[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 19204]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      ENERGY BILL IS A COMPROMISE

  (Mr. RAHALL asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, Members of the House, the American people 
want us to solve the energy problems facing our country in a bipartisan 
way. They're looking to the Congress for answers, but they realize that 
the Congress cannot provide the only answers.
  No less than T. Boone Pickens has said that we cannot drill our way 
out of this mess. The plan that we bring to the floor today is a 
comprehensive energy plan that does do all of the above. It's a 
compromise between the drill nowhere crowd and the drill everywhere 
crowd. And let's face it, there are some on the minority side in this 
body that would drill everywhere and they're not going to settle for 
anything less, including under the National Mall if they could. They 
would want to drill every inch of this land, and that is not a 
responsible way.
  Our plan provides for reliance upon domestically produced energy 
sources, all of the above. It requires oil companies to be responsible 
and transparent in the collection of royalties. It provides for a new 
ethics code for the people at the Minerals Management Service to 
operate under so that the American taxpayer can receive a fair return 
for the disposition of their resources. These are public resources 
deserving public accountability.

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