[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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