[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 26 (Thursday, February 16, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E213]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


       PROTECTING INVESTMENT IN OIL SHALE THE NEXT GENERATION OF 
            ENVIRONMENTAL, ENERGY, AND RESOURCE SECURITY ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. SANDER M. LEVIN

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 15, 2012

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the state of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 3408) to set 
     clear rules for the development of United States oil shale 
     resources, to promote shale technology research and 
     development, and for other purposes:

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to the surface 
transportation bill before the House of Representatives this week and 
the partisan and contorted process the Republican Leadership is using 
to ram this bill through the House.
  For as long as I have served in the House, transportation bills have 
always been bipartisan. That's because every one of our states confront 
unmet transportation needs, and infrastructure investments are critical 
to jobs, economic growth, and competitiveness.
  But this bill throws bipartisanship out the window. Secretary of 
Transportation LaHood--himself a former Republican House Member from 
Illinois--recently said that this is, and I quote, ``the most partisan 
transportation bill that I have ever seen.'' Secretary LaHood also 
declared that this is ``the worst transportation bill I've seen during 
35 years of public service.'' That's quite an indictment coming from a 
man who is respected on both sides of the aisle.
  Some of our constituents may be watching and wondering why Speaker 
Boehner decided to take the transportation package and divide it into 
three separate bills. The reality is that the bill probably can't pass 
as a single, stand-alone piece of legislation. So the Leadership has 
broken the bill into pieces that will move separately through the 
House. Later, the clerk will be directed to sew all the pieces back 
into one bill and it will be deemed passed without a single member of 
the House voting for it.
  Today we're considering the portion of the bill that opens up vast 
swaths of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, as well as the Eastern Gulf 
of Mexico and the pristine Arctic Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. The 
bill also approves the controversial Keystone Pipeline and there is not 
even a guarantee that any of the oil that it transports to the Gulf of 
Mexico will remain in the country to benefit Americans. What does 
handing out more goodies to the oil companies have to do with 
transportation policy? The oil industry made record profits last year. 
They don't need the special interest provisions contained in this bill.
  Although this portion of the transportation package is not before the 
House today, I want to state my complete opposition to the provision of 
the larger package that undercuts mass transit. This provision 
undermines the very structure of the highway trust fund by eliminating 
guaranteed funding for transit and replacing it with monies from the 
general fund. The loss of dedicated revenue will make it impossible for 
public transit systems across the country to plan for long-term 
investments. I will continue to strongly support efforts to correct 
this unnecessary and harmful attack on mass transit.
  I urge defeat of the bill before the House. We need to go back to the 
drawing board and craft a bipartisan transportation bill.

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