WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) issued the following statement after voting for S.J.Res.10, a joint resolution to terminate President Trump’s “national energy emergency.”

“Let’s make one thing clear: Trump invented an energy emergency to justify giving a blank check to Big Oil companies to do whatever they want. This is nothing more than a pretext for his “drill, baby, drill” agenda. In reality, we’re producing more energy in the United States than at any other point in history. And while people in Hawai‘i and nationwide are struggling with high costs, it’s Trump who is actively trying to create a shortage and raise costs by throttling the development of clean energy which has been growing at a record pace.

“Should Trump and the Republicans ever get serious about addressing our most pressing energy challenges – modernizing and expanding our grid to bring reliable energy at a low cost to all Americans – we stand ready and willing to legislate. But a reckless buildout of fossil fuel projects to the benefit of Big Oil executives and at the expense of everyday Americans – at a time when communities are increasingly being decimated and people are dying as result of extreme weather – is not that.”

As part of his Day One executive orders, President Trump declared a “national energy emergency” that aims to expedite the development of primarily fossil fuel projects. That, coupled with his illegal freezing of federal funding and halting of permits for wind and solar projects – our cheapest sources of energy – threaten to raise energy costs and eliminate hundreds of thousands of jobs spurred by the investments Democrats made in the Inflation Reduction Act.

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