[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 32 (Wednesday, February 27, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H1139-H1141]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       30-SOMETHING WORKING GROUP

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 18, 2007, the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Murphy) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and 
thank you again to the Speaker of the House, Ms. Pelosi, for giving the 
opportunity to the 30-Something Working Group to come to the floor once 
again to talk about some of the great progress that we believe this 
House is making on behalf of our constituents, the American people.
  We are going to have an abbreviated edition of the 30-Somethings 
today, and I am going to turn this over to Mr. Meek in a moment.
  But suffice it to say that once again I think we did some justice 
when it comes to energy policy on the floor this week. We have passed, 
once again, a bill that will extend enormous tax benefits to thousands 
of Americans and, even more, small businessmen and the people who 
profit from those businesses, who work for those businesses, so that 
they can invest in the new American economy that is the green economy 
and do it through no additional cost to the taxpayers by simply 
repealing billions of dollars that we have given to the oil industry 
under the Republican Congress and turn those tax subsidies around to 
average consumers and average small businesses who are now going to do 
right by this new renewable economy that we are building.

                              {time}  1730

  It is a start. It is not everything. We have not done a 180 on energy 
policy, but we are beginning what will be a long but continuous path to 
energy independence.
  And I yield to my friend, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek).
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Murphy, it is an honor to be on the floor 
with you. We appreciate all that you have done during your time here in 
Congress.
  I can tell you, Mr. Murphy, one of the very important measures that 
passed today on the House floor was the energy bill, the Renewable 
Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act, and I think it is important as 
we look at this piece of legislation because it is actually paid for, 
and we pay for it with the subsidies that previous Congresses gave big 
oil companies, those subsidies they didn't ask for. Well, maybe they 
did ask for them.
  I had a chart, Mr. Murphy, in previous Congresses that I used to 
bring to the floor. I am talking about the meeting Vice President Dick 
Cheney had in 2001 in his office with all of the major oil executives, 
and in that chart it showed how profits went up from that point on.
  ``Profits'' is not a bad word, but when you look at it, especially in 
how the big oil companies increased prices on individuals that were not 
only paying taxes, U.S. taxpayers that were paying for the subsidies 
they were getting, but also were paying more at the pump, and it is so 
very, very important that we identify that and reverse that.
  This piece of legislation that we passed today actually does that, 
H.R. 5351. So many times in America, Americans, they look at Congress 
and they look at what we do and how we do it and they don't quite 
understand how it happens to them twice: A, we are subsidizing big oil 
companies; and, B, why are they paying more for gas.
  What we have done in this Congress and in previous energy bills that 
we have passed, we have focused on green and focused on innovation and 
focused on how can ethanol, and we focused on making sure that cars can 
go further with less.
  We have also stood under the banner of investing in the Midwest 
versus the Middle East. And I think it is important that we continue 
with that theme. Today's legislation that passed the floor continues 
that theme.
  I talked a little earlier about the big five oil companies that 
recently reported record profits in 2007. Exxon earned $40.6 billion, 
the largest corporate profit in the history of the United States of 
America. Some of that came about because of the tax dollars being 
generated back into dollars that they didn't have to spend. Usually 
with profits of any business, you take those dollars out to be able to 
do more and better in the future. Well, we don't have a problem with 
that happening, but we don't want it to be on the backs of the U.S. 
taxpayers.
  I also think, Mr. Murphy, one other point that I want to make, with 
the economy now and how these energy prices continue to squeeze 
American families, I think it is important that since August, when the 
House took up the bill, and the price of oil has risen almost $25 per 
barrel to a new record high of $102 per barrel today. Gas is up 17 
cents a gallon in the last 2 weeks, and up 75 cents from a year ago. 
Gas prices also doubled on home heating costs, and tripled on American 
families since 2001.
  When we start looking at those statistics, we have to do something 
about

[[Page H1140]]

them, and today's legislation does something about them. I am proud to 
be a Member of the 110th Congress that is turning this ship around as 
it relates to how the U.S. taxpayers view Congress, one; and two, 
making sure that we can reverse some of those cake and ice cream 
giveaways that were given under the Republican-led Congress.
  I encourage Members to continue to head down this track of assisting 
U.S. families. And in the 30-Something Working Group, we work hard 
towards promoting that kind of philosophy, not only within the Capitol 
building talking here on the floor, but also back in our districts, to 
talk about the good things that we are doing that will assist U.S. 
families talking at their dining room table and when they get together 
for Little League games and whatever, talking about gas prices and 
talking about making America greener and talking about investing in the 
U.S. so we can have U.S. jobs.
  With that, I yield back, but I think it is important that we continue 
to head down this track. Even though we have had some objections from 
the other side of the aisle, this is the right thing to do because we 
are on the side of the American people and not the big five oil 
companies.
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. Thank you very much, Mr. Meek.
  I want to quickly let people know what this legislation does that we 
passed here. We have talked about the amount that it invests in this 
new economy, but let's talk about how it does that.
  There is $8 billion in this new bill in long-term, clean renewable 
energy tax incentives for energy accrued from sources varying from wind 
to solar to geothermal, biomass, hydropower, ocean tides, landfill gas. 
Overnight, this bill is going to invest in these types of renewable 
energy sources that are going to power the next economy.
  We know that energy independence doesn't come easy. We have become 
addicting over a long period of misguided and shortsighted Federal 
policy so that we have an unreliable and unsustainable reliance on 
dirty energy, on energy produced by oil, produced by gas-powered 
plants, produced by coal-powered plant. You don't change that 
overnight. It takes time. Now, government can't do it alone. We can't 
suddenly decide that we are going to take the generosity of the Federal 
Government and start buying up renewable energy to completely replace 
those old, dirty sources.
  What we can do is use a little bit of Federal incentive to give 
reason for private individuals and private businesses to make those 
choices themselves. That is what we have done here. My office went 
through a long and important process of becoming carbon neutral, 
becoming energy independent.
  How we did that, we brought some energy auditors into our office and 
we assessed our carbon footprint and then we found a number of ways, a 
myriad of different efforts that we could undertake to reduce that 
carbon footprint. It included everything from changing all the light 
bulbs in our offices to putting on automatic timers where we could, to 
making sure that we were printing on both sides of the page.
  We tried to reduce our individual carbon footprint, as individuals 
and businesses can do, seeing that they find that not only the right 
thing to do by our environment, but the right thing to do from a cost 
standpoint as well.
  But even after doing all of those things, Mr. Speaker, we still found 
we had an amount of pollution from old, dirtier sources that we 
couldn't completely eliminate.
  So what we did, we went out to offset that remaining dirty carbon 
footprint by purchasing tax credits for renewable energy. Basically 
going out and purchasing, putting renewable energy out there on the 
grid to make up for what dirty energy remained in our office.
  What we found for us was that it still cost a little bit more to 
purchase those renewable energy tax credits, those renewable energy 
credits, than it would have to have bought oil or gas or coal credits. 
But it was not four times as much. It is not three or twice as much. It 
is still a little bit more expensive for an individual homeowner or an 
individual business to purchase renewable energy, but it is getting 
less expensive every day. Why is that?
  It is getting less expensive every day because the economy, those 
that invest and fuel the economy from an economic standpoint are 
figuring out that there is money to be made in renewable energy, that 
there is a demand for it, and that every cent that they can lower the 
cost of that renewable energy resource, the more profit there will be 
built in because of the greater utilization.
  And so that is what we are attempting to do here. Rather than putting 
$18 billion into more tax subsidies, more regulatory subsidies for the 
oil industry, we are saying let's take that $18 billion and let's put 
it into tax subsidies for homeowners and businesses and local and State 
governments to make up that little difference between the price of old 
energy and the price of new energy.
  And that small, little incentive not just makes the difference for 
the bottom line for that particular company or for that particular 
homeowner, it then starts to increase the volume of renewable energy 
that we are producing. It starts to create more capital for those 
companies that are doing the research and development into renewable 
energy so that they can advance their efforts to create newer, cheaper 
technologies. That's how we are going to grow this renewable economy.
  And for some reason for a very long time, for the 12 years that the 
Republicans controlled this House, and in particular for the past 7 
years, the 6 of it where the President served along with the Republican 
House, they didn't get it. They didn't get that you can start to 
incentivize and create this new renewable economy, this green economy, 
not with the largess of the Federal Government but with targeted, 
direct incentives to make up that small difference between old and new 
energy. And this is about building that new economy and this is also 
about trying to right some wrongs that this Congress has perpetuated on 
the American people for far too long.
  I hope that people will look at the facts that underlie this chart 
standing beside me right now. The price of gas, and this is looking at 
increases in commodities and profits from 2001 to 2008, a 113 percent 
increase in the price of gas. Much of that has come just in the last 
few years, as more and more motorists, more and more commuters have 
found it almost impossible to make their budgets meet now that gas 
prices seems to be staying above that $3 a gallon level.
  We all feel this one. There is a 213 percent increase in the price of 
home heating oil. My wife and I are flabbergasted on a weekly and 
monthly basis as we look at the amount that we are paying to heat our 
own very small and modest home. Even with all of the different 
improvements that we have tried to make regarding oil efficiency and 
heat efficiency, we, along with millions of other American homeowners, 
have an old house. We cannot make it completely, totally energy 
efficient, and so we are paying through the nose, as are millions of 
other American homeowners, for this 213 percent increase in heating oil 
profits.
  The price of crude oil has gone up 215 percent during that time. And 
all the while, during that same period of time over the last 7 years, 
the profits of American oil companies have gone up 310 percent.
  There aren't many things in this world in a 7-year span that increase 
threefold. Wages for the average Americans are lucky to creep up by 1 
percent a year. Profits for most American businesses, in particular 
those small businesses and medium-sized businesses that power our 
economy, are lucky to grow by 5 or 10 percent every year. Even in 
robust economic times, 310 percent growth in profits over a 7-year 
period is unheard of.
  And when those profits are derived in large part due to Federal 
policy through these $18 billion in Federal tax breaks that have gone 
to the oil companies, it should have a long time ago caused this 
Congress to step back and ask why.
  Well, there are a lot of different reasons, and I am not here to 
suggest that those $18 billion in oil subsidies are the sole reason why 
you see a 310 percent spike in oil company profits. We have increased 
demand around the globe for oil, not just here in the United States but 
in India and China and in developing nations.
  But I would also posit that another reason is not just because of the 
subsidies we have given these industries,

[[Page H1141]]

but also because we have done almost nothing here in this Congress, 
before 2007 when the 110th Congress was sworn in, to really start to 
work with the competitors of the oil industry, to try to give at least 
the same benefit that we give to the oil industry to the wind industry, 
to the solar industry, the geothermal industry, the tidal industry, all 
of the other energy competitors who ultimately will make sure that we 
never see another 310 percent, 7-year growth in profits.

                              {time}  1745

  And so I think a lot of us are really excited about the direction 
we're going with energy policy. It's not just the bill that we passed 
today which shifts that $18 billion in oil company energy profits to 
incentives and tax subsidies to individuals and small businesses and 
governments that are prepared to do the right thing and invest in 
renewable energy sources. This is also about what we've done to 
increase the fuel efficiency of vehicles, the first time in 30 years 
this Congress has passed and signed by the President an increase in 
fuel efficiency standards so that the average fleet sold here in the 
United States will now have to be up around the 35 mile per gallon 
standard, still not what it could be, but a lot better than the level 
that we've been sitting at for the last 30 years.
  A new investment in green technology and green jobs, grants now going 
to businesses and nonprofit organizations that are going to do the 
training necessary to teach a whole new workforce how to compete and 
how to win in a renewable energy economy; and legislation that will say 
no more going to the store and looking at one product that's energy 
star or energy efficient rated and another product that hasn't had any 
improvements on it in the last 20 years, now every appliance, every 
microwave, every toaster that you buy, by virtue of legislation passed 
in the House and the Senate and signed by the President will make sure 
that appliances that you buy are going to meet the highest energy 
efficiency standards.
  We still have to go farther. There's still so much more we can do. We 
can pass a renewable energy portfolio standard to say that 15 to 20 
percent of the energy produced in this country comes from renewable 
energy sources. We should pass a cap and trade system that limits the 
amount of pollution and carbon that we emit into the air. But these are 
monumental steps forward that would have never happened if we didn't 
have a change in control of this Congress, because you've got a whole 
new group of people here. Mr. Altmire and I are the two members of the 
30-Something Group that are part of this new class of freshman Members 
of Congress. But you have a new group of Members here, in particular 
this freshman class, that really had a sense, from spending the last 2 
years, 2005 and 2006, out campaigning for office but just frankly being 
on the outside of this institution for all of our lives, that the 
public got it; that the public understood that it was about time that 
we started shifting our resources, both privately and publicly, into a 
renewable economy. They understood that energy independence is the Holy 
Grail of Federal and State energy, of Federal and State policy, period, 
because it's not just about energy prices, the fact that by investing 
in renewable energy, increasing volume, increasing research and 
development, that you will eventually drive down energy prices.
  It's also about the environment. We could talk for another hour about 
the benefit that investments in renewable energy will do to the air 
that we breathe around us, what it will do to combat the growing trend 
towards the warming of this planet.
  It's also about our economy, as we've talked about. And we may not 
make rubber balls in this country like we used to. We may not have the 
large volume manufacturing base that we did 20 to 30, 50 years ago, but 
we can be the center of research and development for renewable energy 
technology. There are great strides still ahead of us on cellulosic 
ethanol, on photovoltaics, on the hydrogen economy. Our economic future 
here in the United States can be based in renewable energy.
  And lastly, folks out there know that it's about national security as 
well. They know that by creating a dependence on domestically produced 
energy, rather than on foreign produced oil, that we will make 
decisions with regard to international policy, based not on our 
national energy interests but on our national security interests.
  And so on behalf of the 30-Something Working Group, we're pretty 
excited about the bill that we were able to pass today, as we are about 
the entire trend that's happening here in Congress with regard to 
energy policy. We have farther to go, but the reason that we, as the 
30-Something Working Group, talk about this is because the investments 
that we make today will pay off in 10 and 20 and 30 and 40 years, when 
our future children and grandchildren are living in this world. They 
might not have to deal with the consequences of a Congress that ignored 
the energy crisis in this country if we make the right decisions over 
the next several Congresses.
  So I appreciate, as we always do, the opportunity for the 30-
Something Working Group to come down here. It's a busy day and evening 
here, so Mr. Meek was only able to join us for a short period of time. 
Mr. Altmire had to leave before the hour started. We know when we come 
back to this floor next week, we'll make sure to have the full 
contingent of 30-somethings down here on the floor. We miss Ms. 
Wasserman Schultz as well.
  With that, Mr. Speaker, again I thank you for the opportunity to 
speak before the floor today. I thank the Speaker for her engagement 
with the 30-Something Working Group.

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