HR 859 · 117th Congress 2021–2023, ended

Protecting American Energy Jobs Act

Introduced Feb 5, 2021 Originated House Sponsor Lauren Boebert R-CO

Latest action · Mar 3, 2021 Referred to the Subcommittee on Conservation and Forestry.

Progress

Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.

IntroducedFeb 5, 2021
Passed HouseNot reached
Passed SenateNot reached
To the PresidentNot reached
Became lawNot reached

Summary

Protecting American Energy Jobs Act

This bill limits the President's authority to prohibit or withdraw federal land or waters from energy production activities.

Specifically, the bill requires the President and federal agencies to obtain the approval of Congress before prohibiting or substantially delaying certain new energy or mineral leases or permits on federal lands, including oil and gas leases, coal leases, hard rock leases, or critical minerals leases.

In addition, the President and agencies must obtain the approval of Congress before withdrawing certain federal lands from mineral and geothermal leasing activities. Further, the bill repeals the President's authority to withdraw unleased lands on the outer Continental Shelf from oil and gas leasing.

The bill nullifies

Executive Order 13990 titled Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science To Tackle the Climate Crisis;
Executive Order 14008 titled Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad; and
the Department of the Interior's Secretarial Order 3395 concerning a temporary suspension of delegated authority to all of Interior's Bureaus and Offices, including the authority to approve leases.

Cosponsors 39

Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Feb 5, 2021 to Mar 2, 2022; 22 are original cosponsors, there from the day it was introduced.

Seat	Cosponsor		Signed on
R-AZ	Andy Biggs	Original	Feb 5, 2021
R-VA	Ben Cline	Original	Feb 5, 2021
R-TX	Brian Babin	Original	Feb 5, 2021
R-AR	Bruce Westerman	Original	Feb 5, 2021
R-TX	Chip Roy	Original	Feb 5, 2021
R-WA	Dan Newhouse	Original	Feb 5, 2021
R-AK	Don Young	Original	Feb 5, 2021
R-VA	H. Morgan Griffith	Original	Feb 5, 2021
R-IN	James R. Baird	Original	Feb 5, 2021
R-SC	Jeff Duncan	Original	Feb 5, 2021
R-IN	Jim Banks	Original	Feb 5, 2021
R-GA	Jody B. Hice	Original	Feb 5, 2021
R-TX	Louie Gohmert	Original	Feb 5, 2021
R-AL	Mo Brooks	Original	Feb 5, 2021
R-AZ	Paul A. Gosar	Original	Feb 5, 2021
R-MN	Pete Stauber	Original	Feb 5, 2021
R-TX	Randy K. Weber, Sr.	Original	Feb 5, 2021
R-KS	Ron Estes	Original	Feb 5, 2021
R-PA	Scott Perry	Original	Feb 5, 2021
R-MN	Tom Emmer	Original	Feb 5, 2021
R-MS	Trent Kelly	Original	Feb 5, 2021
R-FL	W. Gregory Steube	Original	Feb 5, 2021
R-WV	Alexander X. Mooney		Feb 23, 2021
R-MT	Matthew M. Rosendale, Sr.		Apr 22, 2021
R-NE	Don Bacon		Apr 30, 2021
R-TX	Lance Gooden		May 11, 2021
R-NC	Ted Budd		May 11, 2021
R-VA	Bob Good		May 14, 2021
R-OH	Warren Davidson		May 14, 2021
R-SC	Ralph Norman		May 18, 2021
R-GA	Rick W. Allen		May 18, 2021
R-IL	Mary E. Miller		May 20, 2021
R-TX	Michael C. Burgess		May 20, 2021
R-AZ	Debbie Lesko		Jun 30, 2021
R-FL	Scott Franklin		Jul 6, 2021
R-MN	Jim Hagedorn		Oct 26, 2021
R-NC	David Rouzer		Nov 2, 2021
R-WI	Thomas P. Tiffany		Feb 28, 2022
R-MI	John R. Moolenaar		Mar 2, 2022

Committees 9

Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.

Chamber	Committee	What it did
House	Natural Resources Committee	Referred Feb 5, 2021
	Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee	Referred Mar 1, 2021
House	Agriculture Committee	Referred Feb 5, 2021
	Forestry and Horticulture Subcommittee	Referred Mar 3, 2021
House	Oversight and Government Reform Committee	Referred Feb 5, 2021
House	Transportation and Infrastructure Committee	Referred Feb 5, 2021
	Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee	Referred Feb 9, 2021
House	Energy and Commerce Committee	Referred Feb 5, 2021
	Energy Subcommittee	Referred Feb 5, 2021
House	Foreign Affairs Committee	Referred Feb 5, 2021
House	Financial Services Committee	Referred Feb 5, 2021
House	Intelligence (Permanent Select) Committee	Referred Feb 5, 2021
House	Armed Services Committee	Referred Feb 5, 2021

Actions 6

Everything that happened, newest first.

Mar 3, 2021Referred to the Subcommittee on Conservation and Forestry.
Mar 1, 2021Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources.
Feb 8, 2021Referred to the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials.
Feb 5, 2021Introduced in House
Feb 5, 2021Referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committees on Agriculture, Oversight and Reform, Transportation and Infrastructure, Energy and Commerce, Foreign Affairs, Financial Services, Intelligence (Permanent Select), and Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

Show all 6 actions

In the Congressional Record 11

Days the Record’s own index lists this bill, newest first, with the pages and the members it names. Pages starting H are the House, S the Senate, E Extensions of Remarks.

Where	In the Record	Members	Date
House	Discharge petition H3714	—	Mar 11, 2022
House	Discharge petition H1304	—	Mar 3, 2022
House	Discharge petition H6237	—	Nov 5, 2021
House	Debate and remarks H5817Discharge petition H5835	Steve Scalise R-LA	Oct 22, 2021
House	Discharge petition H5175	—	Sep 24, 2021

Show all 11 days

Research

What has been written about this bill: committee reports, cost estimates, the sponsor’s authority statement, printed hearings and the Congressional Research Service’s work.

Constitutional authority

Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant to the following: Article IV, Section 3, Clause 2 (the Property Clause). Under this clause, Congress has the power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States. By virtue of this enumerated power, Congress has governing authority over the lands, territories, or other property of the United States--and with this authority Congress is vested with the power to all owners in fee, the ability to sell, lease, dispose, exchange, convey, or simply preserve land. The Supreme Court has described this enumerated grant as one ``without limitation'' Kleppe v New Mexico, 426 U.S. 529, 542-543 (1976) (``And while the furthest reaches of the power granted by the Property Clause have not been definitely resolved, we have repeatedly observed that the power over the public land thus entrusted to Congress is without limitation.'') The exchange codified by this legislation is thus constitutional.

The sponsor’s statement, as printed in the Congressional Record, vol. 167, no. 22, February 5, 2021, page H469.

Related bills 2

Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.

Bill	Title	Relationship	Latest action
S 76	POWER Act of 2021	Related bill	Jan 28, 2021
HR 543	POWER Act	Related bill	Feb 24, 2021

Titles 2

Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.

Official Title as Introduced: To prohibit the President from issuing moratoria on leasing and permitting energy and minerals on certain Federal land, and for other purposes.
Short Title(s) as Introduced: Protecting American Energy Jobs Act

Subjects

Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Energy.

Text 1

Each version as it was printed, newest first.

Feb 5, 2021Introduced in House

Support LegiList

This page is free, carries no paywall, and is built and maintained by one person. If the record here is useful to you, a few dollars keeps it going.

$1 $5 $10

Processed by Stripe in a separate window. LegiList never sees card details.

Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.