Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, my colleague on the other side of the aisle says this is a measure to give relief to the American consumer and is pro-middle class. First off, I don't know how anyone with a straight face has a giveaway to the oil and gas industry and says it is a relief to the American consumer or a benefit to the middle class. There is nothing in here that does anything good for the middle class, and there is nobody in America who thinks that if the oil and gas industry is helped, somehow consumers have gotten a personal benefit from that. Mr. Chair, we all know climate change is real. We are very actively engaged in trying to produce more renewable energy and reduce our fossil fuel dependence. That is number one. That has to be our number one goal as Members of Congress. Second, this simply says that when we use public land for accessing oil and gas, we ask those companies, which make billions in profits, which everybody in America knows--they actually think that they should get a break? This actual fee has not changed since the 1920s. It is going from 12.5 percent to 16 percent when it has not changed since the 1920s. Does anybody think we should continue to give the same incredible break to the oil and gas industry that they have had since the 1920s? It is a small modernization. It is money in the pocket of American taxpayers for using American land to derive this resource. Mr. Chair, I think it is ludicrous that anyone should block this provision in law.…”