U.S. Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) ran into a devilish difficulty earlier this week when he introduced a House bill to repeal his country’s crude oil export ban.
When the bill went on the order paper, “it just happened to be assigned the number H.R. 666,” Politico Morning Energy reported yesterday. “But after blasting out the news about the bill on Tuesday, the Texas Republican decided it was best to get a bill number not related to the Book of Revelations.”
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“It quickly became clear that the original bill number carried many different negative connotations,” said Barton spokesperson Sean Brown. “We decided it was best to change it so people will focus on the content of the legislation, not the bill number.” When it was reintroduced, the bill was numbered H.R. 702.
