Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I want to introduce another dose of reality, something you have not heard many folks talk about today. Where is this money coming from? How are we paying for this initially--what is it?--$1.9 or $2.9 billion a year in mandatory spending? This is coming from offshore energy revenues. That is where the majority of these moneys are coming from, from oil and gas production. I want to be clear: from oil and gas production. Now, the majority at the same time and in the same breath is taking step after step to decimate or eliminate the domestic energy industry, therefore not making us get oil and gas from the United States but getting it from places like Russia, as we have seen over and over again when these drastic policies have been put forth. Now, Mr. Speaker, the other thing is, any time you have energy revenues like this produced on Federal land under the Mineral Leasing Act, 50 percent of the money goes to those States that host that production, and they can use it for whatever they want. They can use it for whatever they want to use it for. In this case, the Gulf States, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, we get about 4 percent right now. So, Mr. Speaker, I have a question. I have a question for my friends on the majority.…”