Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I don't know how many times I have come to the floor in the last several years or maybe in the last several days to talk about energy. In the process of talking energy, I always say I am for ``all of the above,'' as a lot of my colleagues do; meaning all forms of energy, which would be petroleum, natural gas, alternative energies, including biofuels and wind, conservation as a third one, and nuclear energy as a fourth one. I still believe that. Although I believe some of my colleagues who say they are for ``all of the above'' are for everything that is underground but not much above the ground. So I think there is an inconsistency there. With that background, I want to talk about something that is going to happen tomorrow morning. The Senate banking committee is scheduled to mark up legislation called the American Crude Oil Export Equality Act. I don't have any fault with that action tomorrow. This bill would repeal the four-decade ban on the export of domestically produced crude oil. This ban was put in place in response to the Arab oil embargo, which created an energy crisis and led to fears of crude oil shortages. That goes back to the 1970s. The recent technologies of horizontal drilling and fracking of oil shale has resulted in enormous increases in domestic crude oil production and reduced oil and gas prices. This has led to the domestic oil industry's insistence on repealing the export ban. I am all for fair and free trade.…”