Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise to offer this final amendment that I believe will greatly increase economic and job safeguards for the American people. Simply put, the underlying legislation is about risk versus reward. We know what the reward is: trillions of dollars of profit over the last decade for oil companies and preferred stock buybacks and bonuses for executives. We know what the proponents of this bill say the reward will be: lower gas prices at the pump. Now, what is the risk that we're looking at? The risk is existing jobs: existing jobs in the marine industry, the fishing industry, the tourism industry--industries that are among the most job-producing in my State and in the States of so many other people in this Chamber. My amendment requires the administrator to determine whether or not this will lower gas prices for American citizens. I believe we need a safeguard for the American public, who should not bear the burden of the risk with no guarantee of the reward. I'm sure the many small businesses in the gulf and in my district which rely on the marine economies and tourism would agree with this. This final amendment is a commonsense compromise, and regardless of how the Members feel about the underlying legislation, this is something that we should all be able to support.…”