Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for that question, and I have been thinking about that because he asks that regularly. I particularly have been thinking about that question in the context of the fact that we have so much available acreage on which to produce oil and gas currently permitted. When I say a number, we are talking about literally millions of acres. Madam Speaker, there are 9,000 unused, approved permits right now. There are 26 million acres of public land available right now. There are 11 million acres of Federal waters available. That is 37 million acres in total. In addition to that, 80 million acres in the Gulf were put up for auction last fall, 2021, under President Biden, which was the largest lease sale in U.S. history. Unfortunately, the private sector bought only 1.7 acres out of 80 million. Frankly, it appears to be that no matter what we pass, no matter how many permits we make available, there is not an appetite in the private sector for producing more. I say that in the context of the producers. To their credit, they are claiming victory. They are claiming victory at the extraordinary profits that they have gotten. They are buying back stocks. They are paying large dividends. But they are not producing more product. Now, it may well be that they think the price is pretty high, and they are making a good profit and don't need to do anything more.…”