mr. chairman , of all of the subsidies and all of the giveaways in this bill , this one itself may be the most egregious . 
this is royalty relief to those companies who are drilling in deep water . 
these companies are drilling in deep water no matter what they do because that is where the oil is , and it is very lucrative to do so . 
the gentleman from louisiana defends this provision saying they have a cutoff when the price of oil goes up . 
when this provision was put into law , the cutoff was $ 28 a barrel , but the secretary did not cut it off . 
when it got to $ 30 , the secretary did not cut it off . 
when it got to $ 40 and $ 45 , the secretary did not cut it off . 
when it got to $ 50 , the secretary did not cut it off . 
and today , when it is $ 52 , the secretary has not cut it off . 
this is not about royalty relief , this is about a handout to the most profitable companies in the united states . 
this is about a handout to these companies to drill the public 's oil . 
of the 132 million barrels of oil they have produced , 76 percent are royalty free . 
that means mr. and mrs. taxpayer in america did not get the royalties that these companies should have paid them to drill on the public lands that the taxpayers of this country own . 
that is why this amendment should prevail . 
the gentleman from arizona ( mr. grijalva ) xz4001620 is right . 
he is a hero to the taxpayers . 
