Political Quotes

“I thank you for the opportunity to speak about this amendment to the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2017. This amendment zeroes out several Federal agency programs that have been in the business of picking winners and losers. Federal bureaucrats are not venture capitalists or R&D specialists. They have no business exposing billions of taxpayer dollars to potentially risky investments. We must continue to invest in renewable, nuclear, and fossil energy technologies; but the investments in these projects should be left to the private sector, where firms can decide whether or not to take on the risk. Additionally, the discoveries from these projects are owned by the companies themselves, rather than placed into the private domain to benefit our Nation more fully. Moreover, wherever the Federal Government doles out taxpayer dollars, high-paid lobbyists stand at the ready to collect their share. The success of companies pursuing new energy technologies should depend on those technologies' merits. This amendment eliminates those crony subsidies. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.”