Joe Barton

Now, you're aware that we passed a bill that's languishing, I believe, in the Senate that would change the law...

This is a difficult hearing because I think everybody has the same bottom line.

Well, thank you. More importantly, I am the current vice chairman, such as that is.

I stand corrected. I can't blame that on the Senate, then.

So far you have done a very good job of dissimulating and not saying a darn thing so----

This is an important hearing that we are having today because it addresses an issue that we really haven't done a very good job of addressing--this issue of cybersecurity and emergency response.

I have listened to my friends on the minority talk about the reasons they are opposing this bill, and a normal piece of legislation that would have some merit didn't go through regular order, things of this sort. But, Mr. Speaker, when the…

We seem to be more up to date in our private sector infrastructure than our public sector infrastructure.

I do believe there's a legitimate public interest certainly in the permitting and licensing part of these big infrastructure projects.

You know, there's a saying that people like myself that run for public office and have been around awhile kind of live by, and it's called 'no good deed goes unpunished.'

Congress keeps trying to do the right thing in healthcare. We've adopted two policies that we thought were positive, but in terms of cost they don't seem to have helped much.

I thank the distinguished Appropriations Committee chairman for yielding me time. I rise in support of this continuing resolution. Obviously, we would rather fund the government for the entire year before the start of the fiscal year, but…

The bill that passed out of this committee is a long-term permanent solution, bipartisan.

I would like to still be in Congress when we actually fund it. And as your current Secretary said famously back in Texas, let's get on down the road.

This country has been so blessed with natural resources, and then doubly blessed with an economic system based on freedom and free markets.

We repealed the crude oil ban. As I speak today, we are exporting about 2 million barrels of oil per day.

We have an abundance of oil and natural gas in this country.

Mr. Johnson's bill is simply an acknowledgment of that and says let's use this economic resource that we have to benefit the rest of the world.

The gentleman from the Garden State of New Jersey (Mr. Pallone), my good friend, just told you all the things that weren't in this bill that he wished were. My distinguished chairman, Mr. Walden, just whispered in my ear that we have put…

Our Congressman Carter from Georgia was just, rightfully so, complaining about Superfund site in his district that apparently nothing has been done on in 22 years.

I don't normally admit to that up here in Washington, since I am a conservative Republican.

We need to modernize the Superfund process.

I don't know whether to congratulate you on progress or to commiserate with you on regression, but I am glad to see you.

One of the things that now Senator, then Congressman, Ed Markey, and I worked on 10 or 15 years ago was the creation of a northeast gasoline reserve in fuel oil reserve.

I am one of the few Members that was here back in 1986 when we had the last major tax cut before this body. The President was Ronald Reagan and the Speaker of the House was Tip O'Neill. They worked together on a bipartisan basis to cut…