On the recordJuly 7, 2011
I join my colleague in asking to exempt the Department of Defense from section 526; 526 was added to the energy bill in a wrongheaded move to placate some notion that it would have some impact on global warming. It's wrong to require the Department of Defense in these times, where every single dollar is scarce and every single dollar should have a home, to require them to spend extra money beyond what they would normally spend for fuel for their planes. This amendment would also allow the continued development of coal-to- liquid jet fuel, which would make this country much less dependent on foreign oil in terms of powering our jets and other engines. So 526, maybe it belongs in the Department of Energy bill, maybe it belongs somewhere else, but it does not belong in the Department of Defense spending bill because those dollars are scarce. They are going to get scarcer. And to require the Department of Defense to spend more money than they would have otherwise have spent on energy under this wrongheaded notion, in my view, is just simply bad policy. So I rise in support of my colleague's amendment, and I urge the adoption of his amendment when it comes to a vote. I yield back the balance of my time.
