Political Quotes

“I thank the House for the opportunity to talk this evening about the 2016 President's budget request and energy policy in this Nation. Madam Speaker, there are a number of energy programs in this Nation whereby public lands resources are leased and energy is produced on public lands and in the offshore waters of this Nation. As you can see here, this is a table that explains some of the different programs that are out there today. Onshore, on Federal lands, when you produce Federal resources--or energy resources--like oil, gas, coal, and other resources, you can see that 50 percent of the funds from that energy production on Federal lands goes to the Federal Government and that 50 percent goes to the States under the Mineral Leasing Act. There are no constraints whatsoever in regard to how those States can spend those funds. So 50 percent of the money from energy production on Federal lands goes directly to the States. Right here, of the 50 percent that goes to the Federal Government, 40 percent of that 50 percent--or 80 percent of the Federal funds-- actually goes into what is called the reclamation fund to be used on water projects in the 17 Western States. In effect, 90 percent of the funds that are produced from energy production on Federal lands goes back and is invested, in many cases, in those same States where production occurs.…”