[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 107 (Thursday, June 26, 2008)]
[House]
[Page H6153]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1845
                           SUPPLY AND DEMAND

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. FOXX. Madam Speaker, you know, Americans are beginning to 
pressure the Democrats to face up to the basic law of economics: supply 
and demand. They understand that, despite all the rhetoric on the part 
of the Democrats, what we need is more supply to meet the demand for 
petroleum products.
  The Democrats refuse to respond in the appropriate manner. What they 
continue to do is bring up sham bills, avoid the issue, and try to take 
away people's attention from the real issue.
  So what they did today was bring up a bill under suspension of the 
rules, H.R. 6251, which they called use-it-or-lose-it. This has been 
their mantra for the past few days, trying to say again that the oil 
companies--and they love to beat up on the oil companies--have all the 
means at their disposal to meet the supply needs in this country.
  However, the American people understand that's not true. Even 19 
Democrats understood that that's not true, and thankfully, the bill did 
not pass because it required a two-thirds majority vote, and it didn't 
get that.
  What H.R. 6251 would have done was threaten increased American energy 
production. It would do nothing to lower the price at the pump, and it 
would breach existing oil and gas contracts. But of course, what we've 
seen from this Democratically controlled Congress, they don't care much 
about the law. They don't care much about contracts, the basic part of 
our law in this country.
  I want to share with you some editorials that have been written about 
this harebrain scheme on the part of the Democrats, but it's not just 
the Republicans who feel this way, and as I've said, 19 Democrats voted 
against the bill today. I'm very proud of them for standing up to their 
despotic leadership and voting ``no'' on this bill.
  But here's some of the editorials that have come out about this 
legislation. The Charleston, West Virginia, Daily Mail, the hometown 
paper of Congressman Nick Rahall, one of the main sponsors of the bill: 
``Now comes a new wrinkle, another attempt to dodge sensible policy--
this one from West Virginia's Representative Nick Rahall. He proposes 
to give big oil companies an ultimatum: Unless they drill on the 68 
million acres of inactive land they now lease from the Federal 
Government--or give up those leases--they would be barred from getting 
new leases.
  ``Oh, for pity's sake. It may not be possible to produce from some 
reserves at the current price. Huffing and puffing around that American 
companies shouldn't have access to any new reserves until they have 
made full use of the reserves they have would unnecessarily delay the 
identification of new domestic sources, and production from those 
sources.
  ``Rahall's bill is yet another pitiful attempt to avoid doing what 
clearly needs to be done--make more U.S. reserves available to U.S. 
companies.'' That's in the Charleston Daily Mail editorial, 6/18/08.
  The New Hampshire Union Leader: ``Of all the dumb ideas to come out 
of Washington in recent memory, last week Representative Carol Shea-
Porter embraced what might be the dumbest of them all. Shea-Porter has 
cosponsored legislation to force oil companies that hold leases on 
Federal land to commence developing that land or lose the lease. Simply 
put, Shea-Porter hasn't the slightest idea what she's talking about.''
  Another one. ``Furthermore, AAPG's Nation says, current leases 
already require oil companies to take certain steps to use the land. 
The premise behind the bill Representative Carol Shea-Porter is 
cosponsoring--that oil companies have huge reserves of untapped oil 
wells sitting beneath already leased Federal land, which they can tap 
right away if only Congress orders it--is unsupported by the facts. 
Nation called it `laughable.' ''
  It is a great day when the American people can prevail, when they 
will convince the Democratic leadership--and it's important that we say 
over and over and over and over again that it's the Democrats who are 
in charge of the Congress. They are the ones in charge of bringing 
bills to a vote. Republicans have common sense answers to this. We will 
increase American-produced energy sources, and it's time to bring those 
bills for a vote.

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