Political Quotes

“I come to the floor in strong opposition to the Murkowski resolution because it means we will needlessly use more oil. That is why the oil industry supports this resolution, because this resolution would increase demand for their products. In turn that is why so many of my Republican friends support this resolution, because whenever big oil wants something, it seems they line up to support it. When the Republicans were in charge of MMS, they stripped the government's ability to regulate oil drilling. Anyone who has turned on the news in the last 52 days can see exactly what the policy of allowing industry to police itself has gotten us. Now they want to go further and strip the government's ability to reduce our oil consumption and regulate pollution. This is simply a wrongheaded approach at the wrong time. This is not the time to increase oil consumption by more than 450 million barrels, which this resolution would ultimately do. This is not the time to prop up big oil, make ourselves less energy secure, and put our coastlines in further peril. The events unfolding in the gulf have vividly shown us we should not be doubling down on 19th-century dirty fuels but, instead, moving to clean technologies of the 21st century that will reinvigorate our economy, allow our businesses to compete internationally, improve our energy security, and preserve the environment. The resolution is regressive on its face.”