On the recordFebruary 16, 2012
I yield myself the balance of my time. The Republican slogan 2 years ago was, ``Drill here, drill now, pay less.'' Today the slogan is, ``Drill here, sell to China, pay more in the United States.'' If all these terminals get built, the Energy Department says the price is going to go up by 54 percent for American consumers. Let me tell you what Boone Pickens says. Boone Pickens said something that is very, very clear about exporting natural gas. He said: ``If we do it, we're truly going to go down as America's dumbest generation. It's bad public policy to export natural gas.'' American energy for American jobs. Oil and natural gas are not lobsters. They are not toothbrushes. They are our key to the strategic protection of our national security. This is a signal to OPEC that we mean business. We're going to drill for the natural gas. We're going to keep it here. And we're going to tell them we don't need their oil any more than we need their sand. Vote for the Markey amendment. Keep the natural gas, which we drill for off of the beaches in this country, in our country, and tell them they can keep their sand. We'll keep our natural gas right here in America. Vote ``aye'' for the Markey amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.
