U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, joined several of her Senate colleagues on a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell urging swift action to make loans accessible to domestic energy producers. Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D. led the effort.

Below are excerpts from the letter:

“We face a real and present danger of seeing hundreds, if not thousands of oil producers shuttering, an event that will profoundly and negatively impact the industry, its financial partners and consumers for years to come. The prospect of once again becoming reliant on oil imports is an unacceptable situation and we should do all we can to avoid it."

"Our energy producers should not be unfairly excluded from credit due to an arbitrary date and their viability should be protected with enhanced support for their credit and access to capital. Assisting these companies could be the difference between maintaining our domestic energy production and workforce or shedding more U.S. jobs and returning to dependence on foreign sources of oil.”

The U.S. oil and gas industry supports more than 10 million jobs.

Sens. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, John Barrasso, R-Wyo., Steve Daines, R-Mont., John Hoeven, R-N.D., Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas also signed the letter.

Read the full letter here.