Jim Inhofe: “We went through this class warfare once back in 1980. We had Jimmy Carter as President of the United States. He had the…”

“We went through this class warfare once back in 1980. We had Jimmy Carter as President of the United States. He had the windfall profits tax. I am sure my friend from Vermont remembers that at that time. I remember it well. That is when they were going to have a windfall profits tax on the oil and gas industry. The results of that: The WPT reduced domestic production between 3 and 6 percent and increased oil imports from 8 to 16 percent. . . . This made the United States more dependent upon imported oil. That is the Congressional Research Service, which is nonpartisan. That is a major issue here in terms of our dependence on other countries for our ability to run this machine called America. Let's get back to the percentage depletion. The percentage depletion is particularly important for the production of America's over 600,000 low-volume marginal wells. The average marginal well produces 2 barrels a day. A marginal well is a well producing under 15 barrels per day. The average is 2 barrels a day. My friend is talking about all these big giants. I am not nearly as concerned about the big five and the majors as I am about my marginal operators in my State of Oklahoma.”