[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 142 (Tuesday, September 9, 2008)]
[House]
[Page H7863]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




RECORD GAS PRICES ARE A RESULT OF BUSH AND CHENEY--TWO OIL EXECS IN THE 
                              WHITE HOUSE

  (Mr. YARMUTH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. YARMUTH. Mr. Speaker, the two people most responsible for our 
Nation's failed energy policy are the two oilmen in the White House--
President Bush and Vice President Cheney.
  From their earliest days in the White House, they surrounded 
themselves with other executives from Big Oil. As Newsweek reported in 
2001, ``not since the rise of the railroads more than a century ago has 
a single industry placed so many foot soldiers at the top of the new 
administration.'' And when it came to actually creating an energy 
policy, Vice President Cheney met in secret with oil executives in Big 
Oil in the Vice President's home.
  This administration admits that 95 percent of its energy policy has 
now been enacted, so let's take a look at exactly what it has produced. 
Over the past 7 years, gas prices have more than tripled, while for 5 
straight years now the major oil companies have amassed close to $600 
billion in profits. Meanwhile, our dependence on foreign oil has 
increased by 753 million barrels a year.
  Mr. Speaker, House Democrats have rejected this failed policy and 
instead are working to pass legislation that will provide consumers 
relief while ending our dependence on foreign oil.

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