David Thomas: “it is interesting, the proper role for Government--I guess that is a choice we make. Certainly we have a different point…”

“it is interesting, the proper role for Government--I guess that is a choice we make. Certainly we have a different point of view about the role of Government, not only on this but on many things. We talk about how important oil and gas is. It certainly is important. What about food and beverage--is this important? No, that is just something that we play with. What about insurance--is that important? Of course, all of these things are important. Somehow we want to pick out one commodity and do something with it. We keep talking about these profits. Again, let me say that the profits in these companies are not as equal as these. So the idea that they are overly profitable--they are not. I am not sure that the Senator is familiar with the costs of energy production. We are talking now about doing offshore things. It costs millions of dollars to drill a well. These are not small-dollar kinds of things. Again, I say one should not have to subject themselves to the oversight of a Government agency to decide whether they can use the money they earn to invest in their own business. That just does not make much sense. We talk about reducing the costs. Well, everybody wants to reduce the costs. Take a look at the gas pump over the last 6 months. It has been reduced from about $3 a gallon to now below $2, so we are making some progress. He talks about OPEC setting the price. Why do my colleagues think that is? Because we are so dependent on importing energy.…”