Chairman Burgess Opening Remarks on H.R. 6192, 7109, 2925, H.J. Res. 109

As prepared for delivery

Good afternoon.

The Biden Administration has taken every opportunity to strengthen the controlling and stifling grip they have on America. Indeed, their expanse of the regulatory state is only outmatched by their radicalism. From the energy sector to home loans, this administration used red tape and Executive authority to realize the goals of woke activists at the expense of everyday Americans.

President Biden co-opted the vision of anti-energy radicals-even before he entered office-when he vowed to "end fossil fuel" amidst thunderous applause. His administration made good on that promise to wage a war on energy. They canceled the Keystone XL pipeline, halted court-ordered offshore lease sales, and paused exports of liquefied natural gas. Everyday Americans and energy-producing states, like Texas, continue to pay the price for this administration's outright hostility towards the very means by which we unlocked modern life.

The President also made proponents of woke redistributive schemes happy when his administration advanced a set of mandates that punished creditworthy home buyers and forced them to subsidize riskier loans. A January 2023 Federal Housing Finance Agency directive increased fees for half of all borrowers with credit scores over 680, while decreasing fees for 90 percent of those under 680. Nearly 19 out of 20 Americans have scores above the 680 threshold.

That action sent a clear message which wasn't lost on middle-class Americans. If you work hard and pay your debts, the Biden Administration wants you to subsidize the mortgages of those who didn't make the same sacrifices that you did. That's the opposite of the American Dream.

Suffice to say, Americans are keenly aware of the marching orders President Biden gave his administration: 1) embrace fringe ideas, 2) fervently thrust them on the populace, and 3) leave them with the consequences. House Republicans will do everything we can to disrupt his cycle of nonsense.

It's why we're here today.

The Biden Administration has also exhibited a disturbing trend of surrendering to Green New Deal devotees to the detriment of everyday people. They put internal combustion engines and gas stoves-tools households across the country depend on-in their regulatory crosshairs.

Now, the Biden Department of Energy is acting outside the scope of its authority to pursue a woke energy conservation agenda that harms American consumers. For example, their recent efficiency standards for residential clothes washers will increase the already high-cost of such appliances while, according to their own analysis, saving American families as little as nine dollarsover the average lifetime of the appliance.

H.R. 6192, the Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act, will cut to the heart of President Biden's zealous regulatory agenda. The bill reforms the Department of Energy's procedures for issuing energy efficiency standards by prohibiting the Secretary of Energy from prescribing any new or amended energy conservation standard for a product that is not technologically feasible and economically justified.

But the Biden Administration's efforts to expand the nanny state isn't just limited to the home. In 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued guidance which would make it economically impractical for a company to hold a customer's cryptocurrency. They took an opportunity to reduce confusion and turned it into new policy-all while limiting the ability of two consenting parties to engage in a financial transaction. That's the definition of big government.

H.J. Res. 109 provides for the Congressional disapproval of the SEC's attempt to disguise new policy as "guidance." It also reasserts this chamber's authority in the rule-making process.

In the same spirit, we will revisit H.R. 2925, the Mining Regulatory Clarity Act. The destructive efforts of the Executive Branch have also been aided by allies in the Judicial Branch. In 2022, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit's Rosemont decision upended 40 years of mining regulatory precedent and over a century of interpretation of the Mining Law of 1872. We cannot let radical environmentalists and ivory tower judges dictate whether American energy will uplift American communities. H.R. 2925 will right the wrongs of the Rosemont decision.

Additionally, the Committee will consider H.R. 7109, the Equal Representation Act. For far too long, noncitizens have been included in the calculations that determine the apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives and the distribution of presidential electors. They're not able to vote but as it stands now, their very presence can have an outsized effect and unfairly skew federal representation away from American citizens.

What's more, President Biden's self-inflicted border crisis has added a disturbing angle to this issue. States and localitiessympathetic to the President's agenda-particularly so called "sanctuary" jurisdictions-are poised to directly benefit.

This isn't hyperbole and its only getting worse. Since President Biden took office, there have been over 9.2 million illegal crossings. That number exceeds the populations of 39 states. You heard that correctly. On this administration's watch, more illegal immigrants have crossed our border than the populations of 78 percent of the states in our union. The People's House must act to ensure the principle of "one person, one vote" remains.

H.R. 7109 does that by directing the Census Bureau to include a question on the decennial census for respondents to indicate whether they're a citizen of the United States. It also amends existing statute to ensure citizens and only citizens are included in the population of a state for the purposes of apportionment in the House and determining the numbers of electors for the President.

I look forward to a comprehensive debate and the opportunity for the House to work its will.

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