Advancing American Freedom Urges Congress to Oppose Venezuelan-Style Price Controls Act, H.R. 7688

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Advancing American Freedom (AAF) today issued its first ever vote alert on the so-called Venezuelan-Style Price Controls Act, H.R. 7688.

“Instead of deflecting blame for high gas prices created by their own disastrous policies limiting domestic supply, House Democrats should pass a bill to unleash American energy rather than take a page from the socialist dictator playbook to ‘punish oil companies,’ said AAF Executive Director Paul Teller. “In addition to today’s price controls bill, yesterdays’s decision by the Biden administration to lift sanctions on the Maduro regime is another example of the progressive agenda that weakens America’s standing abroad and makes us more dependent on foreign oil controlled by socialist dictators.”

The vote alert, the first-ever issued by AAF, comes amid a $10 million energy independence ad campaign.

The vote alert sent to House Republicans, House Democrats, House and Senate leadership offices, and select Senate offices is below:

“I fled oppression and socialism in Venezuela to find freedom and opportunity in America. Today, I have friends and family who are suffering under Maduro’s iron fist. Venezuela’s oil is stained in blood but Joe Biden wants to make America dependent on it. We don’t need that radical environmental agenda. America needs energy independence. Tell Congress to support American energy production, not dictators who hate freedom.”

— Alessandra Torres, a Florida resident featured in Advancing American Freedom’s new Spanish-language ad campaign

Background

During the Trump-Pence Administration, the United States took significant steps to achieve energy dominance: we withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement (which unfairly punished American industry while allowing China to pollute with impunity), reformed costly energy regulations, approved the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, expedited approval of the NuStar’s New Burgos Pipeline, opened up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas leasing, and approved a massive expansion of liquid natural gas (LNG) terminals. As a result, the United States became a net exporter of energy for the first time since 1953.

Tragically, the Biden administration decided to prioritize environmental extremism rather than the economic wellbeing of American households, rolling back and undermining many of these accomplishments. Just last week, it cancelled oil lease sales for over one million acres in Alaska.

It is no surprise, then, that gasoline prices are the highest in the history of our country, worse than the 2008 recession, the energy crisis of the 1970s, and even worse than World War II when we had to ration gasoline at the pump. As family budgets around the country are being crushed by oil-led inflation, the White House has tried to shift blame away from their own policies in any way it can, calling this “Putin’s Price Hike” or “greedflation.” But the truth is, gasoline prices had soared by 52 percent on President Biden’s watch before a single shot had been fired in Ukraine. And even former-President Obama’s chief economic advisor has called the accusations of corporate greed and price-fixing “dangerous misguided nonsense.”

Even still, reason has not stopped Democrats from staging outrage theater this week, teeing up a vote on the Consumer Fuel Price Gouging Prevention Act (more accurately named the “Venezuelan-Style Price Controls Act”) for Thursday, which would pile new regulations on consumer fuel companies that change their pricing, driving up costs for businesses and prices that consumers will pay at the pump.

H.R. 7688, the “Venezuelan-Style Price Control Act”

If enacted, this legislation would:

  • Impose vague and legally complicated price increase caps on consumer fuel companies.
    • Not only are we begging for gas at the door of Venezuela’s socialist dictatorship, we are

      now copying Venezuela’s failed price control policies, which exacerbate inflation.