News Room
Speeches
July 24, 2008
Rule for H. Res. 1367: Providing for Consideration of The SPR Temporary Withdrawal Legislation
I rise in strong opposition to this rule, which is a cynical attempt to provide political cover for members of this body who have chosen to elevate partisanship and politics above real energy solutions for American consumers and our economy.
For the last five months, everyday consumers and our national economy have been suffering because of this Democrat Majority’s stubborn and mind-boggling unwillingness to increase the supply of domestically-produced oil to reduce prices at the pump.
And, for over a year and a half, Republicans have been unified in a common-sense and comprehensive approach to bringing down the price of gasoline for consumers – only to have that plan ignored by this Democrat majority in favor of an agenda that prioritizes scapegoats over solutions.
Rather than taking this opportunity to work in a constructive, bipartisan way to address the domestic energy supply issues that have led to sky-high energy prices for consumers, today we are being asked – outside of regular order, and with no opportunity for members to offer their own good ideas to bring down the price of gasoline – to spend only 40 minutes debating fig-leaf legislation that releases 3 ½ days worth of oil from the Strategic Petroleum reserve and that does nothing to address the long-term barriers preventing America from achieving energy independence.
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is intended to deal with natural disasters and national security crises – not preventable, man-made disasters like the energy supply shortage facing America because of the Democrat “No-Energy strategy.”
However, if there is one small, bright spot associated with this legislation, it is that by bringing it to the House floor, this Democrat Leadership is finally admitting that there is a supply-side component to addressing America’s energy concern. Unfortunately, seriousness of purpose in dealing with the problem has not accompanied this long-overdue revelation – which is why we are here debating this do-nothing cover vote today instead of real solutions to our problems.
Yesterday, Republicans proposed a smart, innovative and comprehensive approach to addressing our nation’s energy independence problem – a solution whose guiding philosophy can be summed up by the simple principle: “Use Less, and Find More.”
Rather than just releasing a long-weekend’s worth of energy and calling it a day like the Democrats’ proposal, the Republican plan to increase the supply of American-made energy in environmentally-sound ways will:
• Open our deep water ocean resources, which could provide an additional 3 million barrels of oil per day, as well as 76 trillion cubic feet of natural gas;
• Open the Arctic coastal plain, which could provide an additional 1 million barrels of oil per day;
• Allow development of our nation’s shale oil resources, which could provide an additional 2.5 million barrels of oil per day; and
• Increase the supply of gas at the pump by cutting bureaucratic red tape that hinders the construction of new refineries.
To improve energy conservation and efficiency, the legislation will:
• Provide tax incentives for businesses and families that purchase more fuel efficient vehicles, and;
• Provide tax incentives for businesses and homeowners who improve their energy efficiency.
To promote alternative and renewable energy technologies, the legislation will:
• Spur the development of alternative fuels through government contracting by repealing the "Section 526" prohibition on government purchasing of alternative energy and promotion of coal-to-liquids technology;
• Establish a renewable energy trust fund using revenues generated by exploration in the deep ocean and on the Arctic coastal plain;
• Extend permanently the tax credit for alternative energy production, including wind, solar and hydrogen; and
• Eliminate barriers to the expansion of emission-free nuclear power production.
Speaker Pelosi and the Democrat Leadership have the power to bring these already-developed, commonsense solutions up for a vote at any time – but should they choose to continue ignoring the American public in favor of a radical environmentalist agenda, I will be giving every member of this body the opportunity to show where they really stand on energy independence during the vote on this rule’s previous question.
I encourage every Member who agrees with me that this country needs to increase its supply of safe and reliable American energy to force the Democrat leadership to finally act by rejecting this cynical rule and the meaningless underlying legislation so that this House can take up REAL legislation that will have a real effect at the pump. I reserve the balance of my time.
Since taking control of Congress in 2007, this Democrat Congress has totally neglected its responsibility to do anything constructive to address the domestic supply issues that have created the skyrocketing gas, diesel and energy costs that American families are facing – and today, they are once again providing Americans with more of this same failure of vision and leadership.
So, today, I urge my colleagues to vote with me to defeat the previous question so this House can finally consider real solutions to rising energy costs. If the previous question is defeated, I will move to amend the rule to allow for the additional consideration of HR 6566 – the American Energy Act.
This bill would increase the supply of American-made energy, improve conservation and efficiency, and promote new and expanding energy technologies to help lower the price at the pump and reduce America’s increasingly costly and dangerous dependence on foreign sources of energy.
I encourage everyone that believes that a comprehensive solution to solving this energy crisis and achieving energy independence includes increasing the supply of American energy to defeat this rule and the previous question.
I ask unanimous consent to have the text of the amendment and extraneous material inserted into the Record prior to the vote on the previous question and I yield back the balance of my time.
