Lynn A. Westmoreland: “Thank you. As we continued listening to my friend and colleague Mr. Ryan talk about the amount of land that is open for…”

“Thank you. As we continued listening to my friend and colleague Mr. Ryan talk about the amount of land that is open for drilling, it is only 3 percent of the Outer Continental Shelf. That is only 3 percent of it. There are only 6 percent of the Federal lands on shore that are open to drilling. Now, these oil companies may hold some of these leases, but why would you want to drill on something that did not have oil? I don't think that makes good sense. He is talking about the $14 billion tax. Well, you know, I am not the smartest guy in the world, but I had an economics teacher, Colonel Walford, in high school, who made it very clear to me that taxing a producer or manufacturer did not lower the price to the consumer. You don't have to be an economist to understand that if you raise taxes on somebody, it is not going to lower the price to the consumer. Now, the other thing is that the majority has been in control for 17 months. When they took over, the price of a gallon of gas was $2.26. Right now it is up over $4.”