OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2014

Floor Speech

Date: July 23, 2013
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Energy Environment

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Mr. FLORES. Mr. Chairman, I rise to offer an amendment which addresses another misguided and restrictive Federal regulation.

Section 526 of the Energy Independence and Security Act prohibits Federal agencies from entering into contracts for the procurement of fuels unless their lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions are less than or equal to emissions from an equivalent conventional fuel produced from conventional petroleum sources.

My amendment is simple. It would stop the government from enforcing this ban on agencies funded by the Department of Defense appropriations bill.

As my good friend, the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Terry), said a few minutes ago, the initial purpose of section 526 was to stifle the Defense Department's plans to buy and develop coal-based or coal-to-liquids jet fuel.

We must ensure that our military has adequate fuel resources and that it can rely on domestic and more stable sources of fuel. One of the unintended consequences of section 526 is that it essentially forces the American military to acquire fuel refined from unstable, Middle East crude resources.

I offered this amendment to the Fiscal Year 2014 Homeland Security Appropriations Act and the Fiscal Year 2014 Energy and Water Appropriations Act, and they both passed on the floor of the House with strong bipartisan support.

My friend, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Conaway), also added similar language to the latest defense authorization bill to exempt the Defense Department from this burdensome regulation.

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Mr. FLORES. Mr. Chairman, as we said earlier, this amendment is a simple fix, and that fix is to not restrict our fuel choices based on bad policies or misguided regulations like those in section 526. Stopping the impact of section 526 will help us to promote American energy, grow the American economy, create American jobs, and become more energy secure.

I urge my colleagues to support my amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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