Political Quotes

“I rise in strong opposition to the bill that is before us today. We hear a lot of nice rhetoric coming from the proponents of this legislation. We hear that the bill is about revenue sharing. We hear that the funds will be used for conservation and coastal restoration. We hear that the bill is about providing parity, and at the same time, there is a lot of rhetoric, but underneath the rhetoric and the rosy picture being painted, one thing is clear: This bill isn't about conservation or infrastructure or environmental restoration. This bill is about one thing and one thing only: another giveaway to Big Oil. It is about paving the way for oil drilling up and down the Atlantic coast. It is about expanding drilling in the gulf, even as those communities work to recover from the BP disaster. It is about turning the Arctic wilderness from a wildlife haven into an oil field. We have seen this from the majority before--a legislative agenda focused on giving handout after handout to Big Oil no matter what the cost to our constituents. The majority party, the party of so-called fiscal conservatism, has no problem breaking out the checkbook when it is time to give billions of dollars of tax subsidies to oil companies. They see no issue with capping the oil industry's liability for the economic costs of offshore oil spills at $134 million--for spills that we know can cost tens of billions of dollars, but their liability is limited at $134 million.…”