Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Washington for yielding. I rise in opposition to the CLEAR Act, and the only thing clear about this legislation is that it's going to raise $22 billion in new taxes on American families and run more jobs overseas. If you look at the bill, first of all, when you talk about their $22 billion tax, which, by the way, is yet one more violation of President Obama's pledge that he won't tax American families that make below $250,000, because they are going to pay the bulk of their new tax. It also discriminates by only applying it to American energy producers. As people's heating bills are going to be going up in the winter, and their gas bills are going to be going up all throughout the year, they are going to be wondering, what is this liberal leadership running Congress doing? They are raising taxes on American families and running off more jobs when the provisions in this bill actually make it harder for our domestic energy producers to continue operating because the bill preserves Big Oil's ability to bid on future leases. But it eliminates 70 percent of their competition, the small domestic guys who are out there doing the same kind of drilling in a safe and environmentally friendly way. It's bad for jobs. It raises $22 billion in new taxes. This isn't the answer to help the gulf. It only helps OPEC.”