[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 105 (Tuesday, June 24, 2008)]
[House]
[Page H5870]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    AVAILABLE AND AFFORDABLE ENERGY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Wisconsin (Mr. Kagen) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KAGEN. Madam Speaker, everywhere in Wisconsin, people are asking 
for help to cut the cost for gasoline and diesel fuels. People are 
having a tough time just keeping their heads above water, paying one 
out of four of their paychecks toward gas just to get to work. We must 
do everything possible to make certain gas and oil become more 
affordable. During the past year, I've been listening to everyone 
involved in the oil industry, and one thing is clear. Current oil 
prices are not explainable by normal marketplace forces of supply and 
demand. Why are gas prices so high?
  Well, there are many reasons, including increased demand from China 
and India and the declining value of the dollar, but these reasons 
alone do not explain today's surging oil prices.
  While ignoring cries for help from ordinary people, President Bush 
and Vice President Cheney--the two oil men in the White House--have 
been unwilling to investigate the anticompetitive activities of big oil 
companies and speculators in large investment banks. Their only 
response to the surge in oil prices has been to beg for more addictive 
oil from the Arabian kings in the Middle East, even though last year, 
as we emptied our pockets, Saudi Arabia enjoyed a windfall of $500 
billion.
  We cannot afford to follow the advice of the White House oil men and 
of their supporters. For, if we do, we will become not just bankrupt 
but a nation of beggars.
  Aside from begging, the White House oil men also offered more of the 
same losing ideas that caused this mess in the first place: More 
drilling rights for Big Oil. Their old school drilling idea is 
shortsighted for it requires years--years, not weeks--to explore, pump, 
refine, and deliver gasoline and diesel fuels. We need gas price relief 
now, not next year. Here is how we get started.
  First, we need leaders who will stand up to Big Oil and who will 
provide the necessary oversight to the oil markets to prevent 
speculators from manipulating prices for their own benefit. On June 23, 
just yesterday, an Oppenheimer equity research expert, Mr. Gyte, 
testified before an Energy and Commerce subcommittee, focusing on oil 
price manipulation.
  In his words, ``I believe the surge in crude oil price, which more 
than doubled in the past 12 months, was mainly due to excessive 
speculation and not due to an unexpected shift in market 
fundamentals.''
  His testimony and that of others is that speculative manipulation in 
the oil futures market is real and that, by designing effective 
regulation of the oil markets, prices for oil may decline immediately, 
anywhere from $45 to $65 a barrel immediately, not in 10 years.
  Based upon all of the information available today, the first and best 
choice for Congress is to prepare appropriate legislative and 
regulatory actions, which, according to experts, will drop prices 
dramatically in several weeks.
  In addition to better oversight of the oil markets, Congress must 
begin to invest in the development of reliable and affordable energy 
resources. We can do this by continuing to drill for new oil on Federal 
lands already leased to American oil companies even as we invest in 
renewable sources of energy using solar, wind, geothermal, cellulosic, 
and biomass-based technologies. We must also ask: Is it time to build 
new and more modern nuclear sources of electricity?
  By investing in these new renewable energy resources, we will create 
millions of new, higher waged jobs, and we will develop what we've been 
talking about--the green economy right here at home--as we become an 
energy independent Nation.
  We cannot neglect again to mention the OPEC kingdoms, which have been 
manipulating both world oil prices and supplies for years. To push back 
against their illegal manipulation of the oil market, I sponsored and 
passed major legislation that will, in time, bust up the oil cartels 
and will reestablish a freely competitive marketplace to make prices 
reasonable once again for everyone.
  What is it? What is it that my colleagues on the other side have 
against free markets? Simply put, we cannot continue to be held hostage 
by OPEC and by the manipulative partners in Big Oil.
  The final piece to solving the surge in oil price is the declining 
value of the dollar. Here, you see a picture form of the dollar in 
2000, when President Bush took office, declining by 38 percent in the 
last year. In several more months of this economic activity of borrow 
and spend, you will be able to take your dollar, paste it with some 
glue on an envelope and use it as a postage stamp.
  Regretfully, as a direct result of President Bush's economic policy 
of borrow and spend, our money has lost its purchasing power. It simply 
doesn't stretch as far as it did before. As a direct result of dollar 
light, prices for everything have gone up, not just for gasoline but 
for a loaf of bread, for a gallon of milk and for everything we require 
just to survive: Our rent, our mortgage payments and our health care 
bills.
  People are screaming, ``It's the dollar, stupid!''
  Prices for everything are up, but by working together, we can bring 
about a different economic policy, one different from borrow and spend. 
We're working hard to bring about the changes we need. By working 
together, we will become an energy independent Nation, and we will make 
available, affordable energy for all of us.

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