[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 117 (Wednesday, July 16, 2008)]
[House]
[Page H6651]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              IT IS TIME TO HELP AMERICANS WITH GAS PRICES

  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, the American people are hurting with the 
cost of gasoline at the pumps, the rising price at the pumps, a weak 
economy that we're facing nationally and pending tax increases, a 
housing crisis that's facing many Americans, the struggles we've had in 
western North Carolina with bad trade deals.
  Mr. Speaker, the American people are hurting, and it is because of 
rising prices at the pumps. That is the most egregious and powerful 
punch that this Democrat Congress has laid before the people of 
America.
  There are some in this House that have been advocating for increasing 
the supply, making sure that new oil refineries are online, new 
American production of oil and natural gas. Then we have those, mostly 
liberals in this House, mostly Democrats, that say, No. We don't want 
any new production. No. We will side with the extreme 
environmentalists, not with American people who are screaming. They 
will support the screaming environmentalists rather than the families 
that are screaming, screaming when they take their kids to school, 
screaming when they just go out for a Saturday afternoon.
  I will tell you the American people need help when it comes to the 
price of fuel. And this Democrat Congress has abdicated its 
responsibility in this role. The American people will be furious when 
they find out that we have American resources that can be tapped into. 
And so many of us, my colleagues and many in this House, have been 
advocating more supply. And yet the Speaker of the House will say, No, 
we don't want new American supply. That won't do anything to the price 
of gasoline at the pumps.
  Well, just this morning, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben 
Bernanke, testified before the Financial Services Committee. And in 
answering a question about the cost of price at the pumps, the question 
was posed to him, ``Would increasing supply cut the price of gas at the 
pumps?'' His response--here. I have blown it up large so that my 
Democrat colleagues can read it. The Chairman of the Federal Reserve 
said, ``A 1 percent increase in supply could lower prices by as much as 
10 percent.'' A 1 percent increase in supply could lower prices by as 
much as 10 percent. This was the testimony, as of this morning, in 
front of the Financial Services Committee.
  This is a very important thing for this Congress to understand, that 
if we allow for more exploration here that has been prevented by law, 
it can bring down prices.
  Now, I'm not a newcomer to this. I have been advocating things from 
my first days here in Congress. I think we need to have an American 
energy policy that is multi-tiered. First, we need to have new 
refineries. We also, along with that, have to have new domestic 
exploration of oil. That can be done off the deep waters of our coast. 
It can be done in remote areas of Alaska, such as ANWR. It could be 
done in the Rocky Mountain West with oil shale production. These things 
can be done if Congress acts. And I think it's high time Congress acts 
with the price of gasoline over $4 a gallon in western North Carolina.
  But that's not it. We can't just stop there. Certainly it will bring 
down prices, as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve said, if we 
increase that production. But we have to go a step further. We have to 
ask the American people to conserve energy. Conservation is not a means 
to American energy independence, though it is a sign of personal 
virtue. But it can help on the margins. And it can help family budgets 
across western North Carolina.
  But beyond that, we have to heavily invest in alternative sources of 
energy. There will be a day when our economy is powered by alternative 
sources of energy. Whether it's an electric car or hydrogen-powered 
automobile, a natural gas-powered automobile, or even perhaps some 
nuclear-powered device, these things are possible and we have to 
heavily invest in that. But until that day comes, it is imperative that 
this Congress act and act now for American energy independence through 
domestic energy exploration. American oil, American natural gas, that 
creates American jobs and keeps wealth here in America.
  Mr. Speaker, it is time this Congress acts, and it's time that we 
take the proper steps to help the folks across America who are 
struggling with high gas prices.

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