Barbara Boxer: “there is so much to say about this Energy bill, I hope I am able to be coherent on why I think it ought to be defeated.…”

“there is so much to say about this Energy bill, I hope I am able to be coherent on why I think it ought to be defeated. It is a bill, first of all, that is a tax giveaway to the biggest corporations in this country. Actually, the multinational corporations--$30 billion is the size of the giveaway; $30 billion of debt. When this administration came into power, we had a surplus. Now we are reaching a $500 billion deficit. This is adding $30 billion to it. The attitude around here is, just let our kids and grandkids pick up that deficit. It is absolutely the wrong policy for right now. This bill is an unfunded mandate because it gives a free ride to the makers of a poisonous chemical called MTBE that never was mandated by any government and was the oxygenate of choice of the oil companies. They knew it was poisonous and they kept on putting it into the gasoline. It has contaminated water systems all over this country. By walking away from this problem and giving a pass to the people who polluted our areas, in my opinion--and this is just my own words--I think it is immoral. That is why we have the cities of this country against this bill, the counties of this country against this bill, the water agencies of this country against this bill. The more we let this bill hang out there, the more it smells. MTBE smells. This bill has a similar smell, a sour smell, a bad smell, a poison smell.”