Jon Kyl: “So, Mr. President, if I could kind of summarize this point, it seems to me this amendment represents kind of a win-win…”

“So, Mr. President, if I could kind of summarize this point, it seems to me this amendment represents kind of a win-win situation in that we have the opportunity now to save the American taxpayers a lot of money--money that is not necessary to stimulate the production of oil and gas at this time because the price of oil is so high. But it is also a win in the sense that the Senator from Oregon has drafted the legislation in such a way that should we need that ability to stimulate production in the future--for example, should we be in a wartime situation and the President determines we have to do everything we can to produce more domestic oil--that the authority exists and would continue to exist. The Senator from Oregon is not eliminating that authority but noting that is one of the protections in his amendment. So it seems to me that either way we have protected the American taxpayer, the American consumer, and, of course, the American citizen in a time of war. So it is a little hard to argue there could be a bad result from this since at the time you might need this kind of stimulus, it would be there or at least potentially would be there. Let me make another point and ask a question. I happened to have been watching television the other night late, and I believe it was the Discovery Channel, watching the drilling off of our coast down to the depths of--I have forgotten how many miles. It was incredible.…”