[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 117 (Wednesday, July 16, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H6581-H6582]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      THE ANSWER TO OUR OIL PROBLEM: PRODUCE, PUNISH, AND PROMOTE

  (Mr. PERLMUTTER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. PERLMUTTER. Good morning.
  My friends on the Republican side of the aisle are complaining about 
gas prices, but with two oil men in the White House, is it any wonder 
that the price per barrel has gone from $30 at the beginning of the 
Bush administration to $150 or thereabouts.

[[Page H6582]]

  The Republicans have taken the tack that we should drill, drill, 
drill. That's not the answer. We're not going to drill our way out of 
this problem. I would say it's the three P's: produce from the 68 
million acres that we have under lease and are permitted today, punish 
the people who have been hoarding, gouging, and speculating in oil 
futures, and the third is promote efficiency and alternative forms of 
energy.
  We've learned this lesson too many times. We need to come up with a 
new way to power this nation. If we do these three P's, produce from 
what we've got, punish those people who are gouging us, and third, 
promote energy efficiency and alternative energy, we will change the 
direction of this nation. And we need to do it right now.

                          ____________________