House Proceeding 05-13-08 on May 13th, 2008 :: 0:16:24 to 0:24:11
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0:13:04 to 0:16:24( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: John D. Dingell

0:16:12 to 0:16:24( Edit History Discussion )

John D. Dingell: let me say at the beginning that i speak for myself. i don't necessarily speak for the house republican leadersp. i have asked if we had a minority position on the bill and as of 30 minutes

0:16:24 to 0:16:39( Edit History Discussion )

Joe Barton: ago we did not. so i am speaking for myself as the ranking member of the committee of jurisdiction, the energy and commerce committee. let me say at the beginning that i think it is good to have a

0:16:24 to 0:24:11( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Joe Barton

0:16:39 to 0:16:53( Edit History Discussion )

Joe Barton: piece of energy legislation on the floor at this point in time. i think the american people are fed up with high gasoline prices. they are fed up with increasing imports. they are fed up with rising

0:16:53 to 0:17:10( Edit History Discussion )

Joe Barton: food prices that are caused at least in part by higher energy prices. so i think it's a good thing that we are beginning to debate energy legislation on the floor of the house of representatives.

0:17:10 to 0:17:22( Edit History Discussion )

Joe Barton: i think it is a good thing that the chairman of the committee with primary jurisdiction, my good friend, john dingell, is leading that debate on the majority side. having said that, i don't think

0:17:22 to 0:17:35( Edit History Discussion )

Joe Barton: it's a good thing that we bring a bill on the strategic petroleum reserve to the floor with no process at all. chairman dingell and subcommittee chairman boucher and i have spoken envelopely

0:17:35 to 0:17:51( Edit History Discussion )

Joe Barton: in the last two weeks about -- informally in the last two weeks about doing something on the strategic petroleum reserve and i am very open to having a full vetting of the issue of the strategic

0:17:51 to 0:18:08( Edit History Discussion )

Joe Barton: petroleum reserve. i'm fully supportive of the underlying policy in this bill which is to suspend the taking shipments into the strategic petroleum reserve when oil prices are at record levels.

0:18:08 to 0:18:24( Edit History Discussion )

Joe Barton: i am not supportive of doing that in a way that there's absolutelyo input from the minority side. we have had no legislative hearing, no committee hearing, no markup, no nothing. we were notified

0:18:24 to 0:18:43( Edit History Discussion )

Joe Barton: late yesterday afternoon that the bill would be on the floor this morning and as far as i can tell, the bill wasn't printed until some time this morning. one reason i'm opposed to the bill is

0:18:43 to 0:18:57( Edit History Discussion )

Joe Barton: because of process. now i want to talk about the substance of the bill. again the strategic petroleum reserve was created in the 1970's in response to a coordinated arab oil embargo against

0:18:57 to 0:19:10( Edit History Discussion )

Joe Barton: the united states of america when shipments of oil were suspended by the opec cartel for political reasons. we created the strategic petroleum reserve and my guess is, although i wasn't in congress

0:19:10 to 0:19:23( Edit History Discussion )

Joe Barton: at that time, that john diell, who was a member of the committee, i don't believe he was chairman in the 1970's, probably had a very positive influence on creating the strategic petroleum reserve.

0:19:23 to 0:19:40( Edit History Discussion )

Joe Barton: it was a good idea then and it's a good idea now. so that's a good thing. we have been filling the strategic petroleum reserve since the late 1970's. most of the oil was put in under president

0:19:40 to 0:19:51( Edit History Discussion )

Joe Barton: reagan's tenure from 1980 to 1988. but even since then we have continued to fill the reserve. there have been little appropriated funds appropriated to fill it. and in the last five or six years

0:19:51 to 0:20:06( Edit History Discussion )

Joe Barton: most of the increase has been by taking what this bill would suspend, which is the royalty in kind oil, and put that into the reserve. royalty in kind oil is oil that instead of the oil

0:20:06 to 0:20:26( Edit History Discussion )

Joe Barton: companies that produce on federal lands and the federal o.c.s., instead of giving money to the federal government and the taxpayer, they give royalty in kind oil. that right now is about 62,000

0:20:26 to 0:20:42( Edit History Discussion )

Joe Barton: barrels a day. so it is not a bad idea to suspend taking the royalty in kind oil. where i have a policy difference with this bill is that the bill is either silent or ambiguous on what happens

0:20:42 to 0:20:59( Edit History Discussion )

Joe Barton: to the royalties that continue to accrue. the fact that you're not taking oil doesn't mean that the federal government doesn't have a royalty that should be paid. so one of the questions i would

0:20:59 to 0:21:09( Edit History Discussion )

Joe Barton: have is do we receive the money which 62,000 barrels of oil at $120 a barrel is over the life of this bill, over $1 billion. what happens to that $1 billion? does it just go to the general

0:21:09 to 0:21:25( Edit History Discussion )

Joe Barton: revenue? does it just go to the general treasury? if i were drafting the bill, i would direct that some of that royalty in terms of cash go into a liheap fund for low-income heating

0:21:25 to 0:21:38( Edit History Discussion )

Joe Barton: and cooling assistance. i would direct that some of the funds go into a reserve to buy oil for the strategic petroleum reserve when oil falls below the target price of this bill, which i believe

0:21:38 to 0:21:51( Edit History Discussion )

Joe Barton: is $75 a barrel. i would direct that some of the funds go to an alternative energy fund. those are things that we discussed in committee. those are the things we would have had amendments

0:21:51 to 0:22:03( Edit History Discussion )

Joe Barton: on. those are the things that were not allowed to do because this bill is being conside ired under suspension. as chairman dingell has pointed out, the fact that we are not going to take

0:22:03 to 0:22:16( Edit History Discussion )

Joe Barton: royalty in kind to oil and put it in the strategic petroleum reserve is probably not going to affect the price much on the world market. i think we would have as much impact on prices, if that's our

0:22:16 to 0:22:54( Edit History Discussion )

Joe Barton: goal, if all the members on both side of the aisle went out on the steps of the capitol and we all clapped our hands three times and said down price, down prices, down prices. that would probably

0:22:54 to 0:23:08( Edit History Discussion )

Joe Barton: have as much impact as passing this bill. it would be a lot more fun, too. we would all get a little exercise and be a pretty good photo-op that the une nighted congress -- united congress, dictating

0:23:08 to 0:23:20( Edit History Discussion )

Joe Barton: that oil price goes down. but it would have about the same impact that this bill does. mr. speaker, again i don't karl with the fact -- quarrel with the fact that we are directing to suspend

0:23:20 to 0:23:35( Edit History Discussion )

Joe Barton: shipments of the strategic petroleum reserve. we need to do a lot more than that, however, if we really want to bring oil prices down. and even in doing something on the s.p.r., i think we should

0:23:35 to 0:23:45( Edit History Discussion )

Joe Barton: go through committee. we should have a legislative hearing. we should have a markup. and we should really rethink the strategy of the strategic petroleum reserve. in the 1970's the oil markets

0:23:45 to 0:23:59( Edit History Discussion )

Joe Barton: and the u.s. economy were significantly different than they are today. the size of the reserve, the uses of the reserve are at least subject to a real debate today. what we are getting is a

0:23:59 to 0:24:11( Edit History Discussion )

Joe Barton: bill that apparently was drafted in majority leader hoyer's office late last night or early this morning that several members have put their names on and we are on a suspension calendar

0:24:11 to 0:24:29( Edit History Discussion )

Peter Welch: that we have no ability to amend it or do anything about it except vote yes or no. so i'm going to encourage members to vote no. if we were somehow to get 146 no votes, then we could have the

0:24:11 to 0:27:38( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Peter Welch