On Monday (March 27), the White House sent a stern warning to House Republicans: the President could veto the House GOP’s energy package if it reaches his desk.
The package, known as H.R. 1, was the subject of Monday’s statement in which the White House declared the GOP’s bill would take the U.S. “backward” and warned Republican Lawmakers that if the package remains unchanged from its current form, Biden will veto it.
The lower chamber is expected to vote on the current package — which aims to boost fossil fuels, overturn portions of Biden’s signature Inflation Reduction Act, and expedite infrastructure projects — later this week.
Although the bill is likely to pass in the House, where the GOP has a slim majority, it will likely be killed in the Democrat-Led Senate.
It was also predicted that the President would oppose the bill even before the White House released Monday’s statement.
In its statement on Monday, the White House suggested the GOP’s energy package favored oil and gas companies at the expense of “American consumers.”
The letter asserted that the GOP had chosen to “pad” the already-inflated profits of oil and gas companies by “undercut[ing] our public health and environment rather than “protecting American consumers.”
The statement asserted the bill would “empower big companies to skirt the Clean Air Act,” and “repeal $1.5 billion in investments focused on curbing methane leaks” harmful to the surrounding communities.
But proponents of the bill insist the changes on the package are necessary to renew the country’s energy protection and expedite energy-related infrastructure.
