Doug Lamborn: “H.R. 6 would be bad enough if it only increased taxes by $6.5 billion. H.R. 6 would be bad enough if it only drove up…”

“H.R. 6 would be bad enough if it only increased taxes by $6.5 billion. H.R. 6 would be bad enough if it only drove up the price of domestic energy, hurting working families and empowering Hugo Chavez and OPEC. But there is a flaw in this bill that goes even deeper and touches on our oath to uphold the United States Constitution. This bill has a takings with no compensation in it which should not be allowed under the United States Constitution. I thought we had all learned in the aftermath of the Kelo decision that the American people are offended when the government grabs property without just compensation. Yet this bill does exactly that. This bill forces owners of certain oil and gas leases to renegotiate those leases and forces them to forgo all economic benefits from those leases until they do so. This is a clear violation of the fifth amendment. Under my oath of office, I cannot support H.R. 6. I urge all Members to oppose it for this reason alone, apart from all of the other bad policy that it contains.”