Pete Domenici: “I thank the Senator for the kind words. I think we are wearing the patience of the chairman thin, so we ought to get on…”

“I thank the Senator for the kind words. I think we are wearing the patience of the chairman thin, so we ought to get on with doing what we can. I want to ask the Senator--I want him to take this fairly and squarely, and when I am finished, if you don't believe what I am saying, then I would like very much for you to have your staff go take a look to see if I am right or not. First of all, Senator, I think you made a mistake with your amendment. I think the amendment is wrong in that under current law-- and what the Secretary has done under current law--the oil companies will pay more royalties than they are going to pay under your amendment. You set a threshold, for instance, on oil of $55, if I read your amendment correctly. Your staff is there and they can confirm this: $55. The Secretary has already established the threshold for oil at $36. So the difference is that at $34, they start--that is the break point, and you have made a mistake in taking it all the way up to $55. It shouldn't be $55 when it is much lower. It means that the oil companies are going to pay much more at a much lower level of the price under existing law than under your amendment. So your amendment should not be adopted. I want to be fair, but I just want to tell you it shouldn't.”