[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 82 (Monday, May 19, 2008)]
[House]
[Page H4128]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             ENERGY PRICES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. David Davis) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DAVID DAVIS of Tennessee. Madam Speaker, I'm here tonight to 
speak a little bit about energy process.
  Unfortunately, some folks here in the Congress seem to think that we 
can tax our pick-up trucks and our cars from empty to full. Just 
recently, a congressman proposed a 50-cent tax increase on gasoline. 
You heard me correct, an extra 50 cents added to each gallon. Someone 
actually proposed that here in the House of Representatives.
  I would say that 99 percent of my constituents don't want another 50 
cents in taxes added to their gasoline prices. That 50-cent tax 
increase would put gas at around $4.12 cents per gallon.
  If you would like to effectively cripple the families and small 
businesses across the United States and back in my First District of 
Tennessee, a 50-cent tax increase would do just that. Madam Speaker, 
that just doesn't make any sense to me.
  What we need is some east Tennessee commonsense, along with another 
lesson from the 8th grade civics class and economic classes. When 
demand is high, supply is low, then energy prices will be outrageous. 
That's exactly what we see today. How do you bring down energy prices?
  Eighth grade economics: create a bigger supply. How do you create a 
bigger supply of energy? No more excuses. First, we need to stop making 
excuses. We need an energy policy that allows us to use American 
energy. We need to drill for oil in ANWR and off the Outer Continental 
Shelf. We need to use fuel sources in Colorado and North Dakota, just 
to name a few. We need to use our abundant coal supply through the use 
of clean coal technology. We need to create safe nuclear power plants 
and we need to build new refineries. No more excuses. And we need to 
expand our green energy initiatives like switchgrass, wind power, solar 
power and hydroelectric power.
  We don't need an energy piece; we need an energy policy. You can't 
take one part of an energy policy and call it a policy. I'm all for 
green energy, but green energy will only get you to about 6 percent of 
our energy needs in America. That only leaves 94 percent. We need an 
energy policy.
  Right now, there is a limited supply of oil being imported into the 
United States by countries who hate us and hate our freedoms. We're at 
the mercy of these countries. My family, your family, small businesses 
across America and the families in the First District of Tennessee are 
all at the mercy of countries who hate us and hate our freedoms.
  A sound energy policy that explores new green initiatives, while 
investing in American energy sources, is what we need and we need it 
now. Not another tax increase, not another regulation, not another 
restriction that some people believe would help fill up our pick-up 
trucks and our automobiles. We need a common-sense energy policy. No 
more excuses.

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