Bipartisanship strikes again in the House, on energy bill

“We’ve had many discussions and will in the future on this floor about the necessity of getting ourselves off of foreign oil, of increasing our domestic energy reserves,” Altmire said. “And what this legislation does is increase the supply of our own domestic resources, yes, which is critically important, but it then takes the royalties, it takes the money that’s generated form that, and applies it to our much-needed infrastructure repair.

“This bill expands offshore drilling and uses the permit and royalty revenue to fund the infrastructure improvements and clean energy technology — solar, wind, hydro, the things that everybody in this country wants to support, but there hasn’t been the money to maintain and upgrade that technology and do the innovations that are necessary in the future,” Altmire added.

Altmire noted the bill would also use 10 percent of the revenues generated for deficit reduction.

Another Democrat, Rep. Jim Costa (Calif.), said the bill — which has 20 cosponsors — was developed in a bipartisan way precisely because the members developed it themselves, without the aid of lobbyists.

“We hammered this plan out over a period of months, having worked off previous efforts in legislation that was introduced in previous Congress’s,” Costa said. “This is what’s needed in Washington, and unfortunately too often what doesn’t happen — the art of political compromise.”

Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.), the lead sponsor of the bill, reiterated those comments and said the bill shows the parties can come together on these difficult issues.

“You’re witnessing an all-too-rare event in this House — a group of bipartisan legislators coming together and working for the common good, and rejecting the politics of division, rejecting the politics of the false choices, the either-ors,” he said.

Whether the bill can see the light of day in the House is another thing. House GOP leaders have not indicated the bill would move this year, and several Republicans would likely balk at increased funding for alternative energy research, or any new spending. Similarly, many Democrats would likely oppose any new permission to increase offshore oil exploration.

Murphy said nonetheless they would continue to build support for the bill, even as he acknowledged that the story of bipartisan consensus is less exciting than one about partisan strife.

“Probably this special order won’t be reported on much at all because members are actually coming together with a common plan and a common goal to say we recognize we need jobs, we need to clean up our environment, we need to have an energy source, we need to do this without debt,” Murphy said.