Kendrick Meek: “And the special giveaways and special interests. Let me just quickly, I just want to make the point here. Oil companies…”

“And the special giveaways and special interests. Let me just quickly, I just want to make the point here. Oil companies, look at the subsidies and look at the profits. They have reaped $113 billion in record breaking profits in 2005; 2004, $84 billion; 2003, $59 billion; 2002, $34 billion. It is coincidental, Mr. Speaker, that after the meeting at the White House with the oil companies, that was uncovered, after they denied all of this, that they were a part of the working group, that the profit level went up. Now, I am not just a Member with a conspiracy theory, but just the other day in the Democratic Caucus, we had a gentleman that came to speak to us about alternative fuel sources. The question was asked, well, is not the oil companies, I mean, they have commercials going on talking about how they are investing in alternative fuels. This is an actual shot of a pump at an ExxonMobil station. Here you have regular, you have special and then you have super plus. But this is the interesting part, Mr. Speaker, because this is the ethanol part here that says E-85 which is an alternative fuel. Guess what is happening here. This sign here, and I hope that, Mr. Speaker, the Members can see it. You cannot use your Mobil credit card.…”