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Originally Published in the Odessa American on December 8, 2025.

A bill U.S. Rep. August Pfluger is proud of this year is the Unlocking Our Domestic LNG Potential Act.

It hasn’t become law yet, but it passed the U.S. House and has a companion bill in the U.S. Senate.

At the end of his presidency, Joe Biden banned the export of LNG to certain countries, which Pfluger said is very harmful “because of the way that they do their contracts and the fact that they need a long view.”

Pfluger said Biden was also banning exports to NATO allies.

“He was banning them to some of our best partners and friends around the world, and for no reason. In fact, they completely lied about in one of their reports, some of the environmental impacts, and we pushed back on that, called them out on it had several hearings and testimonies to prove that they had covered up the truth,” Pfluger said in a Dec. 5 phone interview from Odessa.

“So I once again, made it my goal to pass legislation that would prevent any future administration from doing that and we did. We passed the LNG Export Act. This is my bill that basically takes the approval out of the politicized agencies and out of a radical Secretary of Energy and puts it into a better a better entity and better approval process,” he added.

The legislation passed the House in November but hasn’t passed in the Senate yet.

“It was bipartisan, with double-digit Democrats voting to approve this bill, and now we’re waiting on the Senate to do the same. But the impact of this is that our our natural gas, the associated gas in the Permian Basin now will have certainty to be able to travel to the Gulf Coast or to travel through pipelines to be liquefied and to be sent overseas to the places where we can sell it. Those revenues will directly impact our economy. We will continue to use LNG here in the United States, but we will produce more, because the certainty exists that the marketplace is now competitive and the government’s not going to kill it,” Pfluger said.

LNG is liquefied for transport around the world. Once it gets to its destination, it is used in the process of making electricity.

Pfluger said natural gas is one of the most efficient and clean burning fuels that allows electricity to be delivered at an affordable and reliable rate.

“Today in Odessa, it’s not very sunny, and there’s no wind, so you have no help on the grid from solar or wind. But natural gas works all the time. It works when you need it and it’s very affordable,” Pfluger said.

Back after the longest government shutdown in U.S. history Pfluger said Congress is back at work.

“Democrats will use any tool and any weapon to prevent us from getting the agenda done that restores law and order and provides our economy with transparency and competitiveness, that strengthens our military. They hate President Trump, and the only thing that they could do to stop the rightfully needed progress that was being made was to try to shut down the government, but they didn’t win on that issue. They looked really looked silly in doing that, he said.

“We’re back at and I’m working on behalf of the 11th District of Texas, passing legislation like the LNG Export Act and the Broadband Deployment Act and quite a few healthcare provisions that will make healthcare more affordable,” he added.

Pfluger said he has passed more bills than any other Congressman.

“They have all been bipartisan. I’ve championed the effort to deliver the $12 billion reimbursement to the state of Texas for the border damages that we suffered over the last four years. That’s been something that was my initiative from day one, and I’m proud to report that we’ve been able to do that,” he said.

Asked what he’s hearing from constituents, Pfluger said people know prices have risen, that Obamacare is a failure and they want Congress to continue working on affordability.

“I am right in the middle of this effort, doing everything I possibly can to lead the Republican Conference on making sure that we have legislation that leads to affordability. I was in the White House this past week presenting a plan to them about affordability, so whether it’s housing or health care or anything else, we do have those plans. They take time. We passed incredible legislation that reduced every American’s tax bill this past July, and those take time to take effect. But as we get into 2026 we’re going to see those positive effects, and we’re going to keep going,” Pfluger said.