Political Quotes

“Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. I want to really focus today on an extraordinary event that took place on Sunday, that is, American time, but before I do that, I just want to take a couple of minutes having sat here listening to the last 45 minutes on energy policy, just a couple of things. The President is not suggesting that we raise taxes on fuel but that we eliminate subsidies to the oil industry that has received, for a century, American taxpayers' support, and those subsidies are no longer needed given the extraordinary profits that they are making. We ought to also consider that last year, ExxonMobil paid zero Federal income tax, yet they had billions, about $11 billion, of profit. The second point, the oil production in the Gulf of Mexico is up this year compared to the previous year, and even though there is more production of oil out of the Gulf of Mexico, we've still seen this spike in gasoline prices. So the notion that somehow more drilling in the Gulf of Mexico will drive prices down is just not the case, because we've seen more production and yet a spike in prices. Finally, with regard to the bills that were just announced during the middle of this discussion about drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, the Democratic Party wants to make sure that that drilling is done safely; the President wants to make sure that drilling is done safely.…”