WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) joined Senate Banking Committee Republicans in calling on Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to halt the Treasury Department and all Biden administration efforts to develop regulations that could limit American energy producers’ access to credit and capital.

“We write to express concern about the potential damaging effects to national security from the unprecedented efforts of federal financial agencies to develop regulations that some intend to use for limiting U.S. energy producers’ access to credit and capital. Such actions would begin to curtail the supply of domestic energy, leading to higher costs for American households and making our country and allies more vulnerable to the consequences of Russian aggression. The economic toll, as well as the destruction, casualties, and instability from Russia’s energy-based warfare are so significant that we urge you to immediately pause the development of all climate- and energy-related regulations within the Treasury Department and to urge all other federal financial regulators to follow suit,” the senators wrote.

The senators pointed out that, in the last several decades, the U.S. has gone from an importer to an exporter of energy while under one of the strictest environmental regulatory regimes in the world. Despite this success, senior officials from numerous federal financial regulators have indicated that they are working to implement policies that could curtail energy production.

“Most importantly, these efforts by financial regulators, coupled with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, jeopardize the need for energy security, both domestically and for our allies and trading partners. Accordingly, we call on you and President Biden to instruct the federal financial regulatory agencies, including the Financial Stability Oversight Council, to delay any regulatory initiatives on climate change and sustainability until the development of a detailed, comprehensive plan by the administration on energy security that takes into account the threat to global energy supplies from Russia and similar repressive regimes,” concluded the senators.

The senators also directed the letter to National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, the National Economic Council Director, the Federal Reserve Chair, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Acting Chair, the Securities and Exchange Commission Chair, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair, the National Credit Union Administration Chairman and the Acting Comptroller of the Currency.

The letter is available here.