[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 27 (Wednesday, March 9, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H1210]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              PETROLEUM PRICES AND PRICES AT THE GAS PUMP

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, here we go again. According to Reuters news 
agency today, oil prices held just below record highs on Wednesday as 
fund buying continued to dominate the market even though the United 
States Government said crude oil stocks had risen to their highest 
level for 8 months.
  Looks like the Saudi campaign promised to keep prices low before the 
election has now come to pass. Now that we are past the inauguration, 
oil prices are going through the roof.
  Today, U.S. light crude rose 11 cents to $54.70, within a dollar of 
record highs hit last October. Oil prices are up, the dollar is down, 
and our economy is sputtering. And the demand for oil is just about to 
increase with summer and vacations coming on.
  The stock market fell by more than 100 points today based on 
investors' fears about these rising oil prices. The price at the pump 
has also gone up significantly in the last few weeks if you have not 
noticed. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the average price 
at the pump this week is $1.99, up seven cents from the end of February 
and a 26-cent increase from 1 year ago. What a down draft on economic 
growth that is. In fact, the gas price increase is up 15 percent. That 
is more than five times the rate of inflation.
  Ohio's gasoline price at the pump today is 11\1/2\ cents up from the 
last week of February. Currently, Ohioans are paying over $2.05 for 
their gasoline and the upward trend is not going to stop there. We in 
the Midwest are facing the highest increases in gasoline prices in the 
last year, with an increase of over 32 cents a gallon. That is over 
four cents higher than any other region of the country. Residents in 
Cleveland are paying today more than $2.07 a gallon, an increase of 
over 12 cents from the last week of February and over 33 cents per 
gallon from a year ago.
  What is truly dangerous and tragic about this trend is our continued 
dependence on imported sources of oil. It means that our Nation is 
strategically vulnerable to disruptions in those with over half of the 
petroleum we use imported. That is why, when I asked Secretary Donald 
Rumsfeld this week when he was before our defense committee what he was 
doing as the Secretary of the largest Cabinet agency in the government 
of the United States to help lead America to a new energy era, I was 
very surprised to hear his answer, which I quote from the record: The 
Department of Defense has no authority to do anything about oil. 
Needless to say, we don't get funds appropriated by this committee for 
doing things that relate to reducing our Nation's dependency on oil.
  I was shocked at his answer since we were considering the 
supplemental appropriation bill this week for the Defense Department, 
and just in the supplemental, there is over $1.411 billion related to 
unforeseen fuel price increases, for fuel delivery costs. For instance, 
the Defense Logistics Agency is going to pay $742,300,000 more just in 
the supplemental; the Marine Corps, $311,380,000; and the list goes on 
and on. Indeed, the Institute of Local Self-Reliance, in a report done 
just a few years ago, says that in any fiscal year, our government 
spends over $100 billion just allowing oil to flow into this country. 
We are not inventing any new energy sources. We are just becoming more 
dependent every day.
  Imagine an America that was energy independent again and where energy 
independence rose to be a real national priority. Biofuels that our 
farmers can grow could displace a huge amount of imported petroleum in 
the short term. Not 10 years from now, but within 3 years, we could 
displace 25 percent of what we currently burn in our tanks with 
ethanol-based fuel and biodiesel-based fuel and other derivatives. Yet 
the Bush administration, is it trying to move America in a more 
independent direction? No. They are cutting their support for biofuels, 
the minimal amount of research and development dollars in the 
Department of Agriculture, by over $100 million this year alone. Grain-
based ethanol and grain-based biodiesel truly can help America wheel 
her way to a new energy future.
  The American people need a new Declaration of Independence. We need 
to cut the umbilical cord to Saudi Arabia and the Middle East and every 
other undemocratic regime around this earth to which we are attached 
because of our oil dependence. There is no better time than now to 
begin. I just wish someone in the Bush administration was paying 
attention to the gouging going on at the pumps across this country and 
the fact that Americans cannot buy biodiesel and ethanol even when they 
want it and when Detroit is manufacturing cars that can use it.
  Ask yourself, who has got a lockout at the pumps across this country? 
Freedom for America in the 21st century should mean freedom from 
dependence on imported petroleum.

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