in the upper chamber after then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) refused to bring it up for a vote.
This year, however, the Senate’s landscape looks different and could favor the bill’s passage. With a 53-47 majority, Republicans need just seven Democrats to cross the aisle to vote for the bill. With a number of Senate Democrats facing tough re-election battles next year, supporting American energy production could become a wedge issue that compels liberal members to back the bill, similar to what occurred in the House.
While President Trump has already taken swift executive action to, as he describes it, “unleash American energy,” the Protecting American Energy Act is nonetheless a crucial step to better secure American energy independence. Just as Biden did during his first days in office, a future Democrat president could win the White House and immediately reverse the policies Trump is implementing now.
Congressional action is much more permanent and gives energy companies confidence that their investments in the United States – which create thousands of jobs and deliver cheaper energy to the American people – won’t be immediately undermined should a Democrat win the White House. As such, passing this bill could in the long run be just as important as Trump’s executive actions in securing America’s energy future.
Tayte Christensen is a junior at Hillsdale College studying History and Journalism. You can follow her on X @Tayte_cc.
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