George Miller: “I rise against this misnamed emergency supplemental bill. Many Members will debate provisions in this bill that are very…”

“I rise against this misnamed emergency supplemental bill. Many Members will debate provisions in this bill that are very troublesome and that have been well publicized. I want to take a few moments to alert Members to a few provisions that certainly do not qualify as ``emergency'', and that have no reason to be in this legislation except to shower additional taxpayer dollars on special interests. Just yesterday, during the Conference meeting on this bill, the conferees added language at the behest of the Senator from Texas, Mrs. Hutchison, that will allow oil companies to avoid paying taxpayers a fair royalty for oil and gas produced from public lands. Now, this provision was not in the House bill. It was not in the Senate bill. But we all know what happened: the oil industry saw an opportunity to make millions of dollars off the taxpayers, who own the oil and gas, by getting a rider in an emergency spending bill. So the oil industry went to a friendly Senator and suddenly, a multi-million dollar gift falls into the industry's lap, and the taxpayers once again are left shortchanged. I am told that the lead lobbyist from the American Petroleum Institute, which was advocating this maneuver, was actually seen sitting at the Conference table, presumably helping the proponents craft the rider in just the right way to maximize profits for the oil industry at the expense of the taxpayer. How convenient.…”