It is, frankly, stunning that after about 2 years of Republicans talking such a big game on energy security and energy independence, that one of the Republicans' first bills this Congress is a proposal that would seriously undermine both. The truth is that Republicans' decades-old drill-baby-drill mentality is outdated, it is reckless, and it simply cannot and will not protect Americans from the volatile price movements of a global commodity. Our country has adopted this mentality for decades, and it just doesn't work. The United States is already the world's top producer of both oil and gas, and the fossil fuel industry already controls large portions of U.S. public lands and waters, and it isn't using most of it. Right now, fossil fuel companies control over 26 million acres of U.S. public lands, half of which is going unused. The problem is not a shortage of land or leases. Republicans only want the American people to think that that is the case because they want to keep doing the bidding of Big Oil. But the bottom line is, Big Oil doesn't want to pump oil because that would lower prices. They don't want to do it. They don't want to address the issue of affordability with gas prices. They don't want to pump more oil.…
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I thank Chris for yielding. I just thank so many people on both sides of the aisle who came to the beautiful funeral that we had for Bill Pascrell in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson with the Bishop. One of the things you…
I have no additional speakers, and I am prepared to close. Mr. Speaker, again, this is a bill that addresses wasteful spending, and I think it is important for us to make sure we support it on a bipartisan basis. Mr. Speaker, I yield back…
In closing, we have had a number of arguments that have been made today on the other side of the aisle, but one that is really infuriating to me, and it should be to everyone, in my opinion, is this Republican argument for freedom of…
I urge everyone to support this bill that protects us and keeps us in leadership on next generation technology, and I yield back the balance of my time.





