Sen. Marshall on Fox Business: Manchin’s Mountaineer Kickback Will Drive up Energy Costs

(Washington, D.C., September 27, 2022) – U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. joined Varney & Co. this morning on Fox Business to talk about funding the federal government and U.S. Senator Joe Manchin’s attempt to attach a flawed permitting reform measure to the bill. Senator Marshall also discussed his resolution to force President Joe Biden to terminate the COVID-19 national emergency declaration. You may click HERE or on the image below to watch the full interview.

On funding the federal government and the permitting reform bill that is attached to it, Senator Marshall said in part,

“I’m voting no…Let’s call this what it is. This is the Mountaineer Kickback: good for West Virginia, horrible for the rest of the country. This bill is inflationary…it will allow FERC, the federal government, to base their permitting decisions based upon the origins of the energy. So they would permit a transmission line for say wind or solar but they wouldn’t permit it say for nuclear, for coal, or for natural gas…In Kansas right now, over 50% of the electricity is generated from wind. Most of that is being shifted out of the state. We’re paying a disproportionate share of the transmission costs, and now our energy costs have gone up and we are not reliable…I agree with Joe Manchin about this: it takes too long for permitting. It should be two years or less, but this legislation does nothing to reform NEPA…This is horrible legislation that is going to drive the cost of energy up and decrease reliability.”

On his resolution to force President Joe Biden to terminate the COVID-19 national emergency declaration, Senator Marshall said in part,

“This President uses this COVID emergency to justify his inflationary spending…he also uses that emergency to enforce his unconstitutional rules, rules like mask mandates. We still have preschool kids who have required masks at Head Start…This needs to be taken away from Joe Biden. He weaponizes it and it is part of his radical socialism…”

Background on Government Funding and Permitting Reform:

On September 19, Senator Marshall joined a letter pledging not to adopt a temporary government funding measure that contained additional spending and extraneous policy riders. The letter also calls for the CR to carry over into the 118th Congress. You may click HERE to read the letter.

On September 12, Senator Marshall cosponsored U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito’s Simplify Timelines and Assure Regulatory Transparency (START) Act, comprehensive federal regulatory permitting and project review reform legislation. You may click HERE to read the full bill.

Background on Sen. Marshall’s Resolution Terminating COVID National Emergency Declaration:

The Wall Street Journal covered Senator Marshall’s latest effort to end the COVID-19 national emergency declaration.

In March 2020, President Donald Trump invoked the National Emergencies Act (NEA) in regard to COVID-19. In February 2021 and then again in February 2022, President Joe Biden extended it. A provision in the NEA grants Congress termination review of national emergencies, stating that after six months, and every six months after the emergency continues, “each House of Congress shall meet to consider a vote on a joint resolution to determine whether the emergency shall be terminated.” However, Congressional interpretation of this law has determined that the absence of a resolution introduced by any member signals unanimous consent for continuation. In failing to meet, debate, and vote on an emergency, Congress is effectively ceding more unchecked emergency powers to the executive similar to its failure to enforce War Powers provisions.

On March 3, 2022, Senator Marshall’s resolution to end the COVID-19 national state of emergency passed the Senate by a vote of 48-47. On that same day, the White House issued a veto threat of Sen. Marshall’s resolution, and the U.S. House of Representatives failed to take up the measure. Under the NEA, Congress is mandated to determine whether the emergency should continue, a process Congress has not fully enforced, ceding power to the executive. You may click HERE to view the resolution. Senators Mike Braun (IN), Mike Lee (UT), Ted Cruz (TX), and Rand Paul (KY) Rick Scott (FL), Steve Daines (MT), Ron Johnson (WI), and James Risch (ID) cosponsored Senator Marshall’s resolution. The NEA outlines an expedited parliamentarian procedure for emergency termination resolutions. Once the resolution is introduced and approved by the parliamentarian, it is referred to the Committee of jurisdiction, the Senate Committee on Finance in this instance. The committee of referral is to report one joint resolution along with its recommendations within 15 calendar days after the day of referral, unless the chamber “shall otherwise determine by the yeas and nays.” Once reported, the terminating resolution “shall become the pending business” of the chamber and a vote on final passage is to occur within three calendar days thereafter (unless the chamber “shall otherwise determine by yeas and nays”).

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