Lower Energy Costs Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. LANDSMAN. Madam Chair, I rise today in opposition to H.R. 1, a very unpopular and wholly unhelpful bill.

The debate on this bill has to be put in the context of two very important things: inflation and costs, including gas prices, but also this broken economy that many feel is rigged.

Both Democrats and Republicans in my district talk about this all the time. You see, there are those with power and wealth, and then there are the rest of us.

It seems like those who have the power and the wealth keep getting more and more, and the rest of us keep getting less and less.

We ask, why is this?

We ask ourselves how can gas prices go up while our bank accounts go down; yet oil companies see profits skyrocket?

How is that not a broken economy? It does beg the question: Is it rigged?

Now we arrive at this bill. Let's be clear, Americans don't want more giveaways furthering this imbalance. They want relief.

Many of us are proposing that relief in energy rebates--direct assistance to help Americans pay for gas and their heating bills.

H.R. 1 just furthers this imbalance. Instead of direct assistance for Americans, which Americans want, it is more giveaways for oil and gas companies. The oil and gas companies have said two things about this bill: one, it is not going to help us speed up the process; and two, thank you for all the giveaways. We love them.

They get more power, build up more wealth, and we get, one, no relief on prices; two, a bigger deficit to deal with; and, three, the loss of local control and input. We actually lose power.

The environmental impact study is where we as Americans weigh in. This bill is controversial and problematic because it takes more away from us and gives more and more and more to a few companies.

That is the broken economy. That is why people think this system is rigged. That is why my colleagues should vote ``no.''

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