Today, House Committee on Natural Resources Ranking Member Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) led a motion to recommit (MTR) on H.R. 803, the Protecting America’s Wilderness and Public Lands Act. Westerman issued the following statement:

“The ramifications of the Biden administration’s actions will be devasting in our rural communities. Americans who work hard every day to keep the lights on and our gas prices low deserve better than a pink slip from out of touch political appointees. My motion to recommit would have sent this detrimental legislation back to the Natural Resources Committee, where we could have debated it and presented legislative alternatives to the Biden Ban. Instead, Democrats chose to side with job-killing, top-down regulations that will do nothing but outsource our energy demand overseas.”

Background

By adopting this MTR, the House of Representatives would have sent H.R. 803 back to the Committee on Natural Resources. Members would then have been able to consider the Cancel the Biden Ban Amendment to H.R. 803. This amendment would have nullified Executive Order 14008 and Secretarial Order 3395, issued during President Joe Biden’s first weeks in office.

House Democrats overwhelmingly backed the Biden Ban and voted down the MTR, 221-204.

View the MTR here, and watch Westerman’s floor speech on the MTR here.