[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 96 (Thursday, July 20, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H5538]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          ENERGY INDEPENDENCE

  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to claim Mr. 
Emanuel's time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the gentlewoman from Ohio 
is recognized for 5 minutes.
  There was no objection.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to point out that last Friday, the 
New York Times had an ad on the editorial page, the title of which was 
``True Energy Security,'' and it says as a subheadline, 
``Interdependence is the Surest Means of Protecting Against Energy 
Shocks.'' This ad was paid for by the largest energy company in the 
world, ExxonMobil.
  I called the New York Times to figure out how much money ExxonMobil 
had to pay for an ad in that newspaper to tell us how wonderful it is 
that they are charging us such high prices and that America is truly 
dependent on imported fuel. Believe it or not, that ad cost $44,037.
  I started to calculate if I gave several people in my district $20 
gas coupons based on the $44,037 that they spent just on that ad in 
that one newspaper to try to get into our minds and turn around in our 
heads what is actually happening and make us think they are doing us a 
favor, I could have over 2,000 families in my district be able to save 
money through those coupons.
  This company made so much money last year, it blew the lid off Wall 
Street. They made the largest profits in the history of the New York 
stock market, billions and billions and billions of dollars. And are 
they lowering gas prices for our people? Never. They are raising them. 
And then they are telling us we should feel good about it.
  In fact, the ad says that the answer to energy security is 
interdependence. I wonder how much they had to pay a firm on Madison 
Avenue to invent that word? Because our country was not founded on 
interdependence on oil regimes. Our country was founded on 
independence. Independence, not interdependence.
  If you look at what is happening with our imports of petroleum, they 
now consume the largest share of our trade deficit with the world. Two-
thirds to three-quarters of the gasoline you buy comes from petroleum 
that was refined from imports. That means your money, your hardearned 
money, is going somewhere, in the case of ExxonMobil we are talking 
about Saudi Arabia. And if we really look here at the last 20 years, 
every single year the amount of imported petroleum has gone up, to the 
point where now, in 2006, it is about three-quarters.
  America has lost her independence. Independence.
  I am giving this Special Order tonight because I want the American 
people to think about what it will take to become independent again; 
what it will take on the part of the leadership of the President of our 
country, this Congress, to help move us to a new energy age.
  In rural America, we know there are new biofuels on the horizon. Why 
isn't our government helping our butanol, our ethanol, our biodiesel 
producers, to guarantee their investment for 30 years, as we did when 
we set up rural electric and rural telephone across this country, so 
that small farmers can band together and have some sense that some big 
company like Exxon isn't going to come in and squash them if they try 
to put a gas pump in a town and then ExxonMobil, who is so much bigger, 
can come in and put a gas pump right next to them, cut the price in 
half, because there is no competition by these oil cartels?
  We need this government to help the American people transition to a 
new energy age. So many farmers across this country can't raise the 
security, they can't raise the investment dollars in and of themselves. 
The hurdle is too high. We need to have the kind of leadership Franklin 
Roosevelt gave us when we set up rural telephone and rural electric 
across this country and have a new rural energy initiative that would 
help America just in that sector modernize quickly, in the area of 
hydrogen fuels, in the area of new types of turbines.
  My goodness, we invest so much money in research across this 
government, that ought to be at the top of everyone's priority list. 
Yet the Secretary of Defense said before our committee, well, 
Congresswoman, energy independence isn't my job.
  What a wrong answer that was. The Department of Defense buys more 
petroleum and more imported fuel than any other organization in this 
country, public or private. The Department of Defense ought to be 
leading America into energy independence again and unhook us from our 
dependence on oil regimes

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