by thinkprogress
On June 5, Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH) took to the House floor and criticized Congress for refusing to lift the ban on offshore oil drilling. To strengthen her point, she claimed that even China and Cuba are drilling off Florida’s coast:
This very day, there is indeed the drilling activity off of our country’s coast. Not by our U.S. companies; that would be illegal. Instead, the Chinese are drilling off the coast of Florida, with their new energy partner, Cuba. This Congress has failed to act time and time again. Our oil resources along our coastlines and in Alaska remain untapped in the name of environmentalism.
Watch it:
Schmidt’s allegation is false. China is not drilling off the coast of Florida. Even Vice President Cheney, who also made the claim last week, put out a statement on Thursday admitting that he was wrong:
It is our understanding that, although Cuba has leased out exploration blocks 60 miles off the coast of southern Florida, which is closer than American firms are allowed to operate in that area, no Chinese firm is drilling there.
Conservative columnist George Will, who also made the claim in his June 5 column, today wrote a correction, stating, “[N]o Chinese company has been involved in Cuba’s oil exploration that close to the United States.”
Schmidt and other conservatives are refusing to back down, however. When asked whether she plans to issue a retraction, one of her spokesmen simply replied, “We will have a discussion.” House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO), and Rep. George Radanovich (R-CA), who also made the false claim, have gone further and defended their statements.
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