Congressional Republicans reacted angrily Monday following President Joe Biden’s action to block offshore drilling on most U.S. waters, and vowed to overturn it.
Lawmakers dismissed the move as an eleventh-hour attempt to gum up President-elect Donald Trump’s energy agenda, which is focused on a promise to dramatically boost oil and natural gas production.
But how Republicans will reverse Biden’s directive remains to be seen. The same goes for how united the party will be on the matter.
“No disrespect for the president, but he’s out,” said Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy (R). “When you’re out, you’re out; when you’re in, you’re in. He needs to go back home to Delaware and have a bowl of Cream of Wheat,” Kennedy said, a reference to Biden’s advanced age.
“President Biden’s energy policy from Day One has been for political reasons, and I think in his mind environmental reasons, to have America forfeit its independence with respect to energy.”
More than a dozen Republicans expressed sentiments in similarly derisive ways.
“This is Joe Biden’s final insult to American families,” John Barrasso of Wyoming, the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, said in a statement. “This decision will harm our nation’s energy security and hardworking energy workers across the country.”
Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas), referring to last year’s election, said, “On the way out, they have done some of the most irresponsible things, and it’s directly against the mandate that we got on Nov. 5.”
“I couldn’t think of something that was less statesman, less presidential and less fitting of somebody who has claimed to be a statesman for almost 50 years in government. It’s very disappointing.”
And Rep. Julie Fedorchak (R-N.D.), a freshman and new member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, wrote on X, “To the very end, President Biden is putting special interests before the needs of the American people.”
‘Use every tool’
Biden acted Monday to indefinitely block oil and gas drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, off the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and in much of the United States’ corner of the Arctic Ocean — totaling 625 million acres.
Trump quickly promised to undo the ban, to which Mike Lee, the new chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, responded on social media: “Good.”
Trump is unlikely to be able to overturn the limits on his own, since the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act does not explicitly allow for it.
One option for congressional Republicans is through the budget reconciliation process, which they’re using to advance their initial agenda in the coming weeks.
“In the 119th Congress, we will use every tool, including reconciliation, to restore and unleash these revenues, fueling conservation, coastal resilience and energy independence, and ensuring America — not OPEC, Russia or China — leads the world,” said House Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.).
Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) said he’d sponsor a bill to make sure Trump can reverse the withdrawal. “I’ll be introducing legislation ensuring President Trump can swiftly overturn this action and unleash American energy dominance,” Higgins wrote on X.
Lawmakers have discussed the possibility of using the Congressional Review Act, but it’s unclear whether the law to undo administration rules can be used in this case.
It’s also unclear whether Republicans will have enough votes to overturn the Biden action. Blocking offshore drilling in places like Florida has been popular with both parties.
Barrasso said, “Republicans will reverse this outrageous decision and unleash America’s energy resources as soon as possible.”
Democrats cheer
Democrats celebrated the new restrictions, and the House Natural Resources Committee’s new ranking member, Jared Huffman of California, said the action would be permanent.
“Importantly, today’s action is Trump-proof; the courts have already defended the 12(a) authority against previous attacks,” he said. “We know the president-elect will do everything in his power to enact his ‘drill baby drill’ agenda, but fortunately for us all, handing our oceans over to Big Oil billionaires will be off the table.”
Some Democrats had been pushing for years for an indefinite protection from drilling for certain areas, like California Rep. Salud Carbajal.
“The Central Coast knows all too well the damage and devastation that can come from an oil spill. That’s why I made it my mission from my first bill in Congress to permanently ban offshore drilling off our coast,” he said in a statement. “And with President Biden’s help today, this goal is now reality.”
At least one Republican was in limited agreement with Biden. Florida Sen. Rick Scott, along with most of his state’s leaders, has fought for years against drilling near Florida’s coast, including in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic. Trump put a temporary halt to potential drilling there in 2020, but Biden’s action extends that.
“I don’t believe we ought to be doing drilling in the Gulf, probably the most important reason is it’s the biggest training zone for our military, I think in the country,” Scott told POLITICO’s E&E News. “So I think it’s very important to preserve that area for training.”
Reporters Andres Picon and Emma Dumain contributed.
This story also appears in Energywire.
