Jon Kyl: “I noted that the Senator said something earlier in his remarks that I thought was very important in the context of our…”

“I noted that the Senator said something earlier in his remarks that I thought was very important in the context of our consideration of this supplemental appropriation. We all agree we have to appropriate the funds not only for relief from the hurricane to States such as that of the Presiding Officer, but also to ensure that everything our troops need to conduct their activities in the war against terror is provided to them and that the bulk of the money in the supplemental appropriations bill is going for that purpose, but that this is emergency spending we have not offset in any other way. What the Senator from Oregon has pointed out is that actually, in great measure, a great deal of this could be offset if we simply eliminate some of the costly taxpayer subsidies such as that which is the subject of this amendment, so that we are in total agreement that we have to provide this funding for our military, and that one way we can help to pay for it is for the taxpayers to not have to continue this subsidy, which by all accounts is totally unnecessary to produce additional oil and gas, at least at this time. Let me ask the Senator further, I don't know what the crude oil price was in June of last year when the President made his statement that this royalty was simply not necessary, but it probably was somewhere in the neighborhood of half of what it is today. Maybe the Senator has an idea on that.…”