Nick Rahall: “Mr. Speaker, well, who would have ever thought that the Republicans would be defending welfare queens on the floor of…”

“Mr. Speaker, well, who would have ever thought that the Republicans would be defending welfare queens on the floor of the House of Representatives, but they are. Lee Raymond, just-retired CEO, ExxonMobil, $400 million, part of it in tax subsidies, part of it in royalty forgiveness, and part of it gouging consumers at the pump. But they are standing up here today to defend poor little ole Lee Raymond with his $400 million pension and ExxonMobil, his company, that only made $29.2 billion last year, the largest corporate profit in the history of the world. They need those subsidies or they will not go out and explore for oil, the Republicans will tell us. Here they are defending welfare queens, subsidies to the most profitable industry in the world. It is sad to see the Republicans come to this. Now, they laughably say this will lead to higher prices. Oh, higher prices, unlike the price gouging after Katrina where gasoline went over three bucks a gallon in Oregon and we do not even get any supply from the eastern United States? Or the price gouging that goes on day in, day out? The price fixing that goes on day in, day out in this industry? The collusion between the American companies, the foreign companies operating in America, and the OPEC cartel to drive down the supply, to drive up the price, which gives them an excuse to go even higher at the pump? What about a trade complaint to the WTO?...”