Senator Scott Urges Biden Administration to Leave Politics Out of American Energy Production

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) joined Senators Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C), Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and 34 of their Senate Republican colleagues in calling on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to conduct a fair and unbiased review of recently announced oil and gas mergers. The senators’ letter to the FTC exposes Senate Democrats’ false claims surrounding several critical U.S. energy development projects, expresses concerns that eliminating these private sector energy initiatives will raise costs for Americans, and urges the Biden administration not to weaponize a political agenda against energy production.

Last year, Senate Democrats attacked private sector efforts to increase energy production in a request to the FTC, calling on it to investigate these major energy acquisitions by citing misleading and false allegations. Progressives have also urged the FTC to abuse its authority by arguing investigations must be used to stop these companies from discrediting “climate science,” “subverting our democratic processes,” and “frustrate self-governing” through more oil and gas production. 

“On November 1, 2023, twenty-three Senate Democrats sent you a letter ‘urg[ing] you to Investigate’ the recently announced oil and gas mergers.’ We write to urge the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to follow the law and the facts in its review of the recently announced oil and gas industry mergers. As is the case with any merger review, including those in the industrial sector, mergers must be assessed under a fair and unbiased standard grounded in sound economics and law that protects American consumers, and does not impose policy preferences to further political ends,” the senators wrote to FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan. 

“It is precisely because these transactions will produce more oil and gas that our Democratic colleagues oppose them. Such actions, according to our colleagues, are ‘subverting our democratic processes’ and ‘frustrate self-governing.’ However, our colleagues offer no similar hyperbole about the recent unilateral actions of the Biden administration to raise energy costs, limit competition, and reduce investment and access for the U.S. oil and gas industry. Instead, it appears Senate Democrats view antitrust enforcement as an opportunity to impose the same anti- fossil fuel policy preferences to the detriment of the American people – policy preferences that Congress has not authorized the Federal Trade Commission to regulate,” the senators continued.

“We respectfully request that the FTC conduct a fair and unbiased review of these mergers that is rooted in the facts, economic realities, and precedent. The oil and gas industry (like any other industry) should not be subject to unfair investigations or heightened antitrust scrutiny in order to further a political agenda that seeks the end of fossil fuel production. We expect the Commission to exercise its authorities with adherence to the rule of law and respect for due process, not partisan pressures and policy preferences,” the senators concluded.

This letter was also signed by Senators Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), John Cornyn (R-Texas), John Thune (R-S.D.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Todd Young (R-Ind.), John Kennedy (R-La.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), Ted Budd (R-N.C.), JD Vance (R-Ohio), Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), and Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.).

Read the letter in full here.

BACKGROUND

Senator Scott has defended American energy dominance and lower energy costs for Americans by:

• Sending a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen expressing serious concern over the $110 billion in proposed tax increases on the production of oil, gas, and coal in the Biden administration’s fiscal year 2025 federal budget;
• Introducing the Unlocking Domestic LNG Potential Act, which depoliticizes the export of American liquefied natural gas (LNG), unleashes America’s abundant natural resources, bolsters sour energy independence, and safeguards our national security;
• Championing the Protecting America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) from China Act, which would strengthen our energy security by prohibiting the sale of American crude oil from the SPR to any company under Chinese Communist Party (CCP) control and bar the exportation of SPR crude oil to China;
• Advocating for the Energy Security Cooperation with Allied Partners in Europe (ESCAPE) Act to weaken Russia’s ability to influence our European allies by promoting energy independence;
• Championing the Promoting Domestic Energy Production Act, which would allow companies to consider intangible drilling costs (IDCs) when calculating taxable income, lower energy production costs, and create savings for American families;
• Urging the Environmental Protection Agency to withdraw the unlawful “Clean Power Plan 2.0.,”  which effectively shuts down affordable and reliable energy, intensifying the energy shortage the United States is already facing;
• Championing the Pay Less at the Pump Act to lower energy prices for Americans by repealing the Inflation Reduction Act’s reinstatement of the $10.5 billion “Superfund Tax” on crude oil and imported petroleum products; and
• Calling on President Biden to reclaim American energy independence by approving the Keystone XL Pipeline and opening up federal lands to energy producers to increase domestic energy production.