Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I don't want to disrespect in any way the minority's opportunity that they have, but I did come here to talk about the energy bills. I chose to go last on this side because I would like to address some of the thoughtful concerns that were raised by Mr. Hastings from Florida. I call them concerns because I didn't hear real objections. I think they are legitimate concerns that some people have had, and they deserve discussion. We are talking about the rule here. He made a suggestion that somehow this lifting of the oil export ban bill, H.R. 702, takes the President's prerogative away to deal with a situation at all costs or in every situation. The reality is it does reserve a right for the President to reinstate the ban in some sort of an emergency. I want to make sure that that is clarified. I also want to clarify that he mentioned we are not in regular order, and perhaps he is referring to the Native American Energy Act. I know we have had a couple of hearings since I have been in Congress on that, perhaps not this Congress. I don't know. I am not on that committee. I can tell you that the Energy and Commerce Committee has had a hearing on H.R. 702, and two other committees have had hearings on similar bills: the Agriculture Committee and the Foreign Affairs Committee. So this has been a thoroughly vetted issue.…”