Rep. Sullivan defends natural-gas bill, says critics doing bidding of Koch Industries

“There is a company that likes OPEC oil, that is a big company that all these groups get money from, so when they are told to jump, they jump,” Sullivan said of Koch, which is active in refining, polymers and other sectors.

He challenged the measure’s critics to take on the bill in public. “We want these people to come to a hearing, and if they have arguments, instead of doing it in the media … put your hand up, let’s swear [in] and let’s really talk about the truth,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan said that the GOP leadership is “very positive” about the bill, which retains more than 180 co-sponsors.

“I
don’t know many bills that have that bipartisan support of Tea Party
people to conservatives to liberals to Democrats to Republicans. It is
a broad coalition; it is still very positive going forward,” Sullivan
said.