Kathy Castor: “Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Republican leadership's transportation package is a dead end. It is being…”

“Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Republican leadership's transportation package is a dead end. It is being panned by businesses, Democrats and Republicans alike. What we will vote on next is the Republican funding portion of the package and it is a little bit different. See, this is a special story. In fact, it is a love story, the love story of a breathtaking display of affection of Big Oil by the Republican party. The bill is a special Valentine, a love letter of the Republicans' undying devotion to Big Oil. No others compare. {time} 1750 The problem is that, with the Republican congressional leaders' blind passion for Big Oil, they correspondingly demonstrate an animosity to American families and businesses. See, it's been less than 2 years since the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster, and the Republicans in Congress now propose to drill for oil just about anywhere. Have safety measures been adopted by this Congress? No. Do they recognize that there are special places across America that are not appropriate for oil drilling? Not really. For example, the bill would allow drilling right off of the beaches of Florida. Florida's tourism industry, meanwhile, employs more than 1 million people. Tourism and fishing are multibillion-dollar industries. Drilling closer to our shores puts those jobs at risk. Yet that's what the Republicans propose here. And for what? The CBO says that if you drill off the coast of Florida, that will generate $100 million.…”