Sen. Ted Cruz slammed the federal government in a speech Monday outlining his American Energy Renaissance Act.
At Heritage Action’s 2014 Conservative Policy Summit, Cruz said the growth of the fracking industry and resulting economic growth is the beginning of an energy renaissance. He used North Dakota as an example, where he said the average hourly wage for energy-related jobs is $45.90 and the unemployment rate is just 2.6 percent. The only thing that can stop us from achieving an “energy renaissance,” said Cruz, is the federal government.
Additionally, Cruz said that the president should not be taking credit for the energy boom, Cruz added, since much of the increase has been on private land. “The energy revolution didn’t come from the U.S. Department of Energy,” said Cruz. “It came from entrepreneurs putting capital at risk and meeting a need.”
Cruz will try to introduce his bill in a few weeks. He said it would stop the government from derailing fracking, approve the Keystone Pipeline, broaden energy development on federal land, end EPA overreach and force Congress to vote on EPA regulations.