[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5924]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          POPEYE--SPINACH--EPA

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, Popeye the sailor has advocated for 80 
years that spinach gives energy. Now the EPA wants to use this food as 
green energy. But does that idea make any sense?
  After the administration spent hundreds of millions of dollars of 
taxpayer money on other failed green initiatives, the EPA awarded 
$90,000 to a group of students who designed a solar panel that uses 
spinach to produce a very slight energy charge. A slight electrical 
charge is not enough to supply the United States with even a fraction 
of our energy needs, nor will it leave Bluto shaking in his boots.
  Meanwhile, the shovels that were ready for the Keystone XL pipeline 
are idle, the Gulf of Mexico sits waiting for more oil and gas lease 
sales and permits, and the procedural hurdles in place have slowed 
drilling on public lands to a halt.
  What we need are real solutions to bring down the price of gasoline 
and decrease our dependence on foreign oil. We don't need more taxpayer 
spinach subsidies. Leave spinach for Popeye and the supper table.
  And that's just the way it is.

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