Nick Rahall: “Mr. Chairman, I am among these who believe this country does need a new national energy policy, and we need to stick to…”

“Mr. Chairman, I am among these who believe this country does need a new national energy policy, and we need to stick to it through times of energy scarcity as well as abundance. But not this energy policy, not what is in the pending legislation. The bill has nothing to do with providing Americans with energy security. Instead, it is a multibillion dollar giveaway of America's resources and America's taxpayer dollars to big oil, already awash in record profits. The headline, as we see here and has already been referred to in today's debate, from a Wall Street Journal article of this week: Major Oil Companies Struggle to Spend Huge Hoards of Cash. Imagine that. They have profited so mightily from the American public that they now cannot figure out what to do with all of their hoards of cash. Yet the Republican leadership of this body wants to reward big oil even further. Tax credits and tax cuts with no offsets. At least we have paid for ours in our version of an energy bill. Relief from compensating the American public from drilling on our Federal lands and waters. Make no mistake about it, these giveaways will come at the expense of our elderly. There are no more surpluses. There is no reserve into which we can dip. The $33.5 billion tax cuts in this bill, largely for energy companies, will come out of Medicare. Rob the elderly to pay Exxon, Shell and the rest of them? This is an energy policy? I think not.”