HOUSE GOP APPROPRIATORS GRILL INTERIOR SECRETARY ON BUDGET REQUEST
March 9, 2011
Congressional Quarterly, Budget Tracker
The head of the Interior Department defended Obama's fiscal 2012 budget request for the agency during a hearing before the House Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee.
Subcommittee Chairman Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, warned Interior Secretary Ken Salazar that Congress would have "no patience" for delays in issuing drilling permits when some regions are already seeing gas prices at $4 per gallon. "We need to pursue domestic energy production on the grand scale of the Manhattan Project or putting a man on the moon so we can put people to work, boost domestic energy production and lessen our dependence on foreign oil," Simpson said. Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif., echoed Simpson's remarks. "I'm hopeful you have a short-term plan to modify these gasoline prices — supply is the issue, scarcity is the problem — and a long-term plan to make sure that not every [Libyan President Muammar el-] Qaddafi in the world comes along and brings the country to our knees," he said. Salazar called the rising oil prices both an "issue of high priority" and an opportunity for his department and Congress to put together a long-term framework for U.S. energy independence. "We should not be in a position where Qaddafi and Libya essentially are able to create these types of disruptions," Salazar said.
The head of the Interior Department defended Obama's fiscal 2012 budget request for the agency during a hearing before the House Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee.
Subcommittee Chairman Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, warned Interior Secretary Ken Salazar that Congress would have "no patience" for delays in issuing drilling permits when some regions are already seeing gas prices at $4 per gallon. "We need to pursue domestic energy production on the grand scale of the Manhattan Project or putting a man on the moon so we can put people to work, boost domestic energy production and lessen our dependence on foreign oil," Simpson said. Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif., echoed Simpson's remarks. "I'm hopeful you have a short-term plan to modify these gasoline prices — supply is the issue, scarcity is the problem — and a long-term plan to make sure that not every [Libyan President Muammar el-] Qaddafi in the world comes along and brings the country to our knees," he said. Salazar called the rising oil prices both an "issue of high priority" and an opportunity for his department and Congress to put together a long-term framework for U.S. energy independence. "We should not be in a position where Qaddafi and Libya essentially are able to create these types of disruptions," Salazar said.
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