[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 73 (Wednesday, May 13, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H5492]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             WE CAN'T CONTINUE TO DEPEND ON MIDDLE EAST OIL

  (Mr. PALLONE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I have been here for about 20 years now and 
I have been through various crises, in the 1970s with energy and gas 
prices and, of course, one that we just faced within the last year or 
so.
  The bottom line is that we need energy independence. We can't 
continue to depend on Middle East oil. At the same time we have a 
global climate crisis. Anyone who denies it is just kidding themselves.
  So basically what we are doing here in the House is coming up with a 
bill that will probably come to the floor within the next 2 weeks that 
tries to achieve energy independence and also addresses the problem of 
global warming, but at the same time creates a lot of jobs. Because as 
we move towards renewables, whether it be solar or wind or geothermal, 
there are a lot of jobs in research and development. There are jobs in 
actually building those facilities. There are jobs in trying to create 
more energy efficiency.
  And these jobs that would be created, these are the kinds of high-
technology jobs, if you will, as well as construction jobs, that we 
really need, because a lot of people are out of work and are not 
working in similar industries. Their activities can be basically 
transferred to these new kinds of job opportunities.
  So I want to stress that this energy bill is a job creation bill.

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