[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 15413-15414]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    ENERGY BILL BONANZA FOR BIG OIL

  (Mr. SHERMAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, the energy bill is a bonanza for big oil. 
It lets them drill in environmentally sensitive lands, gives them $30 
billion in tax cuts and another $7 billion of rollbacks and royalties.
  Listen to this. They tell us government should act like private 
business. Would a private businessperson let an oil company drill on 
his land without getting a royalty? That is what this bill does. It is 
a bonanza for big oil.

[[Page 15414]]

  But let us say we like giving the oil companies $37 billion. Should 
we not at least pay for it? The Committee on Rules has prohibited any 
amendments to make this bill pay for itself. As a result, all the 
bonanza for the oil companies comes right out of the Medicare trust 
fund. Wake up. We have a new economic situation, a new President and 
there is no surplus except the Medicare surplus.
  Finally, the Committee on Rules has decided not even to allow 
California and the Western states a chance on this floor to ask to 
change our clocks and use daylight saving time in more creative ways. 
There is nothing in the bill for conservation and everything for the 
oil companies.

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