[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 47 (Wednesday, April 26, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H1823-H1824]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1930
                      WE NEED ACTION NOT JUST TALK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Drake). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Madam Speaker, when you become President and Vice 
President of the United States, but you have spent your life in the oil 
industry, I suppose it isn't surprising that decisions that you might 
make when you are President and Vice President would result in your 
enriching yourself more from the industry in which you had spent your 
life.
  It may not be surprising that gasoline now in this country is well 
over $3 a gallon, and imported oil over $70 a barrel, two-thirds of 
what we consume in making that gasoline coming from the most 
undemocratic places in the world, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Venezuela, 
Colombia, Nigeria.
  It is interesting, if you look at the President and the Vice 
President, the President spent his life in Midland, Texas, really 
drilling that community dry, and then he and his family founded the 
Zapata Oil Company and made relationships with oil companies in Mexico.
  The President that we have now had investments in Bahrain prior to 
his becoming President of the United States. And the Vice President, of 
course, was the CEO of Halliburton, which got all of those 
noncompetitively bid contracts in Iraq.
  We watched the former President Bush become a major partner in the 
Carlisle Group, getting big money from all the oil-producing countries 
in the Middle East and huge investments and speaking fees from these 
very same places. Is that merely coincidence?
  Yesterday, at long last then we see President Bush make a cameo 
appearance before the Renewable Fuels Association, and he gave a speech 
that many people had been waiting years to hear. He said in the speech 
we needed an investigation of why prices are going up the way they have 
over the last year. I would like to respectfully suggest to the 
President we need more than an investigation. We need new energy, new 
energy leadership by the President and Vice President. We don't need 
any more studies, and we don't need any more investigations.
  The President said that every car can run on 10 percent ethanol. 
Well, where is his action plan to do it? That is what many of us have 
been arguing, not just this year, not just last year, going back to the 
beginning of his administration when we pushed for a renewable energy 
title as part of the farm bill, and his administration has barely 
funded it, and they fought it every step of the way inside this 
Chamber.
  Now, the President said that with small changes some cars can run on 
E-85, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. Mr. 
President, there are more than 5 million cars, trucks, vans on the road 
that will run on 85 percent ethanol right now. Every major manufacturer 
has announced major efforts to produce more E-85 vehicles. 
DaimlerChrysler announced two more just this week. Guess what, Mr. 
President? The drivers can't get the fuel for the cars they have 
bought. What are you doing to help America develop the infrastructure 
for these new fuels?
  The President talks about increased research for new forms of energy, 
but what are we doing with the research we already have? Where are the 
Federal standards requiring Federal buildings to use more solar energy? 
How about the White House itself? How many Federal facilities are 
putting wind generators on their own property to develop energy? How 
many of our military bases are converting to biodiesel and to ethanol? 
When will the Chevy Suburbans that escort the Presidential motorcades 
actually use E-85 as an example of what can be done? I encourage the 
President to put a gas pump right over there at the White House.
  The President can talk about not buying oil to place in the Strategic 
Petroleum Reserve to help hold the price of gasoline down by a penny or 
two, but why is he letting America continue her addiction to imported 
oil? Wouldn't a good way to break with the past be to rename the 
Strategic Petroleum Reserve as the Strategic Fuels Reserve and start 
filling it with stocks of ethanol and biodiesel that can be rotated 
through the fuel supply system to help make these new fuels a bigger 
part of our energy mix? I introduced H.R. 3345 last year to do just 
that. I invite the President's endorsement of that effort.
  We need real action for today and tomorrow, not more of these false 
promises. We really don't need to build any more oil refineries when we 
are trying to move to new sources of energy. That would be like 
building more horseshoe factories when the automotive age was dawning.
  We need to mandate that oil companies use their exorbitant properties 
to put E-85 and biodiesel pumps in the ground right now across this 
country and to use some of their profits to do that.
  We need to help our country, not just let these companies enrich 
themselves and their top executives more. Then the millions of vehicles 
that are already on the road could help lead America to a new energy 
future.
  We need a President that gives us some action, not just talk.
  We need legislation like the Biofuels Energy Independence Act, H.R. 
388, my bill to provide additional financing for the marketing, 
production, and distribution of biofuels, as well as the establishment 
of a biofuels feed stock reserve held by our farmers.
  We need legislation like H.R. 1398, my bill to require that by 2010 
gasoline be blended with at least 10 percent ethanol, and that diesel 
be blended with at least 5 percent biodiesel. We need standards that 
give us quantifiable goals against which we can measure progress, and 
to which we can hold ourselves accountable.
  In short, Mr. President, while we appreciate your kind words and good 
wishes, we are begging for your active support in the form of realistic 
budget requests, speedy implementation action by agencies, and a 
commitment to making a difference not 10 years from now when your 
administration has its place in history but in the remaining days that 
you have to make a difference that can be felt in every

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American home, every American business, and every American community.

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