Lynn A. Westmoreland: “Thank you. And let me just close with saying this: You're probably going to hear later on tonight that there are 68…”

“Thank you. And let me just close with saying this: You're probably going to hear later on tonight that there are 68 million acres out there to drill on. Keep this in mind, Madam Speaker, we don't go to the hardware store to buy groceries. We're not going to drill on land that does not have resources under it. If you look at the Outer Continental Shelf and the lands that the Federal Government have inside this country, it is 2.5 billion acres of land. You're going to hear that the oil companies have these leases and they're not drilling them. It is law today that if a company that leases land does not honor that lease agreement, that lease is taken away from them. These arguments will not hold water. It is time to act, and the time is now. It is time that this Congress turns into a Congress of action that wants to move forward--our being less dependent on foreign oil--and quit relying on our enemies in an unstable region to produce our oil, to produce our energy.”