This was a vote on an amendment by Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) that would have prohibited federal funds from being used to give new leases—under which recipients paid no royalties—to oil and gas companies to drill for oil on public lands.  This amendment was offered to a continuing resolution funding the federal government through September 2011, and cutting $61 billion in federal funding for many government programs.

Markey urged support for his amendment: “…We all agree that we have to do some serious work to reduce the deficit. But we need to start by first eliminating unnecessary taxpayer subsidies to big oil companies….oil companies are now drilling for free on public lands offshore in the Gulf of Mexico…. the American people currently stand to lose as much as $53 billion in royalty payments over the life of these leases….And with oil prices at $90 a barrel, we do not have to be allowing them to drill on public lands for free and take all of the profit for themselves and giving nothing back to the American taxpayer. This amendment is very simple. It says to these companies we will allow you to continue to drill and not even pay any royalties, but we're not going to give you an opportunity to bid on any new leases on public lands in our country.”

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) opposed the amendment: “This is about closing off more domestic sources of energy production at a time when the Middle East has never been more volatile. You might as well just call this the OPEC [Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries—the intergovernmental organization made up of major oil-exporting states] protection amendment, because it ensures that more of these companies, as they are already doing, will be going out of the country…. So I guess my colleague [Rep. Markey] is okay with shutting off more domestic energy, allowing more American companies to go bankrupt…my colleague wants to bring this amendment to shut even more areas of the Outer Continental Shelf off.”

The House rejected this amendment by a vote of 174-251. Voting “yea” were 163 Democrats—including a majority of progressives—and 11 Republicans. 226 Republicans and 25 Democrats voted “nay.” As a result, the House rejected an amendment that would have prohibited funds provided by a continuing resolution from being used to give new leases—under which recipients paid no royalties—to oil and gas companies to drill for oil on public lands.