Sep 17 2008
House Republican Whip Roy Blunt (Mo.) took the floor of the U.S. House this morning to call Democrats' bluff on their cynically-written sham energy bill -- written in the dark of night with no Republican input and a very clear intent to raise the price Americans pay for their fuel and electricity.
Blunt delivered the following remarks on the floor of the House:
"I want to thank the Chair for recognizing me. We are here today to talk about a bill that nobody had seen or at least no Republican had seen as late as 9:45 last night. No committee had seen the bill. In fact, I asked, 'Has this been to the Energy and Commerce Committee?' I thought as a member of that committee I must have missed the hearing. No, it hadn't been to the Energy and Commerce Committee.
"So I asked, 'Has it been to the Resources Committee, because it deals with our natural resources?' No, it hasn't been to the Resources Committee either. I asked, 'Has it been to the Ways and Means Committee?' There's a $1.2 billion project in this bill that the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee has wanted forever to extend subways in New York. I thought surely it had been in the Ways and Means Committee, but it hadn't been to the Ways and Means Committee. In fact, it's been to no committee anywhere and the bill does nothing.
"Republicans have worked for years in this House to send good legislation to the Senate, joined by Democrats who agree with us on this issue. We worked all of August to call attention to the fact that we weren't dealing with the number-one problem facing the American people and now we have a bill will not produce any more energy and we know will increase energy prices. The renewable portfolio standards that raise everybody's electricity bill are unreasonable.
"But that doesn't matter because nobody expects this bill to become law. The drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf can't really occur. But maybe that doesn't matter either, because this bill is not about doing something that could become law.
"I'm offended. Members of the House are offended and we should be by this process. And the American people should be offended that we're not doing the job for them that really matters. I yield back."