OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2007

By: Ed Markey
By: Ed Markey
Date: May 18, 2006
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Natural Resources


DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2007--Continued -- (House of Representatives - May 18, 2006)

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Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the Hinchey-Markey amendment. This amendment does absolutely nothing to any existing contract. The oil companies signed a deal at $25 a barrel, royalty relief complete. It goes to $50 a barrel, they still don't have to pay royalties; $75 a barrel, they still don't have to pay royalties; $100 a barrel, still no royalties. And we are not going to take that contract away.

All we are saying is that if you are going to play Uncle Sam as Uncle Sucker, then we are not going to allow you to have any new contracts, because the American consumer is being shaken upside down and having money shaken out of their pockets. Subsidizing the oil industry at $70 a barrel to drill for oil is like subsidizing fish to swim. You don't have to do it.

President Bush said on April 19, I will tell you with $55 a barrel oil we don't need incentives to oil and gas companies to explore, Bush said in a speech to newspaper editors. There are plenty of incentives.

But here is the GOP, not the Grand Old Party, but Gas and Oil Party. That is what they have turned into.

And by the way, last night they cut public health programs by $16 billion. They cut veterans programs by $8 billion. And where could the money have come from? Well, another $10 billion from royalties. If Kerr McGee wins their case, another $60 billion.

If you kicked the Republican budget in the heart, you would break your toe. Keep the money, they say, in the hands of the oil companies. Let them rake off all this money from the taxpayer. Cut the programs in public health, in education, and for veterans, even as their own president is saying they don't need these royalties.

So, ladies and gentlemen, we say keep those contracts, but you are not getting any new contracts with our government if you are going to keep these windfall profits. That is why you should vote for the Hinchey-Markey amendment to send a message to the oil companies in our country.

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