Joe Barton: “We have all seen the reports in the last several months about some of these abuses of public funds...”

I helped lead the fight, and a lot of Members on the committee did, to repeal the ban on crude oil exports 3 or 4 years ago.

I don't want to speak for the Department of Energy, but the draft legislation allows, without going through the appropriation process, funds generated by using this facility for private purposes to be used for maintenance of the facility.

I am a little bit skeptical if we are doing this simply because we don't like natural gas power, we don't like coal power, we don't like nuclear power, because that would be an added cost that somebody's got to bear.

This is a really, really good bill. I hope we have a great hearing.