On the recordMay 31, 2012
I'm always at a loss sometimes when I hear certain things, but this is really about there is no energy policy in America. We're talking about actually investing in some of the resources that we're standing on today in America to help us become more energy independent, not more energy dependent. We've seen what Solyndra did. We've seen what some of these ideas have been. While some are very intuitive or can lead to some directions that we want to go in, we have resources here today in America that can help us become more energy independent. This appropriations bill actually increases that R&D, that development of clean coal. We have over 300 years of energy just in coal alone. Why would we not look at how we can clean it by utilizing technology to do so? This bill does that. Mr. Speaker, as we move forward, you've got to remember that three of these bills are open for amendment. My good friend on the other side probably remembers back to the 111th Congress when they never had an open rule on appropriations. But with this, we have three open rules and one structured rule. So if you don't like something that's contained in any one of those three bills, you have the opportunity to amend it on the floor. You can do that. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
