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Oklahoma Senator James Lankford joined Texas Senator John Cornyn on Tuesday to introduce a bill to provide relief to America's energy industry during the coronavirus pandemic.

The SAVE Jobs Acts aims to promote liquidity and flexibility for domestic energy companies so they can maintain their workforce through the pandemic's economic downturn. 

In a statement, Sen. Lankford said: "... we cannot allow our nation to once again be dependent on foreign energy sources to survive. After working so hard to break free of dependence, we should not allow our nation to lose our domestic energy production. Enacting temporary, targeted assistance like the provisions in the SAVE Jobs Act will help protect our North American energy independence by supporting the many Americans who work hard to bring us energy day in and day out."

Oklahoma Senators Jim Inhofe was one of the eight original cosponsors of the bill.

"Right now, oil and gas is hurting in Oklahoma, and in a state where one in five jobs is tied to the energy industry, we need to be there for our producers," said Sen. Inhofe. "I'm proud to cosponsor this bill that will give energy companies the flexibility they need to make sure their employees get paid and their lights stay on. Our domestic production capacity is key to maintaining our energy dominance."

The SAVE Jobs Act allows more carbon capture projects to break ground by extending the commence construction window for the 45Q tax credit by one-year. It also allos energy companies to build liquidity by:

• Suspending certain capitalization rules, allowing taxpayers to immediately expense certain direct and indirect costs, such as inventory, that would otherwise be required to be capitalized in 2020
• Reducing the required deposit of certain motor fuel excise taxes paid every two weeks by taxpayers from 95-percent to 25-percent, without reducing the total tax liability these companies owe the government
• Allowing taxpayers to expense 100-percent of the cost of intangible drilling costs in 2020

The Save Jobs Act also provides immediate relief to those with leases on federal lands and waters by:

• Streamlining existing authority to grant lease extensions, suspension of production, and suspensions of operations during the pandemic
• Simplifying the existing process for royalty rate reductions to provide more timely relief during the pandemic
• Delaying the deadline for recalculation of royalty payments under the 2016 ONRR Valuation Rule until July 1st, 2022.