On the recordJuly 30, 2010
I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Chair, just this morning, in an article entitled, ``Stop Spending, Start Cutting,'' columnist Cheri Jacobus wrote in The Hill newspaper, ``While it's one thing for Americans to be livid at their elected officials over of out-of-control spending and unthinkable levels of debt that will be passed down to children yet to be born, we now have reason to be not only angry, but very, very afraid.'' The Congressional Budget Office just told us the painful, unvarnished, frightening truth this week that unless Federal spending is reined in dramatically and/or revenues increased, we are headed for certain sudden economic catastrophe that would make this current economic crisis seem like a day at the beach. Now we are about to pass a bill that has $30 billion in just land purchases. Then there are all the new taxes. This bill creates a new tax on all existing and new Federal onshore and offshore leases. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that this tax on oil and a new tax on natural gas will total $22 billion in 10 years, and eventually these taxes will climb to $3 billion per year. And the CBO also estimates that the new energy taxes will create another $14 billion in litigation costs alone. All of these costs, both direct and indirect, will eventually be passed on to the American consumers of energy--small businesses, families, and farmers.
