House Speaker Mike Johnson will spotlight Republicans’ early wins reversing the Biden administration’s anti-energy policies during President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress Tuesday evening.
Johnson has invited an array of guests to the president’s address, including Commonwealth Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) chairman Ben Dell whose private equity firm has majority ownership in an energy infrastructure company overseeing an LNG facility in the speaker’s home state of Louisiana. Johnson’s invitation to the energy investor comes after President Donald Trump lifted the Biden administration’s pause on LNG exports to countries without a free trade agreement with the United States, which was widely celebrated by GOP lawmakers and energy producers.
Dell’s Commonwealth LNG project was the first applicant to receive a permit for a new LNG project by Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, and is a high-profile example of Republicans taking action to spur domestic energy production, which former President Joe Biden sought to restrain through a “whole-of-government” approach to addressing climate change.
“I’m glad Ben will be joining us for President Trump’s address on Tuesday evening,” Johnson told the Daily Caller News Foundation in an exclusive statement. “After years of President Biden’s war on American energy, President Trump has put an end to it, allowing energy producers like those at Commonwealth LNG in Louisiana to do their jobs.”
“I worked tirelessly to ensure that Commonwealth became the first LNG terminal approved following Biden’s disastrous LNG ban,” Johnson continued. “President Trump is sending a clear message: we will restore American energy dominance.”
Preparations are underway to welcome @POTUS for his joint address to Congress tomorrow night. It’s going to be BIG! pic.twitter.com/N9D96AFdh6
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) March 3, 2025
Trump is scheduled to deliver a joint address to Congress Tuesday evening to highlight the administration’s victories on border security, foreign policy and domestic energy production despite holding office for just over a month. The president’s address is called “The Renewal of the American Dream.”
“Commonwealth LNG is developing a state-of-the-art LNG export facility that will help unleash American energy and strengthen security for our allies, all while prioritizing environmental stewardship and creating lasting value for our local communities,” Dell told the DCNF in a statement. “The Commonwealth export facility is expected to unlock approximately $11 billion in investments in Louisiana, nearly $1 billion in taxes, and an estimated $3.5 billion in annual export revenue for the United States.”
The export terminal project is located on the coast of the newly named Gulf of America, near the Louisiana community of Cameron. The company expects LNG production from the project will begin to be exported in 2029 and will go to markets in Europe and Asia.
“President Trump has outlined a bold agenda for unleashing American energy dominance, and restoring regular order on U.S. LNG export permits is critical for meeting this commitment to the American people,” Wright said in announcing the new export authorization for the Commonwealth LNG project on Feb 14. “Exporting American LNG strengthens the U.S. economy and supports American jobs while bolstering energy security around the world, and I am proud to be working with President Trump to get American energy exports back on track.”
Johnson praised the Trump administration’s decision to quickly restore new LNG exports to Europe and Asia the same day he was sworn into office on Jan. 20. Biden’s LNG export approval freeze hit LNG exporters in his home state of Louisiana particularly hard.
Biden’s Department of Energy paused approvals for new LNG export permits in January 2024, citing concerns about the emissions impact of LNG exports.
The Biden administration took various other executive actions to hurt domestic energy production, including issuing stringent regulations on coal-fired power plants, banning offshore drilling in certain U.S. waters and significantly reducing the amount of oil and gas leases on federal lands. Biden also championed green energy and electric vehicles through the so-called Inflation Reduction Act.
The former president’s move to pause LNG export approvals to markets in Europe and Asia enraged Republican lawmakers who touted the economic benefits of American LNG exports and its role in bolstering U.S. allies’ energy security.
Johnson told The Free Press in January that he questioned Biden about his administration’s LNG export pause decision in January 2024 during a private meeting in the Oval Office only to realize that the former president had no idea what he had signed.
Johnson also invited White House border czar Tom Homan, Hamas hostage survivor Noa Argamani and conservative commentators Ben Shapiro and Matt Walsh to attend Trump’s address.
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