WASHINGTON, DC – The Ripon Society hosted a breakfast discussion yesterday morning with three Republican lawmakers who share not only a common role, but a notable distinction – they are the first freshman members of the U.S. House of Representatives in 14 years to serve on the Energy & Commerce Committee.
The lawmakers are U.S. Rep. Craig Goldman (TX-12), U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans (CO-08), and U.S. Rep. Julie Fedorchak (ND-AL). The three came together to talk not only about their role on the influential panel and the experience each brings to the job, but their governing philosophy and some of the priorities they would like to see the Committee tackle in the coming year.
Goldman – who referred to himself, Evans, and Fedorchak as “the three amigos” – spoke first.
“It is such an honor and such a blessing to be on the committee,” stated the Lone Star State lawmaker, who previously served as Chair of the Energy Resources Committee in the Texas State House. “We all have our path of how we got there, and we all have our stories. But two of the finest people you'll ever meet are Gabe Evans and Julie Fedorchak … These are two rising stars in our class. Our class is truly an incredible class. Not my words -- Speaker Johnson's words, Steve Scalise's words, Tom Emmer’s words. We really are an amazing class, and we're really unified.”
Evans agreed, and began his remarks by touching on his background in law enforcement and how he ended up running for the House in 2024.
“I'm in Congress because I was a police officer for 10 years in Colorado,” he said. “I saw what good policy can do. And unfortunately, I saw what bad policy does. When I started off my law enforcement career, Colorado was better than the national average for our public safety. We're now the second most dangerous state in the country. We had some headline news come out of Colorado yesterday. Even though Colorado's only 2% of the population, over 10% of the fentanyl pills in the country were seized in Colorado last year. We've led the nation in auto theft for more years than not.
“We've led the nation in bank robberies. We've led the nation in basically every terrible public safety statistic that you can think of. It's not because cops forgot how to do their job -- it's because bad policy handcuffed law enforcement. And so as a police lieutenant, I eventually hit the point where I couldn't fulfill the oath that I swore to take care of my community and take care of my cops. And so I thought to myself -- you know what? I'm going to go fight the real crazy people where they hang out, which happens to be in state capitals. So I went down to the state capital in Denver and realized it wasn't just my industry that was getting crushed under overregulation. It was all industries in the state, and in my area that's energy.
“In terms of congressional districts, I think Colorado-8 is the seventh highest energy producing district in the country. We produce 80 percent of the oil, 50 percent of the gas in Colorado out of my area. We produce one in two wind generators. We've got some of the best geothermal geology in the nation. I’ve got one of the last all-U.S. sourced battery manufacturers in the district. The only oil refinery in the state of Colorado is my district. And all of the skilled trades that support that are there, as well. So, energy and commerce -- that is the beating heart of my area.”
Fedorchak began her comments by talking about the differences between the states that she and Evans represent.
“His state is the polar opposite of North Dakota,” she said. “Everything that he said about things that are going wrong in his state, North Dakota has the exact opposite example. And that's why I'm here -- because I want to try to mimic what we do in North Dakota in Washington. Common-sense conservative values work, especially when deployed consistently over time. My state is an incredible example of that. My experience is largely focused on the energy sector. And so I have a number of bills that I'm bringing forward to support reliability and affordability. I’m really excited about some of these things because we have this moment where we need more energy faster than we've ever delivered it or needed it in the history of our country.
“We have a country that is abundantly blessed with energy resources. This should not be a problem. It's a problem because we've gotten in the way. We have dumb state energy policies. We have an overzealous federal government that's created all kinds of barriers. Whether it's permitting barriers or whether it's emissions barriers or other regulatory barriers, we have to get rid of those. We've taken giant leaps toward that already. But there's additional work to be done.”
To view the remarks of Goldman, Evans, and Fedorchak before The Ripon Society yesterday morning, please click the link below:
