Albert Russell Wynn: “I am a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and I watched 2 years ago as my Republican colleagues larded up the…”

“I am a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and I watched 2 years ago as my Republican colleagues larded up the Energy Policy Act. While we were trying to talk about energy efficiency and we were trying to talk about energy conservation, they were giving over $8 billion in tax breaks to the oil and gas companies, the companies that are making huge profits right now. What this bill does is roll back that tax break as well as require the oil and gas companies to pay appropriate royalties to the government, appropriate royalties to the taxpayer. This bill is looking forward. I am afraid my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are looking backwards. They are still talking about oil and gas. We on the Democrat side, however, get it. We understand that, yes, we are using oil and gas today, but we are also running out of oil and gas in the world and in this country and that we must have alternative energy sources. So what do we do? We say, let's take this unnecessary tax break of $8 billion and let's collect our royalties and let's put that money in a trust fund to develop alternative energy, renewable energy that can last us well into the latter part of this century. Now, personally, I am very enthusiastic about hydrogen fuel cell development because hydrogen fuel cell development definitely leads us down the road to energy independence.”