WASHINGTON, DC. – U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer (R- Neb.), a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, recently joined several of her Senate Republican colleagues in introducing the Food and Energy Security Act. The legislation would prohibit the Biden administration from forcing its environmental, social, and governance (ESG) agenda onto the American economy. Specifically, the bill would require federal financial and securities regulators to estimate the impact of their rules on affected businesses involved in the agriculture or energy supply chains. If any rules are estimated to drive up food, energy, or gas prices, the regulators would then be prohibited from implementing the rules during times of high inflation.

“The Biden administration is determined to impose their radical environmental agenda on our economy by enacting a new web of aggressive financial regulations. This effort will hurt Nebraska’s agricultural sector and small businesses, and raise prices for hardworking families. Our legislation would prevent these costly ESG rules from moving forward. Record inflation is already imposing hardships on the American people – the last thing our country needs is a more aggressive federal regulatory agenda that drives costs up further,” said Sen. Fischer. 

"Nebraska farmers and ranchers are very concerned about the Biden administration's push to increase climate regulations on our nation's food producers such as the Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposed greenhouse gas reporting rule released earlier this year. The Food and Energy Security Act is a commonsense approach that will allow for thorough analysis on these types of regulations before they are enacted. We thank Senator Fischer for her continued leadership in pushing back against federal regulations that simply add additional costs, red tape, and legal liability to our nation’s farm and ranch families,” said Mark McHargue, President of Nebraska Farm Bureau Federation.

U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-South Dakota) led the introduction of the bill. Additional cosponsors include U.S. Sens. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), and Mike Rounds (R-S.D.).

Since President Biden was sworn into office, his administration has proposed rules and announced initiatives that would discourage banks, credit unions, and other financial firms from financing the fossil fuel industry and other sectors of the economy disliked by the far-left. In April, Senator Fischer joined her colleagues in pushing back on the Biden administration’s use of the financial regulatory system to advance its radical environmental agenda under the guise of mitigating banks’ and credit unions’ exposure to climate risks.

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