Lankford Questions Treasury Nominee Bessent, Pushes to Unleash American Energy Independence

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WASHINGTON, DC – Senator James Lankford (R-OK) questioned Treasury Secretary nominee Scott Bessent during a Senate Finance Committee hearing today about restoring American energy independence and creating a stable permanent rate for bonus depreciation.

Lankford has long been a supporter of all-of-the-above domestic energy policies and stabilizing bonus depreciation rates. Research from the American Petroleum Institute has shown that a 100 percent bonus depreciation could support up to 1,400 miles of new pipelines, which would further support the incoming Trump Administration’s energy production agenda.

Excerpt

Lankford: On the energy side, you’ve talked a lot about energy production. But I’m an Oklahoman, and unashamedly, we’re ‘all-the-above-and-all-the-below’ on energy. We probably have more wind and hydro and solar production in my state than any other state on this dais, with very few exceptions. But we also use oil and gas. And we’re going to produce all the energy that our state needs to be able to make sure that we stay stable on that. One of the issues that is a business issue for small or large businesses that I’ve been fighting for is a stable bonus depreciation amount. This is not about the type of energy or the type of business even. It’s if you’re actually investing in your company and trying to grow your company, that you would know what that bonus depreciation is. Now this will help with pipeline productions, but it will also help a pet shop, hair salon, and a restaurant, just as much as well. And so, thoughts on bonus depreciation and just a stable rate for that?

Bessent:…So I think that increasing the after-tax return on capital for US companies, especially small business, is one of the greatest forms of job creation that we could see. And they are, to go back to your point on energy production, we’ve heard much here today saying that we are at a record amount of energy production, and we know that’s a canard. We are barely above where we were in 2020. And if we were to look at the Department of Energy projections for 2024 and 2025, we are well below those. The past four years we have seen US production constrained and part of a fulsome sanctions program would mean that we need more energy production in the US to make up for the loss of sanctioned Russian oil to protect the US consumer. 

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