Political Quotes

“I want to thank the ranking member from the full committee, my friend from California (Mr. Waxman), for yielding this time. Madam Chair, I'm not opposed to drilling in Alaska and I'm not opposed to streamlining the permitting process in a sensible and thoughtful manner, but I do object to cutting out input and participation from the very communities that would be most affected by this process or preempting States' authority in order to expedite the permitting process for one single company. Unfortunately, many of the less affluent communities who are ultimately being adversely affected by this permitting process do not have the resources of the oil industry to lobby Congress on their own behalf, and so it's up to us, those Members who represent those same people, to come to this floor to represent them. While this bill will benefit Shell, the repercussions and consequences, both intended and unintended, will have a much greater impact on many stakeholders. If the majority had been willing to work with our side on this bill, as we offered on many occasions we wanted to--we begged, we pleaded, we almost crawled to try to get bipartisan participation on this bill--if they had been willing to work together, we could have crafted a bipartisan piece of legislation that could move through the House and the Senate and ultimately become law.…”