From The Norman Transcript...

Our choice: Cole, Tinsley in Republican vote Tuesday

NORMAN — Oklahoma voters on Tuesday are faced with narrowing the field of candidates who will be on their November ballots. There are two local races that will be decided Tuesday since no Democrats filed for them. ..

From The Oklahoman...

U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Moore, says he wants to continue to fight for smaller and less intrusive government.

U.S. Rep. Tom Cole said Tuesday he is seeking a fifth term to fight against the spiraling national debt and out-of-control spending in Washington, which he called one of the pre-eminent problems facing the country. ..

The Associated Press ..

The McCarville Report Online

BY MIKE MCCARVILLE
Published May 9, 2010 ..

The Norman Transcript
March 28, 2010  ..

OklahomanThe Oklahoman

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By T. Boone Pickens and Tom Cole, The Lawton Constitution
Oklahoma has been at the center of energy production since the first commercial oil well was drilled at Bartlesville in 1897 – ten years before the Oklahoma Territory became the 46th state.

   For most of that history, it was oil which was the fuel of Oklahoma’s economic engine. But, more recently Oklahoma and the rest of the nation are looking toward natural gas to take its rightful place in the 21st century economy.

   Although one of us has a degree from the University of Oklahoma, and the other a degree from Oklahoma State University, we are united on this: Natural gas is America’s energy future and critical to our national security.

   Not so long ago, reserves of natural gas were limited and shrinking fast. There was competition among industries which needed natural gas – chemicals, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, home heating and cooking and electricity production – to make sure they had a sufficient supply in a crowded market.

   Over the past decade new drilling techniques have made the natural gas contained in the shale deposits under the continental United States available for recovery. There is so much natural gas – perhaps as much as 2,000 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) – that some studies now predict we have enough natural gas reserves to last 118 years.

   Here in Oklahoma the Woodford Shale has already been tapped using these new techniques.

   This is crucial because the amount of oil which is available for drilling on-shore is diminishing. Because our principal transportation fuel is refined from oil and because we don’t have enough oil being produced domestically to support 250 million cars, light trucks, and 6.5 million heavy-duty trucks, we have to import nearly two-thirds of the oil we use every day.

   In September this amounted to 357 million barrels of oil which cost us $25 billion. At that rate we will spend a third of a trillion dollars this year to import the oil we need to drive our cars and trucks.

   Hydrogen fuel-cell technology is a great option, but it isn’t ready yet. In any event, a battery will not power an 18-wheeler today. Only two forms of fuel now available will do that: diesel and natural gas.

   Natural gas is cleaner than foreign diesel – it is also cleaner than gasoline. And it produces virtually no particulate matter, unlike diesel which anyone who has ever waited for a child for the school bus on a cold Oklahoma morning understands.

   Natural gas is cheaper than imported oil and because we have an abundant supply in the continental U.S. we don’t have to worry about being held hostage for oil by our major suppliers, many of whom are from unstable areas of the world, don’t have our best interests at heart, or both.

   Russia supplies a significant amount of the natural gas Europe needs to heat its homes in the winter. This past January Russia, in a dispute with Ukraine, cut off natural gas supplies to much of Europe to bring pressure on Ukraine.

   We do not have to be in the position of worrying about whether Saudi Arabia, or Angola, or Venezuela will decide to try and influence our foreign policy by shutting off some or all of their oil sales to us.

   There is a bill currently in Congress – the NAT GAS Act of 2009 – which will help jump start the natural gas vehicle (NGV) industry in the United States. Around the world there are about 10 million NGVs, but only about 130,000 in the U.S.

   H.R. 1835 will provide tax incentives to replace vehicles burning imported gasoline or diesel with cars and trucks running on domestic natural gas. Any vehicle which goes home to the “barn” every night is a candidate – utility and express delivery trucks, school and municipal buses, and taxi fleets are examples.

   H.R. 1835 has 110 bi-partisan co-sponsors in the House. Because of the importance of energy to Oklahoma’s well being, we are encouraging the Congress to pass and send to the President H.R. 1835, the NAT GAS Act of 2009.

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By Justin Lofton, Staff Writer, Ada Evening News
United States representative Tom Cole from Oklahoma’s 4th District said the current version of the House of Representatives healthcare bill doesn’t have his vote.

“It’s 10 pages short of 2,000 pages long and there’s a second companion bill, which is mercifully short — only 13 pages,” Cole said. He said the companion bill is separated from the primary bill to hide the cost of the bill.

Cole said he’s fairly certain a manager’s amendment will be put out next week for the bill.“When they did this on cap-and-trade, the manager’s amendment was 300 pages long,” Cole said. “That bill will probably include whatever last minute deals they’re making with individual members to try and round up the votes for this thing. I can guarantee that it’ll be expensive, it’ll be complex and they’ll try to run it through fast.”

Cole said Republican members of the House of Representatives were not given access to the bill until Thursday, Oct. 29 and he said the bill does include a public option.

“Instead of doing a mandated medicare sort of feature, the government would negotiate the price, if you will, with individual healthcare providers. The government is in an awfully strong position in that negotiation process, to basically impose things,” Cole said.
Cole said the bill will cost more than one trillion dollars.

“They claim the price tag is under $900,000,000 over a 10-year period. If you add the Doc-Fix to it, though, it’s at least 1.1 to 1.2 trillion dollars,” Cole said. “It’s paid for, broadly, by cutting medicare for seniors — especially medicare advantage programs — and applying that money toward this, and by raising a whole raft of taxes.”
Cole said the bill will eliminate an individual’s ability to purchase health coverage.

“There’s one (stipulation) that says you’re not eligible for any of the reimbursement that’s under the program if your state limits liability — if you have tort reform, in other words,” Cole said.
“Finally, we’re going to increase the eligibility for medicare and the states are just going to have to pick that up.”
Cole said the house version of the bill does not include a state “opt-out” option that had been previously discussed.
“We call it the Pelosi healthcare bill,” Cole said. “She certainly didn’t listen to anybody in August. There are no changes in this bill that are the sort of things I heard in my town hall meetings in August. There’s no tort reform in this bill — which wouldn’t have cost anything — there’s no ability for small companies to combine together and purchase insurance across state lines, there’s no national market in insurance, there’s no tax deduction for individuals who want to buy their own coverage so they can use pre-tax dollars. We just ignored all that and all we did was make this more bureaucratic.”

Cole said he doesn’t think Pelosi has the votes required to pass the bill in the House at this point but the bill could end up in the House as early as Nov. 5. He said 85 percent of US citizens are currently estimated to have coverage and this bill claims to raise that to 96 percent.

“It is very onerous. If you’re a small-business owner, just get ready because you’re going to get hit for sure,” Cole said. “If you don’t have healthcare provisions, we’re going to tax you quite heavily and effectively force you to enroll your employees in it whether you want to do that or not and whether they want to do that or not.”

Cole said there would be a link to the text of the bill at www.cole.house.gov. ..