Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act, 2007

ENERGY AND WATER DEVELOPMENT APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2007 -- (House of Representatives - May 24, 2006)

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Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 1 minute.

You know, the problem with this whole debate is that, within the same bill, there is funding for Yucca Mountain in order to store all of the spent fuel that the nuclear industry has created here domestically. Yet they are coming in here saying, well, we need another solution to the same problem. We also need the taxpayers to subsidize ultimately $3 billion, $6 billion, which is just a demonstration project, and ultimately, $20 billion, $30 billion, $40 billion or $50 billion for reprocessing technology; two paid-for-by-the-taxpayer solutions to the same problem, even though Yucca Mountain is supposed to solve the problem.

Why is that? Because this program does what President Bush wants to do, which is to offer cradle-to-grave services for countries around the world. American companies will build nuclear power plants around the world, and then they will ship the nuclear waste to the United States. And by the way, this waste, when it is reprocessed, is the worst of all materials because it can be used for nuclear weapons but it is not too dangerous for terrorists to handle as a dirty bomb at the same time.

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Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Chairman, this is a crazy budget. It really is. It authorizes $50 million to help the oil companies to drill in deep water even though they reported $113 billion in profits. It allows for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. That is where they are going to be heading tomorrow on the House floor.

And this shows you the hypocrisy coefficient on energy policy. Last year, they trumpeted on the House floor and the President with a flourish signed the bill that put in $100 million for State energy plans for conservation at the State level, $100 million.

Then, in January, the President sends up his budget, $49.5 million.

And today, out on the House floor, the true agenda of the Republican Party once again reveals itself: zero. Zero for conservation. Nothing. Meaning that the $100 million last August that the President signed, the $49.5 million that he asked this year, all dismissed while we are going to tip the taxpayer upside down and subsidize the nuclear, oil, gas and coal industries.

But the American taxpayer knows we have to learn to work smarter, not harder; how to conserve, how to use technologies that will reduce our consumption. We only have 3 percent of the oil reserves in the world. We import 70 percent of the oil we consume. That is why we need the DeLauro amendment in order to make sure that we put conservation number one, to back out this imported oil from around the world.

Vote ``aye'' on the DeLauro amendment.

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Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 1 minute.

Mr. Chairman, believe it or not, in this budget there is $50 million to help the oil industry figure out how to do ultra-deep drilling for oil.

Now, the Republicans here in Congress do this despite the fact that President Bush says this on the program, ``I will tell you, with $55-a-barrel oil, we do not need incentives to oil and gas companies to explore.''

It is now $70 a barrel. The President has asked us to take out the money. It is ultimately a $500 million 10-year project. The only ultra-deep drilling that is going on here is in the pockets of American taxpayers by oil companies which have reported $110 billion worth of profit in the last year.

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Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 1 minute.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to read to the Members who are paying attention what President Bush has said to us this year, just a couple of months ago. Here is what he says. He says, ``In the 2007 budget, we recommend repealing provisions of the Energy Policy Act for a new mandatory $50 million per year oil and gas R&D program funded with Federal revenues from oil and gas leases which would be similar to the discretionary programs proposed for termination. Industry has the incentives and the resources to do such research and development on its own.''

That is from President Bush and Dick Cheney to us on the floor.

We do not need this $500 million program. Mom and pop companies do not go out into deep water. The companies that are going out there are ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron, Conoco, Marathon. We do not have to subsidize these oil companies. They are already tipping the American consumer upside down and shaking money out of their pockets at the pump every single day.

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Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 1 minute.

Mr. Chairman, you know, I am like a referee at an intramural Republican fight here. And so I am just trying to ref it so that you can understand what is going on.

The President and the Vice President have asked for this huge subsidy to huge oil companies to be taken out. He is kind of being a free marketeer here. Well, the Republican leadership here is saying, no, we want to give another half a billion dollars to companies that are now charging $3 a gallon for gasoline, made $114 billion last year and, in the President's own words, do not need this subsidy.

So it is free marketeers versus subsidizers, but it is an intramural slaughter inside the Republican Party. And which of the companies are going to be the beneficiaries in this partnership to secure energy for America? The names are Chevron, Halliburton, BP, Marathon Oil, Kerr-McGee and others.

And this is Dick Cheney and George Bush saying take the money out. But yet they continue to commit to these subsidies from the taxpayer even as the companies report huge profits.

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Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Chairman, in conclusion, this amendment is nothing more nor less than an attempt to be fair to the American taxpayer. They are howling at the pumps. They feel like they are getting stuck up at the gas stations. They are paying too much. They are being ripped off.

And this just adds insult to energy by having the oil companies then come to Congress and saying, now you do the research for us. You pay us to go out and drill for more oil. We will then charge you $3.50, $4 a gallon for it. It just makes no sense.

President Bush and Dick Cheney want this amendment to pass. Vote ``aye'' on the Markey amendment.

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