fedorchak: they were. my parents were both conservative at nature and my dad was a businessman and he recognized, being a smart guy, that politics and government and public policy would affect his business so he got involved as a young man in republican politics and it was part of the dinner conversation. he ran for the legislature once and lost so he didn't serve but he certainly followed and was active, attended conventions and believed in it and talked about it around the house. >> where you always a republican yourself? rep. fedorchak: maybe in college. they would say if you are not a liberal in college you don't have a heart and if you are not a republican after you don't have a mind, well, i had a few years in college where i strayed a bit, but i got back in line once i started working. >> you started your career in journalism. what did you do and how did they wind up turning into a position in government? rep. fedorchak: i started -- in my years in college i did some interviews with newspapers and r

for fedorchak: -- ms. fedor: thank you, i thank you for taking the time on this day when everybody is trying to get home. energy independence is the basis for lowering costs for everything from housing to utilities to rent to grocery, gas, everything is -- the cost of power is baked into everything we buy. it's the foundation for powering economic growth. it is the foundation for becoming ample i.-dominant. and it is clearly the foundation for national security. so i want to thank everyone who participated in this special order this afternoon. and mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. under the speaker's announced policy of january 3, 2025, the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. green, for 30 minutes. mr. green: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, and still i rise. a proud, liberated democrat. unbought. unbossed. and unafraid. and i rise, mr. speaker, today in the name of liberty and justice for all. in the name of government of the people, by the peop

fedorchak: thank you.latta: the chair now recognizes the gentleman from new york's 23rd district for five minutes for questions. >> thank you, mr. chairman. a lot has been said about the need to take a whole of government approach to meet the rising demand of energy. instead of arbitrarily picking winners and losers. unfortunately my state, new york, has gone in the opposite direction, imposing its version of the green new deal, the climate leadership and community protection act. to shut down natural gas generation and use for years. my state has prohibited large-scale hydraulic fracturing, despite sitting atop my district the marcellus shale which is estimated to contain 214 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas. new york is further recognizing its regulatory apparatus to block much-needed infrastructure projects like the northern access pipeline, which would have provided nearly 500 million cubic feet per day of appalachian gas to the northeast. ms. eversole, how can we utilize the president's

fedorchak: thank you. i rise today in sprong support of the halt fentanyl act. in north dakota, my state, we are known for our tight knit communities where people look out for one another. but even in my state, illicit fentanyl is smuggled in stealing innocent lives and leaving families shattered. north dakota law enforcement saved record amounts of fentanys of fentanyl are pouring into our state. what's most disturbing is how traffickers are targeting our kids. they are poisoning our children. we must pass the halt fentanyl act to permanently give law enforcement the tools they need. this will punish traffickers who play a dangerous game of tweaking formulas to stay one step ahead of the law. the american people have trusted us to fix the mess created by the biden administration's open border policies. for every devastated family and every community on the frontlines of this crisis, we must act. this is not a partisan issue. it's an important solution, part of the solution. it's the right thing to do. let's pass h.r. 27. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: t

fedorchak: as a former energy regulator, i know the value of smart, efficient regulation.dakota, electric utilities are required to follow will least cost planning, to ensure the highest reliability of power systems at the lowest possible cost to customers. this is smart regulation. we have had, in washington, just the opposite. we had the biden administration setting the staffing requirements for nurses in every nursing home in north dakota. rather than improving care, this, like many other last-minute p biden regulations, will make it harder if not impossible, for north dakota organizations and businesses to do their jobs. the rule and regulation mania of the last administration was historic. according to a study by the national association of manufacture, the total costs of federal recognition 2022 was more than $3 trillion, roughly 12% of the u.s. g.d.p. make no mistake. businesses don't just take on these costs. hardworking american families pay for these rules and regulations in the price of anything they buy. what's worse, these regulations burden small businesses t