Jerry Moran: “As I noted previously, there are a lot of winners and losers in H.R. 2584. Two of the winners are the oil and gas…”

“As I noted previously, there are a lot of winners and losers in H.R. 2584. Two of the winners are the oil and gas companies and the cattle grazers who use our publicly owned land. One of the losers is Indians who need Sanitation Facilities. My amendment would do two things. First, it decreases funding from the increase in the bill for the BLM's oil and gas and grazing management programs. Second, the amendment would restore the Indian Sanitation Facilities Program by what it was cut below the current spending level. I find it ironic that the majority refused to allow the administration to collect an inspection fee from the oil and gas industry but had no problem in providing more taxpayer subsidies for the oil and gas industry. The oil and gas industry gets about $4 billion in subsidies per year. Likewise cattle ranchers get about $400 million in subsidies per year by paying their ridiculously low fee of $1.35 per month per cow while States charge so much more. Texas, for example, charges $65 to $150 per cow per month to graze on State-owned lands, but the Federal Government charges only $1.35. Well, in this bill, they would see an increase in taxpayer resources devoted to grazing management from $75 million to $90 million, a 20 percent increase. Why not ask them to at least pay the cost of administering their grazing subsidy?…”