On the recordDecember 2, 2015
I offer this amendment on behalf of myself, Mr. Cuellar, Mr. Flores, Mr. Conaway, and Mr. McCaul. This amendment is almost identical to H.R. 702, which passed the House floor on a strong bipartisan basis several months ago with 261 votes, I believe, in favor of it. This is necessary because, while we had hoped that H.R. 702 would be brought up in the other body as a stand-alone bill, it doesn't appear that is going to happen this session, so we want to try to put this on another vehicle that the Senate may yet bring up. I will also point out that there are a number of larger bills in play, and there is a possibility we will try to attach it to those also. In any event, this amendment is true to the bill that was brought up on the House floor. It is identical, with two exceptions: One, it does not have the maritime provision to provide some additional funding for our maritime merchant marine fleet because that was not germane--not because we don't support it, but it was not germane. And, two, we had a requirement that we do a study of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. That is no longer necessary because that part of the bill has become law. {time} 1800 Other than that, all of the amendments that were offered and accepted on both sides are in this amendment that is before us today. We are the third largest oil producer in the world. We have the capability to significantly increase our production, but under current law, Mr.…
