[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 147 (Tuesday, September 16, 2008)]
[House]
[Page H8147]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               OPEC WOULD SUPPORT DEMOCRATS' ENERGY BILL

  (Mr. SCALISE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, for months we've been talking about the 
need to address this national energy crisis that's facing our country 
that's hurting our economy. We've been talking about getting a bill on 
the floor like the American Energy Act that approaches this in a 
comprehensive way and addresses all of the issues.
  But yet I rise today in strong opposition to this bill that the 
Democratic leadership filed in the dark of night with no discussion 
that they're going to bring up today and allow no amendments on. And 
let's look at why that bill is so bad.
  First of all, it puts a permanent ban on 88 percent of the known 
Outer Continental Shelf reserves. That's billions of barrels of oil 
that we know right where they are, and yet there's a permanent ban on 
these reserves placed in this bill. That's something that OPEC would 
want because OPEC now would have even more leverage on us because they 
know that we would be taking off-limits 88 percent of our known 
reserves offshore.
  If you look at the new taxes and the billions of dollars in new 
spending that they have that has nothing to do with energy, and yet 
Speaker Pelosi says we don't have money to give States their own fair 
share of royalty sharing because she knows that's a deal breaker that 
will lead to absolutely no drilling.
  Mr. Speaker, I would attest to you that OPEC could not have drafted a 
better bill than what the Democrats filed in the dark of night.
  We need to vote this down. The American people see through it. Bring 
up the American Energy bill. We have no time to waste.

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