Joe Barton

Mr. BARTON

Mr. BARTON. I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentleman from Ohio on the understanding that he will not play his best game against us next summer.

Mr. BARTON. Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Sugar Land, Texas (Mr. Olson), a member of the committee and a sponsor of the bill.

Mr. BARTON. I yield the gentleman from Texas an additional 15 seconds.

Mr. BARTON. Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from the great Buckeye State of Ohio (Mr. Stivers), a member of the Armed Services Committee.

Mr. BARTON. Mr. Chair, I yield an additional 15 seconds to the gentleman from California.

Mr. BARTON. May I ask how much time remains, Mr. Chair?

Mr. BARTON. Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Costa) on behalf of the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Cuellar).

Mr. BARTON. Mr. Chairman, I only have two speakers, myself and Mr. Cuellar. I believe I have the right to close, so I would ask my friend from New Jersey how many speakers he still has.

Mr. BARTON. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from the Peach State of Georgia (Mr. Bishop) on behalf of the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Cuellar).

Mr. BARTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Cuellar), my chief sponsor, the gentleman that represents south Texas and the Eagle Ford Shale.

Mr. BARTON. Mr. Chairman, may I inquire how much time I have remaining?

Mr. BARTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time. (Mr. BARTON asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. BARTON. Mr. Chairman, we have had a very enlightening debate for the last hour. I would say 30 Members of Congress have stood up and spoken either in favor or opposition to the bill. I want it to be noted that a large number of my friends on the Democratic side have risen in support of the bill. I want to compliment Mr. Cuellar for his strong leadership in that area. This is a bipartisan bill. When we do our town hall meetings, Mr. Chairman, person after person stands up and says: Why can't you folks in Congress get along? Why don't you try to be positive? Why don't you try to do what is right for America? Why don't you work together on a bipartisan basis? Mr. Chairman, that is what this bill does. This is a bipartisan bill. We have a large number of Democratic cosponsors and a large number of Republicans. This bill will help all 50 States. As Mr. Bishop and Mr. Scott have stated on the Democratic side, it helps low income, it helps minorities, it helps women. It helps every sector of the economy, not just the oil industry, not just the roughnecks, not just the drillers. It helps truck drivers. It helps steelworkers. It helps refinery workers. It even helps computer programmers. You name it, it helps it. Some estimates are this bill, if enacted, would create as many as a million jobs. We know, for a fact, that the collapse in oil prices in the last year and a half has cost the U.S. economy over 500,000 jobs, 750,000 jobs. Those are real people. That is not Big Oil, Mr. Chairman. That is people that get up every morning and kiss their wives, hop in their car, go to work and work hard 8, 10, 12 hours a day, get the bills at the end of the month and hope they have enough money to pay the bills. It is blue-collar America. It is not Big Oil. It is everybody in this country, Mr. Chairman. This bill is a market-based bill: willing buyer, willing seller. The U.S. has the largest oil reserves in the world. We have the capability to be number one in the world. Why on God's green Earth don't we use it? Why are we the only nation in the world that is restricted in one of the blessings that God has endowed our great Nation with? We could produce, if we wanted to, up to 20 million barrels a day. We are producing right now 9 million barrels a day. U.S. oil can go anywhere in the world if we allow it to. That is an economic asset. It is a military strategic asset. All we have to do is repeal an archaic law that was passed in 1975 when we couldn't export a barrel of oil if we wanted to. We were importing two-thirds of our oil. We have a bipartisan bill that helps everybody in America, that is in the economic interests of America, that is in the environmental interests of America, that is in the military strategic interests of America. Mr. Chairman, let's work together. Let's send this bill to the Senate with strong bipartisan support. God bless America. God bless this great country. Pass H.R. 702. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time. House of Representatives, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Washington, DC, October 5, 2015. Hon. Fred Upton, Chairman, Committee on Energy and Commerce, House of Representatives, Washington, DC. Dear Chairman Upton: Thank you for consulting with the Foreign Affairs Committee on H.R. 702, a bill to adapt to changing crude oil market conditions, which was referred to us on February 4, 2015. I agreed that the Foreign Affairs Committee might be discharged from further action on this bill so that it could proceed expeditiously to the Floor, subject to the understanding that this waiver does not in any way diminish or alter the jurisdiction of the Foreign Affairs Committee, or prejudice its jurisdictional prerogatives on this bill or similar legislation in the future. I would request your support for the appointment of Foreign Affairs conferees during any House-Senate conference on this legislation. I respectfully ask that you place our letters on H.R. 702 into the Congressional Record during floor consideration of the bill. I appreciate your cooperation regarding this legislation and look forward to continuing to work with the Committee on Energy and Commerce as this measure moves through the legislative process. Sincerely, Edward R. Royce, Chairman.

Mr. BARTON. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the amendment, but only in order to control the time.

Mr. BARTON. Chairman Upton and I are prepared to accept the gentleman's amendment, but we do have some Republican speakers who would like to speak in favor of it. I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Curbelo).

Mr. BARTON. I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from the great city of Kinderhook, New York (Mr. Gibson).

Mr. BARTON. Mr. Chairman, I rise in mild opposition, and I may change my mind, depending on what the gentleman says.

Mr. BARTON. Mr. Chairman, I accept the amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BARTON. Then, Mr. Chairman, I oppose the gentleman's amendment and ask every Member to vote against the amendment. Mr. Chairman, we are not violently opposed to this. It is a study. I am confident that this bill will on a net basis reduce greenhouse gases because the oil that would must probably be exported is produced under the strictest environmental regulations in the world. It also happens to be the easiest oil to refine because it is light sweet, which means it doesn't have a high sulfur content. When you run it through the cracking process, because it is lighter, it tends to separate into the various refined products more easily. So the gentleman's amendment is benign in nature in the sense that, if we were to conduct the study, I think the results from the study would be positive.

Mr. BARTON. I will be happy yield to the gentleman from California.

Mr. BARTON. Reclaiming my time, I commend the gentleman for his thoughtful understanding from Mr. Pallone. And, with that, we accept the gentleman's amendment. I'm going to ask everybody to vote for it on a voice vote. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BARTON. Mr. Chairman, I rise in mild opposition, but I could become a supporter of the amendment under certain conditions.

Mr. BARTON. Mr. Chairman, if the gentlewoman from Michigan is willing to accept the same deal that the gentleman from California just accepted, we will accept the amendment. We will vote for it on a voice vote, and we will move on down the road to catch my plane at 1:40 from Reagan National Airport. Does the gentlewoman agree to voice vote it?

Mr. BARTON. Mr. Chairman, I rise in enthusiastic support of the gentlewoman's amendment and ask that it be voted for on a voice vote. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BARTON. Will the gentleman yield?