[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 36 (Tuesday, March 4, 2008)]
[House]
[Page H1209]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     LET'S THINK ABOUT THE NUMBERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, when asked about the possibility of gas 
going up to $4 a gallon, the President of the United States and leader 
of the free world said, ``That's interesting. I hadn't heard that.''
  Yes, gas prices are predicted to top $4 a gallon, and the leader of 
the free world doesn't even know? Something is clearly wrong.
  Mr. Speaker, with an economy based on the fuel of yesterday, America 
needs new vision and leadership. We cannot rely on leaders who don't 
know what most Americans understand and are living every day, that our 
oil economy is based on borrowed time that is fast running out.
  Let's think about these numbers. A recent Congressional Research 
Service paper summarized the point clearly. Researchers predict that a 
10 percent increase in oil prices lowers economic growth in our country 
by a quarter point to a little over a point over the next four 
quarters, compared to a flat growth rate for oil prices.
  When President Bush took office, gasoline cost 1.45 a gallon. Today 
gasoline averages $3.17 a gallon, with some analysts saying the price 
could reach $4 a gallon. Californians already know that.
  The American people don't need the Congressional Research Service to 
do the math to understand what this means, but let's run the numbers 
just for the sake of argument.
  During Bush's tenure in office, the average price of gasoline has 
increased over 218 percent; not 10 percent, 218 percent. With 
researchers predicting that a one quarter increase of 10 percent in oil 
prices leads to an economic contraction of a quarter percent to 1.1 
percent for the following four quarters, the American people can only 
imagine what a 218 percent increase has meant for the American consumer 
over the last 7 years. It is profound.
  In rough terms, the Bush economic stewardship plan has driven our 
economy into a tailspin. Our economy is in trouble. It needs rescuing. 
And our top leader doesn't even know prices could reach $4 a gallon?
  We should have learned something from the first Arab oil embargo of 
the 1970s when the United States suffered both high unemployment and 
rampant inflation. President Reagan called it the misery index. Don't 
we remember that misery? It's being exacted on the American people 
again.
  The rising prices of oil imports in 2006 and 2007 alone accounted for 
over $70 billion of our mammoth trade deficit. The global savings glut 
is being driven largely by the transfer of wealth from our country and 
western democracies to the oil rich kingdoms of the Middle East, and 
this imbalance continues to grow, and our people continue to suffer 
more.
  The dollar declines. It's very clear what's happening. Gasoline 
prices are destroying the economic gains of our economy every day, 
pushing up our trade deficit and making America less competitive on the 
global market.
  Every paper you open up there are layoffs in community after 
community after community, coast to coast, and people are losing their 
homes at greater rates. Without a course correction, the next 
generation will never be able to compete.
  Energy legislation this House considered last week is a step in the 
right direction, and the other body ought to pass it quickly. But it is 
only a step.
  This is the time for America to redouble our efforts and invest in an 
energy-independent future that uses geothermal, wind, biomass, solar, 
advanced vehicle research, new fuels of all kinds and new vehicles, 
developing the technologies of tomorrow for this new century.
  America needs energy independence now, not in 2025, not even in 2015. 
We need every single elected official at the national level to be 
committed to energy independence now. We need a change in this Capitol 
city. We need a change in the White House, and we need people elected 
to this Congress who will save America from ruin because of the 
terrible toll that rising oil prices are having on the innards of this 
economy, in every borough, in every hamlet, in every city, in every 
town across this country.
  It is high time America moved from the carbon-based economy into the 
carbohydrate economy, and we can't do it fast enough.
  The sun waits to be captured. The wind across our plains needs to be 
put to new use, and it is renewable. It was given to us as a precious 
gift. We ought to use it. And we need to have elected officials who are 
committed to this great American quest in this new American century.

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