I understand the anger and frustration with the high price of gas. I just paid almost $50 for gas the other day, which makes me sick to my stomach. My brother is a trucker so I know what they are going through too. It takes hundreds of dollars each week to fill up his truck with diesel. 

 

The majority party in the US House recently passed legislation that would further regulate and raise taxes on American energy producers by up to $21 billion! I voted against this legislation because those tax increases would be passed right on to you at the pump. 

 

Not only would this legislation cause gas prices to skyrocket, but it foolishly gives Hugo Chavez kickbacks by exempting Venezuelan-owned CITGO from the same tax increases—at a time when he is threatening to cut off oil to America! 

 

Let’s be honest. We all know we are addicted to foreign oil. I believe it’s high time we tell OPEC and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to take a hike.   

 

We should no longer be held hostage at the pump! 

 

We need to wean ourselves off foreign oil and become self sufficient. We need to expand American energy production by drilling for oil in Alaska and off our coasts. 

 

Right now, Cuba is allowing China to drill for oil less than 90 miles off the Florida Coast—but we can’t drill there. Cuba is, in effect, selling our oil while our hands are tied! It makes no sense. That is why I’m going to introduce legislation that would remove the current moratorium which prevents drilling off our coasts and give coastal states the right to determine if they want to drill for oil or natural gas.   

 

We also need to build more American oil refineries.

 

Our existing refineries are taking measures to increase their efficiency, and we are refining more oil than ever, using fewer and fewer refineries.  However, it is not enough. America is vulnerable to gas price spikes if even a few refineries are shut down—as we witnessed after Hurricane Katrina. 

 

We have not built a new oil refinery in America since the 1970s. Over 30 years later, complex and outdated regulations still make new refinery construction incredibly challenging and costly. 

 

I say we cut the bureaucratic red tape so that oil companies don’t have an excuse not to use their profits to build them here at home!

 

We cannot ignore the fact that unless we increase refining capacity, we are always one unexpected event away from catastrophic gas prices. We also cannot ignore the fact that we are paying foreign companies to refine our oil offshore rather than pay Americans to refine it in America. This is not only stupid, but wrong.

 

Addiction to foreign oil is not just hurting our pocketbooks, but is also a national security issue. That is why I support Senator Richard Burr’s idea to make the position of Energy Secretary part of the National Security Council. We simply must wake up and realize that if we don’t control our energy production we are dangerously vulnerable to those countries that have abundant energy and wish us harm. 

 

If we want to see gas prices drop, we need to make automobiles more fuel efficient. We all know car makers can build cars that can get a lot more miles to the gallon than they do now.  It’s time to do it.

If we want to ensure fuel prices are affordable in the future, we need to support the development of hybrid powered cars and alternative fuels.

It’s time we solve this problem. 

 

It’s time we start drilling for oil here in America. It’s time we build new refineries, and it’s time we produce fuel efficient cars until our cars can run on something other than gasoline.

 

No more gimmicks, no more procrastination, no more excuses. Let’s get the job done.