Political Quotes

“My amendment is simple and straightforward. It would eliminate funding for the $50 million oil and gas research and development program funded through the Department of Energy's fossil energy R&D account. This cut, which the President also proposed in his FY12 budget, would save the taxpayers money and end an unnecessary subsidy to the oil and gas industry. I am proposing elimination of this R&D program because the research is being done and should be done by the industry itself. Don't just take my word for it. The industry itself is doing the job and says so. There is an ad in today's edition of The Hill newspaper on the back which says, in part, this is placed here by the people of America's oil and natural gas industry; that oil and natural gas companies are leading innovators investing hundreds of billions of dollars in innovative technology and capital projects over the past decade. We should be using our scarce Federal dollars on clean energy innovation that we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, create jobs, and to stay competitive globally. This continuing resolution would cut over $2 billion in renewable energy research and development. At a time when we are looking to cut unnecessary spending, the oil and gas R&D program should be on the chopping block as well. The oil and gas industry has ample resources to develop these technologies without this Federal subsidy.”