Tax Relief And Health Care Act of 2006

TAX RELIEF AND HEALTH CARE ACT OF 2006 -- (House of Representatives - December 08, 2006)

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Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 3 minutes.

Mr. Speaker, this bill contains a provision which really is unrelated completely to the tax extenders. There are indeed tax credits and other things, very good; but what they have decided to do is attach a rider to this bill, and that rider is a special sweetheart deal that changes the entire formula for the collection of royalties, that is, taxes, for the American people for oil and gas which is drilled for on public lands.

Because of this change in formula, $170 billion is going to be transferred from the pockets of the American taxpayer of 46 States and sent to four States. In the course of the debate this afternoon within the hour, we will be considering an amendment, an amendment which will say that if any oil companies want to drill for the oil in the gulf that is going to be permitted under this new bill, that these companies must renegotiate the old leases which they received back in the 1990s, which, believe it or not, makes it possible for them to escape paying royalties on oil and gas drilled for on public lands in the United States. Even if the price of oil goes to $40, $50, $60, $70, $80 a barrel, oil companies do not pay any more royalties.

Well, what our amendment will say is that they must renegotiate. The oil and gas industry must renegotiate with the Federal Government to return those windfall profits on the old leases before they are going to be allowed to drill for these new leases in the Gulf of Mexico. In that way, the taxpayers will reclaim $20 to $30 billion of revenues that can be used for health care, for education, to pay for the war in Iraq, to balance the Federal budget.

So I just want all the Members to know that that is the nature of the amendment which is going to come up within the hour. It is fair. If the oil companies are going to receive such a boon out of this bill, if the gulf States are going to receive such a boon out of this bill, as much as I object to it, the least that we should be able to say is that we reclaim those revenues, and as a bonus, Mr. Rangel has inserted into the amendment, which I will be making, a provision which extends the AMT protection for 20 million Americans so their taxes do not go up next year, 2007.

So with two things, you reclaim 20 to $30 billion from oil companies and you protect all taxpayers from an increase in the AMT.

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Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

The amendment which we are about to consider does not prohibit drilling in any of this new land. The amendment we are about to debate does not prohibit drilling in any of the new land which is authorized to be drilled in. What the amendment says is this: is that the oil and gas companies that received leases over the last 10 years where they pay no royalties whatsoever, and that has been determined, as a result, deprived the American taxpayer of between 20 and $60 billion worth of royalties, which they are entitled to as taxpayers, will be renegotiated by the oil companies that want to drill in this new land in the Gulf of Mexico. That is all it does. So anyone who is listening to this, this amendment will not prohibit drilling here. All it says is that where these massive, tens of billions of dollars of windfall profits are falling into the pockets of oil and gas companies under these oil leases, that these oil and gas companies do not have the privilege of coming into these new leases. However, any other oil company, any other gas company, they can go right into this Gulf of Mexico area and drill.

So for Mr. Peterson, or anyone else, it has nothing to do with it. The question for you, Mr. Peterson, the question for the other Members is: Do you want to recollect these other royalties? Or if the price of oil goes to 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, $80 a barrel, do you want the oil and gas industry to pay any royalties at all? Because right now, they don't. So if you want all the revenues to go to them, nothing to go to the taxpayer, then, fine. Vote against the Markey amendment. But if you want to open up the lands in the gulf, let the oil industry come in, but to make sure that they pay on their old leases a fair share of the dues to live in this country, because it is a massive part of the revenues that we use to fund our defense, then you vote ``yes'' on the Markey amendment.

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

Mr. Speaker, again, the Markey amendment does nothing about drilling in the new areas that are opened up in this bill. What the amendment says is that on all of those leases in the 1990s that had no royalty payments required at all, that finally if these oil and gas companies want to move into this new oil and gas gold rush in the Gulf of Mexico, they have to renegotiate those old contracts, those windfall profits, that 20 to $60 billion that could be used for the defense of our country, to reduce the deficit or for any other purposes.

This is a very simple amendment, and what it does is it mirrors what we voted on in May of this year when 252 Members of the House voted to force these oil and gas companies to finally play their role in contributing to the balancing of the budget. Otherwise, the oil companies are going to continue to just tip the American taxpayer upside down.

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Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the remainder of the time and that is again to make the point that this amendment is central to the reclaiming of the $60 billion which the oil and gas industry has escaped in paying for drilling on the public lands of the United States. This is like Teapot Dome in the 1920s. They don't pay royalties. They have escaped payment for the use of the oil and gas for the American people.

This isn't their oil and gas; it is ours. This amendment just says that if they want to drill in the Gulf of Mexico in this new land, they have got to renegotiate these old contracts where they don't pay any royalties at all. At $40, $50, $60, $70, $80 a barrel the American taxpayer is paying at the pump, they don't get any tax relief when they use American oil and gas from the American public lands.

Vote ``aye'' for the Markey-Hinchey amendment. It is the key to ensuring that this bill has a fiscally sound core at its heart.

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