Providing for Consideration of H.R. 5254, Refinery Permit Process Schedule Act
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 5254, REFINERY PERMIT PROCESS SCHEDULE ACT -- (House of Representatives - June 06, 2006)
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Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this Rule and to the underlying bill.
Let me begin by saying that I've been in Congress for 30 years now, and this is absolutely the worst energy bill I've seen since the bill the House defeated just over one month ago!
In fact, it is the same exact bill--risen from the grave like some horror movie monstrosity to haunt this House yet again.
The Rule we are considering for this bill is an absolute insult to this House and to the Members. It is a complete and total gag Rule. It makes absolutely no amendments in order. It allows only one hour of debate on the bill. It waives all points of order against the bill.
The Rules Committee Republicans voted down Democratic motions to report this bill with an open rule.
The Rules Committee Republicans voted down a Democratic Motion to make in order an amendment by the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Allen) to strike provisions from the bill that would require the designation of no less than 3 closed military bases for use as refineries.
The Rules Committee Republicans voted down a Democratic Motion to make in order an amendment by the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Boucher) to establish a Strategic Refinery Reserve to help cushion the shock of extreme supply disruptions with a
federal refinery that would have surge capacity to produce refined products when needed.
Why are the Republicans afraid of having a debate and a vote on these Democratic amendments?
Are they afraid of giving the Members an opportunity to approve a measure that might actually do something to reduce gas prices, and ensure that the rights of local communities are not trampled upon in order to advance the interests of the oil industry? We should be able to have that debate and vote on these amendments today.
We shouldn't be forced to put our amendments into a recommittal motion at the end of the bill in which we will only have 10 minutes of total debate time.
Once again, the Republican Majority that controls this Congress is abusing its power and trampling upon the rights of the Minority.
This bill has never been the subject of any legislative hearing in the Energy and Commerce Committee. It was introduced by the gentleman from New Hampshire (Mr. Bass), on May 2nd of this year and then brought immediately to the House floor on the Suspension Calendar one day later.
Now, the Suspension Calendar is normally used for non-controversial bills that have approved on a bipartisan basis. Most of the time, we use the Suspension Calendar to bring up bills to name post offices, pass commemorations, or enact Sense of Congress resolutions. It is entirely inappropriate to use the Suspension process for a bill as contentious as the Bass bill, because that process bars any amendments and sharply limits floor debate.
Thankfully, the Bass bill failed when brought up as a Suspension. It deserves to fail again here on the Floor today.
There still have never been any legislative hearings on this bill.
There still has been no Subcommittee or Committee process.
The Democratic Members of the Energy and Commerce Committee have been walled out.
This is a bad bill. It deserves to be defeated.
I urge the Members to reject this Rule, to reject this unfair process, and to reject the Bass Refinery bill.
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