[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 59 (Tuesday, April 15, 2008)]
[House]
[Page H2324]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          AMERICA'S DOMESTIC OIL SUPPLY CANNOT MEET ITS DEMAND

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE. Madam Speaker, the price of gasoline goes up every day, and 
Congress is partially to blame. The price of crude oil is increasing 
because demand is increasing. Our domestic energy supply cannot meet 
that demand. The global demand for oil is also rising with the 
industrialization of China. And increased demand for oil leads to 
increased prices for many products, including products made out of 
plastic.
  The problem is that Congress has made it difficult for our supply to 
meet that demand. There is a solution to the problem. The solution is 
to increase our supply by exploring domestic energy sources and 
drilling in ANWR.
  Like it or not, crude oil is still the energy base of our Nation. 
Unlike every other country on the planet, the United States does not 
take advantage of its own natural resources. When Congress abolished 
tax credits for domestic exploration and production, Congress 
effectively abolished reasonable oil prices and then raised taxes on 
oil companies to $18 billion, taxes that are eventually passed on to 
us, the consumer. Thus, higher prices at the pump.
  And this Congress decided to even award Venezuelan Dictator Chavez 
and his nationalized oil company with a large tax break, a tax break 
they did not give to American oil companies.
  It's common knowledge that, if you tax something, you're going to get 
less of it. If you tax oil, you get less of it. Less of what? Less 
production and less crude oil. Less oil on the market equals higher 
prices at the pump. And if we look at the world crude oil reserves, 80 
percent of the world crude oil is controlled by foreign nationalized 
oil companies. We call them OPEC. Six percent is controlled by Russian 
companies, and only six percent of the world oil reserves is controlled 
by American-owned oil companies. You know, those American-owned oil 
companies that are capitalistic, that have stockholders, we call them 
Americans. And those companies are making about 8 percent, 8\1/2\ 
profit.
  So the world is controlled by OPEC, not American oil companies. We 
may be the world power, but the United States does not control the 
world oil market.
  The only control we have is over our domestic energy supply, which we 
don't take advantage of because of the U.S. restrictions on offshore 
drilling and exploration. We have succumbed to the environmental fear 
myth that we cannot drill safely offshore. Other nations, including 
Britain, Norway, Holland, and Denmark, take full advantage of their 
natural resources and even permit offshore drilling in the North Sea, 
that area of the world where offshore drilling is the most difficult, 
and they do it without environmental damage.

                              {time}  1900

  We can increase our energy supply and reduce the price of gasoline at 
the pump by also allowing drilling in ANWR.
  On top of the heightened demand for crude oil, there is a heightened 
demand for new refineries. Madam Speaker, I represent 21 percent of the 
Nation's refineries in southeast Texas, but we don't have any new ones. 
The last oil refinery was built 32 years ago. Our oil refineries have 
been punished by bureaucracy and unnecessary Federal regulations. Too 
many unnecessary Federal regulations, too many government controls, too 
many high taxes, the second highest corporate income tax in the world, 
and what happens? They leave town, they go somewhere else. We must lift 
these burdens and encourage refinery development. Our gasoline prices 
will eventually drop as soon as we build new refineries and we drill 
offshore and we drill in ANWR.
  The high prices of gasoline have thrown the airline industry into 
chaos. Twenty-two percent of the Nation's jet fuel is made in my 
district. But one example, Madam Speaker, it costs an airline company 
$44 a minute to allow a plane to idle on the runway. Thus, every plane 
that takes off that's been sitting there about 30 minutes costs $1,500 
in additional oil prices.
  The high gas prices even affect the 170,000 independently owned gas 
stations in the country. They no longer make a profit on selling fuel. 
They hope to make one cent on every gallon, so they are thrilled if 
they make that penny. They make money by selling lottery tickets, 
donuts and beer, that's how they make their profit.
  It's time for us in Congress to encourage more domestic oil 
production, lift the restrictions to offshore drilling, and take care 
of ourselves. We must stop relying on unstable, volatile regions in the 
world and pompous dictators who hold Americans hostage with their crude 
oil.
  We have a problem, but we can solve it. Otherwise, we'll be parking 
our vehicles on the side of the road, riding bicycles to work, then 
blissfully wondering where all the crude oil went.
  And that's just the way it is.

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