Congressional Record United States Th of America PROCEEDINGS and DEBATES of the 110 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION
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E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 110 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION Vol. 154 WASHINGTON, TUESDAY, JUNE 10, 2008 No. 95 House of Representatives The House met at 9 a.m. and was One year ago, crude oil was selling recent past. If studies show we don’t called to order by the Speaker pro tem- for $65 a barrel, and all of us were pay- have enough oil refineries, then let’s pore (Mr. MCNULTY). ing around $3 per gallon at the pump. ask the question: Is it time that we f We thought things were bad then. The build refineries on each side of the cost per barrel for crude oil has more Rocky Mountains? DESIGNATION OF SPEAKER PRO than doubled since last year while, this Skyrocketing gasoline prices are TEMPORE week, we are forced to pay in northeast crippling family budgets and profits for The SPEAKER pro tempore laid be- Wisconsin over $4 per gallon. Yet this small businesses everywhere in the fore the House the following commu- is taking place during a recession when country. Our long-term energy solu- nication from the Speaker: demand for oil is down. This is not the tions, however, must include creating a WASHINGTON, DC, way of the free marketplace. new national energy policy, imple- June 10, 2008. Like you, I was more than a little menting provisions like those I fought I hereby appoint the Honorable MICHAEL R. surprised to learn that, during this to include in the new farm bill that MCNULTY to act as Speaker pro tempore on past January of 2008, we had so much will promote alternative sources of en- this day. oil right here in the United States that ergy, leaving behind, once and for all, NANCY PELOSI, American oil companies were exporting all of the losing ideas that we have Speaker of the House of Representatives. 335,000 barrels of diesel per day to Eu- had, namely, the drill-and-burn and f rope and to Mexico. Enough is enough. drill-and-burn philosophy and policy of MORNING-HOUR DEBATE The Gas Price Relief for Consumers the Bush and Cheney administration. Act that we passed would allow us to We cannot drill and burn our way out The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursu- attack gas price manipulation, some- of this energy crisis. ant to the order of the House of Janu- thing we do not currently have the au- Although there are many causes for ary 4, 2007, the Chair will now recog- thority to do. It would authorize as today’s record-high gas prices, we nize Members from lists submitted by well an antitrust task force within the should not be afraid to take on specific the majority and minority leaders for Department of Justice to begin to root steps today to ensure that prices for morning-hour debate. out any anticompetitive activities and middle class families and small busi- The Chair will alternate recognition price manipulation in the speculative nesses come down. That is why we have between the parties, with each party and volatile futures markets. For the given the Department of Justice these limited to 25 minutes and each Mem- first time, it would instruct the Fed- new tools to, in effect, put a cop back ber, other than the majority and mi- eral Government to evaluate the dam- on the beat, making certain that those nority leaders and the minority whip, aging effects of past oil company merg- who are profiting from our pain at the limited to 5 minutes, but in no event ers and acquisitions and these effects pump will be held accountable. shall debate continue beyond 9:50 a.m. that they have had on our families and With regard to the facts of the situa- f on small businesses alike. tion, let’s look at some of the facts This is the first step in beginning to here, at the United States’ oil facts. GAS PRICE RELIEF FOR reestablish a free and open market- We, the people, have leased 42 million CONSUMERS ACT OF 2008 place in the world’s oil delivery, some- acres to oil companies, and of the 42 The SPEAKER pro tempore. The thing that Teddy Roosevelt attempted million acres, they are using 12 mil- Chair recognizes the gentleman from in the early 1900s. lion. What else is going on? Wisconsin (Mr. KAGEN) for 5 minutes. My friends, we are today no further Since the year 1980, we have lost over Mr. KAGEN. Mr. Speaker, last advanced in establishing a free and 200 refineries, decreasing our capability month, I had the opportunity and the open marketplace than we were in 1910, to produce more oil and diesel when we pleasure to work with the bipartisan but all of us who live in Wisconsin are require it. What else is going on? majority of 221 Democrats and 103 Re- struggling to fill our tanks today, and The outer banks. Everyone is talking publicans, including the entire Wis- we need relief as fast as possible, and about leasing the outer banks, the consin delegation, to pass the Gas that’s why I and an overwhelming Outer Continental Shelf. Well, 82 per- Price Relief for Consumers Act of 2008. number of my colleagues from both cent of that property has already been This will in time decrease gas prices sides of the aisle passed this act to leased, and they’re not drilling. Some for everyone and will make certain begin to cut gas prices immediately, people have asked: Why aren’t we drill- that no one is able to manipulate oil realizing it will require some time to ing in ANWR? By drilling in ANWR, prices and to control the free markets. reverse the failed energy policies of the what are we going to get? b This symbol represents the time of day during the House proceedings, e.g., b 1407 is 2:07 p.m. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. H5113 . VerDate Aug 31 2005 06:26 Jun 11, 2008 Jkt 069060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 4634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A10JN7.000 H10JNPT1 jbell on PROD1PC69 with HOUSE H5114 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE June 10, 2008 This is an old idea. If we took all of PRAYER chase oil. The reality, however, is that the oil out of ANWR, it would drop, The Chaplain, the Reverend Daniel P. about 75 percent of the oil in the economists say, the cost at the pump Coughlin, offered the following prayer: United States is on land that is already by one to two pennies per gallon, and Lord God, Your provident love is re- open for production, but less than one- that would take place 10 or 20 years vealed today as it was revealed in the third of that land is actually being from now. Furthermore, there is no scriptures and in the early days of this used by the oil companies. guarantee whatsoever that the compa- Nation’s history. Lord, after Your serv- They are literally sitting on 10,000 nies bringing the oil out of ANWR ant Moses had died, You spoke again to permits and millions of acres of leased would deliver it to the United States Your people and Joshua, the son of land that would let them start pulling citizens. It may go to Japan or to Eu- Nun. You said, ‘‘Prepare now to cross more oil out of the ground here at rope or to the highest bidder. So ANWR the Jordan with all the people. Enter home. So I say to the oil company ad- and drilling, drilling and burning is not the land I stretch out before you. No vocates, start drilling for more domes- the solution. one can stand against you as long as tic supply. Start drilling on the lands What is going on in our marketplace? you live in My presence. I will be with that are already open, and stop pos- Recent investigations and testimony you as I was with Moses. I will not turing while American drivers are in here in the House and in the Senate leave you nor will I forsake you.’’ pain at the pump. have shown that there is a concentra- In this millennium, we as a Nation f tion where pension funds are now be- need to cross over some turbulent wa- REDUCE THE PRICE AT THE PUMP ginning to invest more and more since ters and enter into a new terrain. Lord, (Mrs. BLACKBURN asked and was the year 2000 into our commodities fu- we must face a new environment with given permission to address the House tures market. So it is now time to ask a need for resourceful energy as we for 1 minute and to revise and extend the question: Isn’t it appropriate that seek economic security and global her remarks.) we ask you, if you’re buying oil, to peace. Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam Speaker, take possession of what you buy? Give us Your confidence as we once you know that the price at the pump is f again hear Your words of promise: Be what everyone is talking about. And in firm and steadfast so that you may FRANKLIN L. ‘‘JAKE’’ FLAKE my district in Tennessee, moms are lead this people to the secure and pros- The SPEAKER pro tempore. The now spending over $100 more to fill up perous land which I promised to your Chair recognizes the gentleman from the tanks than they were when the ancestors.