Strategic Production Act Passes Along Party Lines

Increasing domestic energy production has been a priority of Republicans since retaking the House of Representatives. Now it looks like they have made some progress towards that goal as the Strategic Production Act (H.R. 21) passed in the chamber late last week.  Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL-3) stated about the measure,  "this bill is a huge win for American energy independence, and Rep. Cammack was proud to support it. @HouseGOP is consistently delivering on our Commitment to America, and Republicans have only just begun."

As the name and Cammack's tweet suggest, the bill intends to increase oil and gas production under leases for those products on federal land, while also creating a drawdown on reserves from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Notably, the slim majority Republicans have gained in the House is what saves this bill, as all 220 Republicans (minus the still-recovering Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) and Wesley Hunt (R-TX)) voted in favor. All Democrats, including Florida's entire congressional delegation,  voted against it. The single Democratic vote in support of the measure came from Rep.  Jared Golden of Maine.

Cammack has previously criticized President Biden in September for emptying the Strategic Petroleum Reserve even as Florida recovered from Hurricane Ian. "This administration's assault on our domestic energy production has absolutely crippled us," she says.

Other Florida Republicans, including Rep. Brian Mast (18), Rep. Carlos Gimenez (26), and Sen. Rick Scott have equally been vocal critics of the administration's kneecapping of domestic energy production. Similarly, Sen. Marco Rubio and other Senate Republicans introduced a bill in August that would ban imports of oil from Iran and Venezuela as a means of getting the Biden administration to drill at home.

Despite this, Biden authorized energy giant Chevron to drill in Venezuela in November, which sparked fierce criticism.

This continued refusal by Democrats to increase domestic production is likely why Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL-19) is taking a different route. Early this January, Donalds joined with several Democrats and Republicans in a letter promoting the switch to nuclear.