Kendrick Meek: “Mr. Ryan, Mr. Delahunt, I did jot down a couple of notes here before we came to the floor. Mr. Speaker, I just want to…”

“Mr. Ryan, Mr. Delahunt, I did jot down a couple of notes here before we came to the floor. Mr. Speaker, I just want to share a little bit with the Members of the facts, not fiction. I am not a Member with a conspiracy theory, but I am here to say that we know that Republicans, I am going to point out where they, Mr. Delahunt, have blocked Democratic efforts to deal with the price gouging situation. Now they are running for political cover and scrambling to join Democrats. That is actually an article in the Washington Post from May of 2006. The Democratic ideas about energy independence, conservation and efficiency that benefits all of Americans, they are now trying to pick up those ideas and trying to run with them. But it is not a good faith effort, because the oil industry will not allow them to do so. We know about the Vice President Cheney's secret energy task force/working group with big oil to write the Bush- Cheney and Republican Congress energy plan. That was in the Washington Post, Mr. Speaker, in case the Members want to get a copy of it, 11-16-05. Bush-Cheney and the Republican colleagues gave their backing to big oil, $20 million in royalty fees for drilling. That is the New York Times, 2-14-06. Also the New York Times, 3-29-06. You can get these articles if you want to read up on them. Last year, $9.5 billion in subsidies in last year's energy bill went to the oil companies. $9.5 billion. $16 billion first quarter profits for the top three oil companies.…”