Political Quotes

“I yield myself as much time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I rise to oppose this amendment. Last year, during our offshore debate, an identical amendment was offered, and it failed in the House by a bipartisan vote. In fact, 263 of our colleagues voted ``no'' on this amendment. Right now, under existing law, the Northern California Planning Area is available for leasing. It's been available since 2008 when gasoline prices hit $4 per gallon and the President and the Congress at that time lifted the offshore drilling moratoria. I'll remind the House that in 2008 when gas prices were rising and the Democrats controlled the House, nothing was done regarding these $4-a-gallon gasoline prices until after the session ended and the President ended his moratoria and the Congress entered that moratoria. So going into 2009, there essentially was no moratoria that existed. This legislation, then, aims to open up our Federal resources and increase energy production despite President Obama's failure to do just the opposite. This amendment would simply block additional areas from energy production in the future. The Outer Continental Shelf and the resources it contains are under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government. It belongs to all of the people of the United States. The State of California--and I need to remind colleagues of this--the State of California's top import is petroleum from overseas.…”