Political Quotes

“Madam Chair, I rise in support of my amendment. My amendment is quite simple. It just says that nothing, nothing that the Republicans are proposing today should put a limitation on the ability of the EPA to reduce the demand for importing oil from OPEC, which should be the number one objective in our country. You know, we only have 2 percent of the world's oil reserves, and we consume 25 percent on a daily basis. That is our Achilles' heel, and there is nothing we can do about it. So the only way in which we can solve the problem is if we reduce consumption by increasing the efficiency of the vehicles which we drive, of the boats which we use, of the planes that we ride in, of the other sources that consume the oil that we use in our country. And what they are going to do, the Republicans, is tie the hands of the EPA to back out the 5 million barrels of oil that we import from OPEC on a daily basis. OPEC is not afraid of the Foreign Affairs Committee. OPEC is not afraid of the Armed Services Committee. It is the Energy Committee that they are afraid of. They are afraid that one day we will actually have a policy that backs out their imported oil, that denies them the $150 billion or $200 billion a year that we send over to them that allows them to continue their dictatorships. That's what they are afraid of. And what the Republicans are doing today is tying the hands of our country to be able to tell OPEC we don't need their oil anymore than we need their sands.…”