Congressman Phil English Radio Address
September 19, 2008

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TRANSCRIPT:

Hello, this is Congressman Phil English. I have the privilege of representing northwestern Pennsylvania’s third congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Our economy is facing challenging times and with record gas prices putting an undue strain on families and businesses, the recent news on Wall Street has only added to the frustration and unease. And Americans are right to demand answers from Washington.

That’s why earlier this summer a group of House Democrats and Republicans got together and drafted comprehensive legislation that contains common-sense steps to address our nation’s energy needs.

Led by my fellow Pennyslvanian, Congressman John Peterson, and Hawaii Democrat Neil Abercrombie, this legislation would allow offshore energy exploration, and – like the Republicans’ American Energy Act – would share revenues with producing states, giving them an incentive to produce deep ocean resources. It would provide key tax incentives to advance alternative and renewable fuel development, and would pay for renewable energy research and environmental restoration.

It’s a good bill, and I was proud to put my name on it as a co-sponsor, along with 99 other Republicans and 40 Democrats. Unfortunately, when Congressman Peterson and House Republicans put this measure up to a vote this week, 24 of its Democrat co-sponsors voted against it. In other words, they were for it before they were against it.

Instead, they chose to support a sham bill written by Democratic Leaders, without any input from Republicans, that would discourage domestic energy production, encourage greater dependence on foreign oil and fracture America’s struggling manufacturing base even further. Unlike the bipartisan Peterson-Abercrombie measure, the Democrat hoax would permanently ban exploration of some of our most rich oil and gas reserves. The Democrats’ bill would also limit, and put at risk, the development of wind projects, which would hurt American companies that produce wind generation equipment, such as Hodge Foundry in Greenville, Pennsylvania, in my district.

On top of that, the bill would raise taxes on American families.

I’m disappointed that my Democratic colleagues – many of whom demonstrated bipartisanship in signing on to the Peterson-Abercrombie bill – abandoned the goal of working to lower gas prices for struggling Americans, and opted for political posturing over common-sense, across-the-aisle solutions.

And while House Democrats’ sham no-energy bill is, according to one leading Senate Democrat, ‘dead on arrival,’ I’m hopeful that we can come together – not as Democrats or Republicans – but as members of Congress who are committed to solutions for American families – and pass meaningful energy legislation.

Americans deserve far better than what they’re getting from this Democrat-led Congress. This is Congressman Phil English. Thank you very much for listening.