Pro-Oil Speaker Johnson Staffing Up With Industry Allies

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In the least surprising staffing update ever, Speaker Mike Johnson has hired energy industry lobbyist and alum of Heritage Action and American Energy Alliance Dan Ziegler as policy director, confirming what we already know: Johnson’s agenda will be Big Oil’s wishlist. In response to the news, Climate Power senior advisor for oil and gas Alex Witt released the following statement: 

“We knew the moment Mike Johnson was confirmed that his agenda would protect the oil industry’s bottom line over everything else, and hiring an energy lobbyist as his new policy director is definitive proof. He’s only had the Speaker’s gavel for a week, but Johnson is already working to repeal President Biden’s climate plan. By our count, Republicans have tried to roll back this climate legislation a total of 27 times, and we expect that number to climb. Johnson and his oil industry cronies continue to deny the fact that climate action and clean energy are overwhelmingly popular across the political spectrum and have already emerged as key issues in the 2024 cycle. Voters will remember who tried to kill the clean energy boom and raise energy costs in order to pad Big Oil’s massive profits.” 

New polling from Data for Progress, Climate Power, and Fossil Free Media shows that by a large margin, voters reject the “drill, baby, drill” rhetoric that Donald Trump and other Republicans have been deploying in favor of strengthening our energy independence by building clean energy that can power homes, businesses, and schools while lowering costs for American families. In addition, voters blame high energy prices on large oil companies and their CEOs and believe these companies have too much power in government.