James Traficant: “I want to offer to this Congress a suggestion, and I am not going to challenge the ruling of the Chair when I do offer…”

“I want to offer to this Congress a suggestion, and I am not going to challenge the ruling of the Chair when I do offer my amendment, because I have too much respect for the Chairman on transportation. He would probably kill all of my projects that I desperately need in my district, so I am not going to do that. I want to make a couple of points before I offer my amendment, and I want the gentleman from Texas to consider this. I can remember about 10 years ago, I had an amendment in a bill before the Committee on Science that would appropriate X amount of dollars to retrieve oil trapped in shale rock. We have oil reserves trapped in shale rock that can keep America operating without use of 1 pint of foreign oil and not using 1 ounce of our reserves and not using 1 ounce of our normal oil fields. You know what I was told? We can buy oil, Traficant, at $18 a barrel. Your cost is $28 a barrel to retrieve it. Therefore, we are not going to do it. Ladies and gentlemen, we can put Americans to work.…”