[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 87 (Thursday, June 29, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6771-S6772]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       SECURING OUR INDEPENDENCE

  Mr. ALLEN. Mr. President, as we all depart in celebration of our 
Declaration of Independence, our secession from the British monarchy, 
let us, as Senators and as Americans, assess what should be 
accomplished to secure our independence and, most importantly, the 
ideals and the freedom that need to be secured, as was expressed in our 
Declaration of Independence, authored by Thomas Jefferson 260 years 
ago.
  The people of America are the owners of our Government, and they 
expect us to do certain things. I hope when we return, after the 
Independence Day celebration, one of the first things we will recognize 
is we are a nation of laws, we are a nation of immigrants. We will 
recognize that at Monticello, Mr. Jefferson's home where there is 
always an Independence Day naturalization ceremony there, which is 
always so inspiring. For those of us who believe we should have 
immigration reform, that is how people should become citizens in this 
country--legally.
  The American people have noticed our country has, for far too long, 
neglected to secure our borders. The first thing we need to do, when we 
get back, is to find the funds for border personnel, for detention 
center capacity, for a fence, for sensors. We need to make sure this is 
Nation of laws, and a Nation of immigrants, that has been built by 
immigrants, and improved by immigrants.--My mother is an immigrant, so 
I appreciate the value and the improvements and the promise of America 
that have been born by so many people who have come to this country 
from some other land.
  But the American people expect us to do our job. The first 
responsibility of a government is security. And we need to secure our 
borders.
  Secondly, dealing with independence, is our energy. We are far too 
dependent as a country on foreign sources of energy. We need to--and I 
think we can do it--help out not just short term but long term in a 
policy that has our country less dependent on foreign sources of 
energy. We need more production of oil and natural gas here at home. 
Some of it can be in deep waters far off our coast. I would like to 
share some of those royalties and revenues with the people in the 
States so they can share in some of the benefits while also making sure 
we have more oil and natural gas from this country.
  For my Commonwealth of Virginia, on a bipartisan basis, our 
legislature, 2 years running, has passed a measure to allow the 
Commonwealth of Virginia to opt out of the moratorium or the 
prohibition of deep sea, deep water offshore exploration. Georgia may 
want another approach; Louisiana would take a different approach--but 
if a State were able to share in the royalties. For Virginia I would 
like to have one-quarter of those royalties go to colleges and 
universities; and it could be used for scholarships for, young people 
who have attributes or desires to study and be proficient in science, 
in technology and engineering, where there is such a great demand for 
people with those talents and skills in our country.
  Then, I would take 50 percent and use it for transportation and 
roads. There are great needs for roads. And if we were getting hundreds 
of millions of dollars, 50 percent of it ought to go for transportation 
and roads and highways in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
  And then a quarter of it would go to coastal communities, say, 
Virginia Beach, for example, that would probably use the money they get 
for sand or beach replenishment on our coast.
  In addition to developing more oil and natural gas in this country, 
we also ought to recognize that we are the ``Saudi Arabia'' of the 
world in coal, and we ought to be using clean coal technology for 
electricity generation. Clean coal technology, in fact, can be used in 
a way that could be gasified to be like a natural gas and could be used 
as a fuel similar to diesel fuel.
  Natural gas is so important for us for the manufacturing of 
everything from tires to plastics, to chemicals and fertilizers and 
forestry products. To be using natural gas for baseload electricity 
generation, as I have said, is like using bottled water to wash our 
dishes. It will do the job, but why would you want to use such a clean-
burning fuel--which is so important for jobs and manufacturing jobs 
here in this country, as well as for heating our homes--for electricity 
generation when we can be using clean-coal technology?
  We also ought to be using advanced nuclear technologies for 
electricity generation.
  Beyond that, there are other advancements in technology. With 
nanotechnology, there are solar powers, solar photovoltaics, which 
makes more sense now and are much more efficient. There are lithium ion 
batteries. We can also grow some of our fuels, biofuels, particularly 
soy diesel. Ethanol in some areas of the corn belt makes a great deal 
of sense. But I think soy diesel as well as cellulosic biofuels also 
make a great deal of sense.
  My colleagues, not any one of these will solve our energy dependence 
situation. But if we have diversity of fuels, and more of these fuels 
and more of this energy grown in America--explored and developed and 
produced in America for American jobs and American competitiveness and 
American security--that will improve this country's energy independence 
rather than having to worry about the whims of some mullah 8,000 miles 
away.
  So let us resolve on this Independence Day week to find ways and 
actually adopt energy independence policies. We also need to recognize 
who the owners of the Government are; and that is the people. We ought 
to be working to lessen the burden, the tax burden, on working people, 
on families, on family businesses, and on family farms.

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