Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I thank my friend from Oregon for yielding. Madam Speaker, first of all, I respond to comments earlier from my friend from New Mexico (Mr. Lujan), who noted that the Congressional Budget Office's score on this bill was zero. Madam Speaker, as we all know, this bill authorizes $135 billion in new programs. And so if my friend from New Mexico is suggesting that this whole thing is a charade and that my friends across the aisle do not anticipate actually seeking appropriations for this legislation, then it would be very interesting to hear those comments, but I think to suggest that the bill does not implicate appropriations is simply misleading, and I would urge that we have more transparency in this process. Madam Speaker, we have two amendments that are in this en bloc, and what they do is, they focus on the critical minerals, the rare Earth minerals that are important components of renewable energy. It is what is used in solar panels. It is what is used in energy storage technology. You can't suddenly say, Hey, we are going to use renewables, and not address this component. What happens is the United States has become energy independent, and we have done that because of the policies that have been enacted over the last few years. What this bill does is, by not addressing the critical minerals, we become energy dependent again. We become dependent upon China, dependent upon Africa, and other nations where China controls the resources.…”