Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this bill before us. Today we're debating a bill that Republicans tell us will embrace an all-of-the-above energy strategy. The way this bill purports to do this is by opening large swaths of land to oil and gas drilling, halting regulations, and gutting the Clean Air Act. It's clear that this is not a true effort to develop an all-of-the-above strategy, but instead is a narrow-minded approach to oil and gas development at any cost. Republicans continue to criticize President Obama and congressional Democrats for opposing efforts to increase U.S. domestic oil production, but the facts disprove this notion. The President hasn't agreed with every proposal to expand oil and gas drilling in the United States and its territorial waters, but he has taken action to open up substantial new public lands and coastal waters to oil and gas development. Today, roughly 75 percent of U.S. oil reserves on public lands and under our coastal waters have been leased out to oil drillers. In fact, domestic oil production is at an 8-year high, and the production of natural gas plant liquids--liquefied petroleum gases that are used for fuel--is currently at an all-time high of more than 2 million barrels per day. All told, the U.S. Energy Information Agency estimates that U.S. petroleum production in 2012 will average more than 8 million barrels per day. The number of oil rigs in the United States has quadrupled under President Obama.…”