Jim Inhofe: “I suggest to the Senator that he is one of the few Senators who know what I am talking about. When you picked up a cable…”

“I suggest to the Senator that he is one of the few Senators who know what I am talking about. When you picked up a cable tool--it weighed several hundred pounds--if you did not open up your hands in time, it went right down in there. I have a lot of friends who can't play the guitar anymore. Frankly, I almost ended up in this business. It is a very admirable business. When we talk about economic development and economic stimulus, I think often about the oil fields in Oklahoma. I was a very young child at that time. We are talking about 50 years ago. I remember going to get lunch. You had to stand in line and wait to pay your ticket. That was back in the days when we really had economic stimulus. It came from this energy. That is something we don't talk about very much, but it is a very real thing, and it is particularly real when you personally experience it. But I have to say that my major concern right now with our energy crisis with which we are faced--and it is a crisis--is how it affects our ability to defend America. I spent about 4 years chairing the Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness. I am now ranking member. I see what our readiness problems are and what our military problems are as they relate to our dependency on foreign countries for our ability to fight a war.”