Steve Israel: “as we debate this rule and debate how we are going to debate this rule, an F-16 is burning 25 gallons of fuel every…”

“as we debate this rule and debate how we are going to debate this rule, an F-16 is burning 25 gallons of fuel every minute. A Stryker combat vehicle on which our troops travel is traveling at the rate of about 7 miles per gallon. I was on a C-17 recently. It is burning 3,000 gallons an hour. Energy is a national security issue. It is a vital national security issue. And we can't afford to continue to debate the debate to adjourn this House. The decision before to ask this House to adjourn, I think, is emblematic of failed energy policies. There is no more debating or delaying. It is time to act. Last year the Department of Defense spent $10.6 billion on basic energy costs. Of that, the Air Force spent $4.7 billion on one thing, buying fuel for its planes. Now, I believe in a robust defense. We have got some significant challenges in the world. China is a significant challenge. Iran is a significant challenge. But the policies on energy that we have had for the past 6 years have put us in the position where we are borrowing money from China to fund our defense budgets, to fuel our military, which requires buying oil from the Persian Gulf to protect us from China and the Persian Gulf. How does that make sense? It makes no sense.”