[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 73 (Thursday, May 24, 2001)]
[House]
[Page H2683]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           SAY NO TO BIG OIL

  (Ms. DeLAURO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, America's families are struggling with high 
energy costs, but the Bush administration is more interested in 
catering to the needs of big oil and energy companies, rather than 
helping the working- and middle-class families that need their relief 
now.
  We need long-term solutions that encourage exploration, increase 
refining capacity, and help Americans conserve energy. But, in the 
short term, we need to aggressively protect consumers, investigate 
price fixing, and consider releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum 
Reserve to moderate the effects of price spikes. The administration has 
rejected these options out of hand.
  What is their solution? What does the President say? Drill in the 
Arctic National Reserve and relax clean water and air standards.
  Last week, the President suggested that his tax cut will solve the 
energy crisis, a bizarre and a disconnected idea. That hard-earned 
refund, my friends, should not go into the pockets of the energy 
executives who are already making outrageous profits at the expense of 
hard-pressed American families.
  I call on the President to say ``no'' to his big oil and big energy 
friends. Say ``yes'' to America's families that need help with rising 
gas and energy prices.

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