[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 80 (Thursday, May 15, 2008)]
[House]
[Page H4049]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             ENERGY POLICY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. McHenry) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. McHENRY. Mr. Speaker, this evening I'm here to address the House 
and take a moment to talk about something that's on my constituents' 
minds and my mind and that's energy policy. We have a real need for a 
strong energy policy in America. Actually, to go further, we have a 
need for an energy policy in America, and we've not seen leadership out 
of Washington on this issue. Period.
  In 2005, we had an energy act that was passed out of this Chamber, 
enacted into law that helped get the refining process working. 
Actually, more pointedly, it helped move forward nuclear power and new 
plants with nuclear power production, and there were other small 
changes for the refining process and the licensing and things of that 
sort, but that wasn't enough. We've not done enough.
  Earlier this week, this House passed by a wide margin thankfully, a 
bipartisan majority that I was happy to vote in favor of, that would 
suspend the addition of more oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. 
Now this, according to most economists and folks that look at oil and 
energy production, according to them, it would reduce gas prices just a 
little bit. Well, the reason why it would reduce it just a little bit 
is because it would take less demand off the marketplace, thereby 
keeping the same supply that we have but reducing demand, and as such, 
as most people know with economics, when that happens prices fall.
  I think we have to go one step further, and that one step further is 
increasing capacity. That means we have to have American energy 
production. That means off the deep waters of our coasts we need to 
find oil and natural gas. In remote areas of Alaska, we need to harness 
the oil that is there. Whether it's oil shale in the Rocky Mountain 
West or energy production and drilling in the Dakotas, I think these 
are the things that we have to be about, and Congress must put forward 
a bold initiative to do that.

                              {time}  1615

  And that's the legislation that I have cosponsored here in this 
Chamber, to increase capacity and production.
  But beyond that, I think most Americans know that simply getting more 
American oil is not enough. Getting more American natural gas is not 
enough. Increasing refineries here in the United States is not enough. 
It's a start, but long term we have to have a massive investment, a 
21st century Manhattan Project that harnesses our power and ingenuity 
here in the United States to end our reliance on foreign oil, and go 
one step further than that, end our reliance on oil. That should be a 
national priority.
  Kennedy demanded that we put a man on the Moon before the end of the 
1960s, and we did it. In a dire time, with the greatest war the world 
has ever known, we developed the Manhattan Project to produce a 
devastating weapon that would hopefully end all wars. That didn't 
happen in terms of ending the war, but we did produce nuclear power and 
a nuclear weapon in a few short years.
  We must have that same priority here in the United States and demand 
energy independence from the rest of the world by embracing our 
alternatives that we have here domestically, embracing our ingenuity, 
and going that final step to true energy independence. That's what we 
should be about.
  This should not be a partisan issue. We should have a bipartisan 
majority that says, yes, we will do these things, and we will do these 
things in a short period of time because that's what the American 
people deserve.
  My constituents are hurting. They have to drive automobiles. We don't 
have mass transit in my district of any substantive form, really. So my 
constituents are hurting. And it's a question about being able to take 
your kids to the beach this summer. But beyond that, many families are 
struggling just to buy food, keep shelter. I think we have to be very 
sensitive to the demands of our constituents and realize that they're 
hurting. And energy and gas prices are the central reason why they're 
hurting.
  We have to get serious about this, put politics aside, and do what's 
right for our American people. It's the right thing for our American 
people. It's the right thing for our economy. It's the right thing for 
our future in the United States.
  I look forward to us working together in a bipartisan way for true 
energy independence.

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