Sam Farr: “I, like others, rise in support of the bill. I think the authors of this bill, particularly the gentleman from Ohio (Mr.…”

“I, like others, rise in support of the bill. I think the authors of this bill, particularly the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Hobson) and the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Visclosky), have done a great job, but this is the only bill we have before Congress which allows us to have a debate on FERC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. It would be a better bill if we put an amendment in there, but the Committee on Rules has not allowed that amendment, and that is wrong. It is really wrong because this is the only place where we can address that issue. The administration should address it. They have been silent. They sit by and allow FERC to continue to do nothing. FERC is a regulatory agency. This is where the consumers can go to get some protection. That is the only agency in the Federal Government that can do anything about it; and when they do not act, we have nowhere to turn. This is an agency that ought to have money withheld from it until it answers the questions. That is something that we do in the legislative process all the time. And since the administration has failed to hold them accountable, Congress should. We are asleep at the switch. When that switch was asleep at FERC, a regulatory agency, they allowed all of these companies to just screw California. Mr. Speaker, it took $9 billion of taxpayer money to pay these bills. This is absolutely absurd. It is more than absurd. It is obscene, it is criminal and it ought to stop now.”