[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 148 (Wednesday, September 17, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H8379-H8380]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      AMERICAN ENERGY INDEPENDENCE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, you know, there's an old saying 
that sometimes people whistle past the graveyard. I think, last night, 
that's what this Congress did. The majority on the other side rammed 
through a bill that's not going to do anything to move us toward energy 
independence, and that means we're going to continue to send $700 
billion a year overseas to Saudi Arabia, to Nigeria, to Venezuela, and 
to other countries, many of whom don't like us at all and who are using 
our own money against us. $700 billion a year.
  While we didn't do anything about that, that which would create 
hundreds of thousands of jobs in the United States, we have found that 
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae we have bailed out for God only knows how 
much money. It's in the hundreds and hundreds of billions. It's 
probably going to be more than the S&L tragedy we had years ago. Bear 
Stearns we bailed out. AIG, $85 billion last night. There's $25 billion 
to $30 billion we're going to give to the auto industry. We're going to 
be giving money, no doubt, to the aviation industry because it's in 
trouble because of the energy crisis. The stimulus package we're 
talking about is going to cost probably about $50 billion in the next 
week because the Democrat majority is going to send that to the floor, 
and we don't have the money. We're talking about $800 billion to $900 
billion that the taxpayers are going to have to cough up that we do not 
have. Now, what does that mean for the economy of the United States?
  It means simply that the dollar and the economy are going the wrong 
way. Today, get this: Gold went up over $70 an ounce. If you look back 
over the past several years, gold was running between $250 an ounce. 
Today, it went up by 25 percent over what the average was for the price 
of gold. Do you know why?
  It's because there is no confidence in the dollar right now, and 
we're not doing a darned thing in this body or in the other body to 
deal with the problem. Nothing. We had a chance last night to move 
toward energy independence and to save $700 billion a year that we're 
sending overseas. That would have made a dent in the problem we're 
dealing with right now, and it would have provided a mechanism for 
hundreds of thousands of jobs, and it would have cut the price of 
gasoline and of heating oil and of everything else that we have to deal 
with. It would have moved us radically toward energy independence. It 
would have helped stabilize the economy of the United States. We didn't 
do a darned thing, and everybody knows it. Everybody knows what we did 
last night was a sham.
  It's not going to result in any drilling. It's not going to result in 
any more oil here in the United States. It's not going to result in 
anything toward

[[Page H8380]]

nuclear or toward alternative sources of energy. It's not going to do a 
darned thing. Yet we went to the American people last night, my 
Democrat majority with that bill, and said, ``Hey, we're going to solve 
your energy problem,'' and it was a big lie, a facade.
  We had an alternative bill. We had an alternative bill sponsored by 
Democrats and Republicans--Mr. Abercrombie and Mr. Peterson, Democrats 
and Republicans--that would have moved us toward energy independence 
that was really a compromise. It didn't allow drilling in the ANWR, 
which I preferred, but it did allow other things like coal shale 
converted to oil and drilling off the Outer Continental Shelf. It would 
have resulted in revenue sharing with the States that would allow us to 
drill.
  The bill that we passed did not do any of that. The bottom line is 
this economy is in real trouble, and it's not just because of this 
Congress, but it's in real trouble because of loans that we gave to 
people who didn't deserve home loans, and it was because of the 
packaging of those loans and selling them up the line.
  The fact of the matter is we could have done something last night to 
help stem the tide by passing an energy bill that would have led us not 
only to energy independence but to saving about $700 billion a year 
that we're sending overseas to people who are not our friends.
  It's a real tragedy. This Congress is sitting on its hands, and it's 
not doing anything at a time when this country is crying out for some 
action, not just for energy, not just for lower gas prices but for some 
kind of a movement toward solving the economic problems that face this 
country.
  I'm going to end by telling you this: If gold goes up $70 in one day, 
that's an indication that the value of the dollar is going down the 
tubes. In addition to that, everybody's 401(k)s and IRAs are going down 
with it.
  This is a very, very difficult time for America, and Congress needs 
to respond, and we're not doing a darned thing. I hope my colleagues on 
both sides of the aisle are listening. The Democrat majority needs to 
do something about this, especially about the energy crisis right now 
and not just sit on your hands and pass bills to help get people 
reelected, which is what you did last night.

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