[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 49 (Monday, March 31, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H1794-H1795]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 ECONOMIC PLIGHT OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

  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, the American people are desperately 
struggling to understand why our Federal Government is ignoring their 
economic plight. The average price of gasoline now sits at $3.28 and it 
is rising. Only a month ago, Americans paid $3.16. A year ago, they 
paid $2.67. Months away from the peak of the summer driving season, the 
American people can expect to see this trend get only worse.
  In 1996, the United States began its plunge into nearly total 
dependence on imported petroleum. With 10 years of oil deficits 
continuing to plague our economy, we have spent too much time talking 
and not enough time acting. Our lack of energy independence translates 
into a true loss of liberty.
  Since the Bush administration assumed office, our Nation is importing 
a billion more barrels of petroleum a year. A billion barrels more. By 
2007, the trade deficit of oil imports had risen to $293 billion, 
accounting for a third, over a third, of the total $815 billion U.S. 
trade deficit.
  This last statistic is truly sobering. But for this year of 2008, 51 
percent of the total U.S. trade deficit, over half, is now the result 
of imported oil. Over half of our structural trade deficit flows 
directly from the increasing cost of oil.
  Again, this equals dependence for America, not independence. It is an 
abrogation of our birthright as a Nation to allow us to continue in 
this position.
  Based on 2007 numbers, the United States is adding $808 million a day 
to the trade deficit just from our imbalance in oil. The rising cost of 
oil added an estimated $50 billion to the Nation's trade deficit in 
2006 and, on top of that, another $28 billion in 2007.

[[Page H1795]]

  Our country imported 4.8 billion barrels of oil in total energy-
related products in 2007 valued at $319 billion. Imagine if we would 
have been able to spend those dollars here at home what an injection 
that would be into this economy with the value of the dollar falling, 
so much related to imports, the economy tanking, the housing market in 
freefall and Americans feeling the true pinch of all of this. Our 
government here in Washington has not provided the leadership needed to 
end this plunge into national subservience.
  The solution is clear: energy independence now. First, we have to 
look to our natural resources and pass a good farm bill to unleash the 
power of the earth and nature as a key part of the solution. And while 
there has been plenty of talk from our President about energy 
independence, the insistence on vetoing a bill, that does not live 
within artificial budget limits that he has declared, is an absurdity 
that threatens to destroy our progress. A good farm bill invests in 
rural America, providing an investment in infrastructure and research, 
including the energy technologies of tomorrow.
  Second, we must continue to rely on the advanced research technology 
organized by the National Renewable Energy Lab and give this lab the 
resources to define and help redefine our new energy future. We need no 
less a commitment than we envisioned when we created NASA and space 
exploration. With that came security, and now we need energy security. 
It is that high a priority. This Congress, this President should be 
working to that end.
  And third, we must pass legislation to fund the energy bill that 
passed the House last year, and then again this year, and call on our 
brethren in the other body to take action.
  Unless we commit to providing leadership to transform our economy, 
this discussion remains the rhetoric of the last century really leaving 
us with a confused and unfulfilled daydream that has repeated itself 
for the last three decades.
  As the American people face $4 gasoline and see our wealth drained 
from us, we must take a new course. We are past the point of words. 
Real deeds are required. And we must stop our economic hemorrhaging and 
begin investing in our own Midwest, in our own country, not the Middle 
East, and pass on a free republic to our posterity worthy of the 
sacrifices of our founders and all those who gave their all in 
freedom's cause.
  Liberty's call in this new century demands energy independence now.

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