Steven Holt: “I thank my friend from Massachusetts, a superb Member of Congress, Mr. McGovern. I join him in saying that this…”

“I thank my friend from Massachusetts, a superb Member of Congress, Mr. McGovern. I join him in saying that this legislation represents an unwarranted delay on what should be a noncontroversial piece of legislation. H.R. 527 is a bill carefully written by Chairman Hastings, in consultation with me and with Ranking Member Markey, with Representative Flores, and with many individuals and organizations that depend on a reliable, fairly priced supply of helium. Now, most Americans give no thought to our supply of helium; but a reliable supply of helium is essential for health care imaging, for electronics manufacturing, and for many, many other activities important to Americans today and in the future. In line with the recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences, which my friend from Utah mentioned, the bill succeeds in averting a global helium crisis that would result from the closure of the Federal Helium Reserve at the end of this fiscal year. The bill also fixes the mechanism for helium pricing so that we can now provide a fair market price to users and a positive return to taxpayers. So I support the bipartisan agreement represented here in H.R. 527.…”