[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 59 (Wednesday, May 4, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H3045-H3050]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1730
                           RISING GAS PRICES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Fincher). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 5, 2011, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Broun) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, unfortunately in what has become a 
time-honored tradition, the President and my Democratic colleagues that 
are here in Congress find it more convenient and politically expedient 
to make targets of energy companies. These are companies who invest 
their own capital and resources to increase our country's energy supply 
and the security of our Nation. They want nothing more than to operate 
in a free market environment without excessive government regulations.
  However, in a move to deflect the spotlight from this 
administration's own failings and the Democrat Party's own failings and 
their incompetent policies, this administration and many in Congress 
find it easier to attack the success of the energy companies than to 
actually confront the challenges that we face, often espousing policies 
to increase government interference in the marketplace that do more 
harm than good.
  Recently, companies like Koch Industries, which employs more than 
10,000 people in my home State of Georgia, contributing more than $700 
million to our State's economy, along with tens of millions in 
community and environmental philanthropic efforts, have come under 
attack by several Democrats in this body and this administration just 
because Koch's work provides for an easy red meat target to throw to 
their radical environmental friends. It's also a sad state of affairs 
when other energy companies actually post a positive profit report, 
even though most of these profits go back into more energy exploration 
as well as clean energy development. I'm also sure that you won't hear 
many attacks on how those profits help boost the retirement accounts of 
millions of Americans and put more into our struggling economy than any 
government stimulus program has or could.
  According to the new Washington Post/ABC News survey out today, more 
than seven in 10 Americans are suffering financial hardship from the 
skyrocketing gas prices. In fact, we've got a chart here tonight, the 
first one in a series. This is the gas price, the average retail price 
in America when Barack Obama took office. The average price at that 
time was $1.84 per gallon just as recently as January of 2009, a little 
over 2 years ago. Look what's happened. As of April 25 of this year, 
the average price per gallon was $3.88. The average price 2 years ago 
was $1.84; now it is $3.88, $2 higher, over twice. It's over double in 
just a 2-year period of time.
  Gas prices don't just affect the price at the pump. I was talking to 
a Member just a few minutes ago. She was telling me that she just 
fueled her pickup truck, and it cost her over $100 to fill the gas tank 
of her pickup truck. She and her husband own a ranch. They are active 
ranchers out west. Never before has she had to pay $100 to fill the 
tank of her vehicle, and I filled the tank of mine, and it was almost 
$90 in my GMC Yukon that I've used to make house calls as a medical 
doctor. This is unsustainable.
  Our gas prices impact our grocery bills, job opportunities, travel 
plans, and thousands of other decisions that businesses and families 
make. In fact, according to an analyst from Cameron Hanover, every 
penny increase in the price of gas costs consumers, American citizens, 
consumers, more than $4 million per day. A one-penny increase costs 
consumers over $4 million per day. And, folks, who are hurt the most by 
this? The people who are hurt the most are poor people and people who 
are on limited incomes, our senior citizens.
  As the cost of fuel and gas and oil go up because of the misplaced 
policies of this administration, this winter, fuel prices are going to 
be out of the roof. In fact, the President said while we were talking 
about his cap-and-trade bill not long ago, he said that energy prices, 
to use the President's words, ``would necessarily skyrocket'' for his 
policies. ``Necessarily skyrocket.'' Under President Obama, the cost of 
energy has skyrocketed. That's what he has said in a national speech.
  The national average price of gasoline, as I just mentioned, was 
$1.84 when President Obama took office. Today it is $3.96. Rising 
gasoline prices are hurting families and small businesses. They are 
costing jobs. In fact, I just talked to a manager of a restaurant in my 
hometown of Athens, Georgia, just this last weekend. He was telling me 
that when he orders food for his restaurant, his suppliers are adding a 
fuel surcharge, a fuel surcharge onto the cost of groceries, food for 
his restaurant. That's happening in all the grocery stores, and that's 
happening all across this country. It's threatening our economy and our 
economic recovery.
  While the new House majority is taking steps to address gas prices 
and help create jobs with the American Energy Initiative, the Obama 
administration's anti-energy policies are driving up prices, and they 
are threatening our economy by blocking American energy production. We 
have had a 16 percent decrease in American energy production under this 
administration. It is 16 percent lower than it was projected to be. 
Future projections show continued decreases in domestic production and 
more and more reliance upon foreign imports for our energy sources, 
particularly for gas and oil. We're getting those energy resources from 
countries that hate us, that hate our American free enterprise system, 
that hate the liberty we have here in this country.
  More than a 200,000-barrel-per-day decrease in Gulf Coast energy 
production, this is according to the Energy Information 
Administration's March 2011

[[Page H3046]]

short-term energy outlook. Production from the Gulf of Mexico is 
expected to fall by 240,000 barrels per day in 2011 and a further 
200,000 barrels per day in 2012. A reduction. And 27 billion barrels of 
oil are under lock and key in Alaska. According to a recent FOX News 
report, the EPA's refusal to grant permits for energy production in 
Alaska's Outer Continental Shelf has limited access to an estimated 27 
billion barrels of oil. With Alaskan oil production already decreasing 
by 7 percent annually, continued delays could force the Trans-Alaska 
Pipeline to shut down.

                              {time}  1740

  What's that going to do to our cost of gasoline, heating oil, natural 
gas and all of our other energy sources? What's that going to do to the 
cost of food? It's all going to skyrocket.
  More than 40 American energy projects have been stalled by this 
administration. As the House Natural Resources Committee notes, 10 
months after the Obama administration's official moratorium on American 
energy ended, over 40 projects remain stalled, and people are left 
without work. This administration's energy policy is killing jobs in 
the Gulf Coast, as well as all over this country. We're sending 
American jobs overseas. Twelve rigs have already left the Gulf.
  Before we change, let me go to this quote here from Michael Bromwich, 
the Chief Regulator of U.S. offshore drilling. Even if we permitted the 
hell out of everything tomorrow, every pending permit, some permits 
that haven't even been filed yet, it would not have a material effect 
on gas prices, Bromwich said. That's the simple, clear reality.
  The simple clear truth, the simple truth is Michael Bromwich is 
absolutely wrong. And, in fact, as soon as the first drill bit starts 
hitting dirt or ocean floor, you will see oil prices plummet in this 
country, in my opinion. Why? Because OPEC will get a message that we're 
going to produce our own energy resources here in America.
  Mr. Speaker, I submit any country that is not energy independent, if 
it cannot produce its own energy resources, if it cannot produce its 
own food and its own clothing, is not a secure Nation. And the American 
people need to know that we are not a secure Nation today, and it's 
because of policies of this administration that are making us less 
secure. We need to go in the opposite direction of the direction we're 
going today, that this administration's taking us.
  According to James W. Noe, Executive Director of the Shallow Water 
Energy Security Coalition, at least 12 offshore rigs have already 
departed the Gulf of Mexico, resulting in a significant and precipitous 
reduction in domestic employment and energy production.
  In January, the moratorium forced seven oil rigs to abandon the Gulf 
and head overseas, costing American jobs and forcing the U.S. to import 
more foreign oil. These rigs have left. You see where they've gone. 
Nigeria, Egypt, the Congo, Brazil, French Guyana. They won't be coming 
back. Thousands of American jobs left with them. In fact, as many as 
12,000 American jobs have been lost, and more than 36,000 jobs are at 
risk.
  I hear my Democrat colleagues talking about it's jobs, jobs, jobs. In 
fact, we heard that just today in the Science Committee. One of my 
Democratic colleagues talked about jobs are the number one issue. Well, 
she's absolutely right. But it's her party's policies that are running 
jobs overseas. It's this administration's policies that are making 
these rigs leave the Gulf of Mexico and go to Nigeria and Egypt and 
Congo and Brazil, French Guyana.
  According to the study at Louisiana State University, monetary 
economist, Dr. Joseph Mason, the Obama administration's de facto ban, 
and it is a ban, he says he's lifted the moratorium but they're not 
putting out the permits. It's a de facto ban on American energy 
production, could cost as many as 24,532 jobs in the Gulf Coast and 
36,137 jobs nationwide.
  By the administration's own admission, the first 6 months of the 
official moratorium alone has resulted in as many as 12,000 American 
jobs have been lost. They're gone. They've left the Gulf Coast. They've 
gone to other areas. They've gone to produce energy, if you look at 
this chart, in the Middle East, in Africa, South America and Brazil.
  In fact, the President just sent billions of dollars to Brazil for 
them to produce their energy and create Brazilian jobs at the cost of 
American energy and American jobs. It makes no sense, absolutely no 
sense.
  Recently, in a trip to Brazil in March, President Obama pledged to 
help with technology and support to develop the Brazilian oil reserves 
so that America could become one of Brazil's, quoting Barack Obama 
himself, Brazil's best customers. He wants us to become Brazil's best 
customer.
  How about those American jobs that he is killing and his 
administration is killing?
  His Energy Secretary, Dr. Chu, a couple of years ago said, we have to 
find some way to make gasoline prices in America the same as they are 
in Europe. We'll talk about that in a bit, and remind the American 
people that the President himself said that energy prices under his 
policies that he's promoting would necessarily skyrocket. He wants 
Americans' energy prices to skyrocket, putting people out of jobs, 
costing all these thousands of jobs, costing our economy millions and 
millions and trillions of dollars in all probability eventually. 
Certainly billions.
  He just gave a loan to Brazil, $2 billion to produce jobs and produce 
oil in Brazil instead of producing oil in the Gulf Coast and off 
Alaska. And his EPA just denied any production off Alaska. It makes no 
sense.
  According to stories from the Gulf Coast residents shared at a recent 
Natural Resources Committee hearing, the President's policies already 
are helping make good on his pledge, with one offshore boat company 
employee reporting that his employer is sending 100 vessels overseas to 
Brazil to keep them working, Brazilians working. With those transfers 
go many American jobs.
  This administration's policies are destroying jobs. The Democrat 
Party policies under the former Speaker, Ms. Pelosi, the Majority 
Leader in the Senate, Harry Reid, are destroying jobs, destroying our 
economy. And they want more of the same. They want more stimulus, more 
government, less American jobs in the private sector, less American 
energy production.
  Mr. Speaker, the American people need to know very clearly, they need 
to know the simple truth. They deserve the truth; that the policies 
created by this administration, the policies created under the 
leadership of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are building a bigger 
government but destroying our energy. They're building a bigger 
government, even higher prices for housing in Washington, D.C. to 
destroy jobs in the private sector all across the country. And their 
energy policies are going to harm the most vulnerable Americans, poor 
people, people on limited incomes, our senior citizens.

                              {time}  1750

  Recently, President Obama and Washington Democrats trotted out two 
blame-shifting strategies that Democrats have tried unsuccessfully to 
use in the past to deflect blame for their failed anti-energy policies.
  Just last month, Democrats recycled their so-called ``use it or lose 
it'' argument that has already been debunked as nothing more than a 
hoax. It is political fodder that they are utilizing. And I have heard 
it in our Natural Resources Committee. I have heard it on the floor of 
the House. American people are sick and tired of this kind of political 
dialogue.
  Americans are demanding all over this country, not only in the 10th 
District in Georgia, my district, not only in the State of Georgia, but 
Americans all over the country deserve for this Nation to be energy 
independent. They are crying out for energy independence.
  The Carter administration established the Energy Department to make 
us energy independent as a Nation. The Department of Energy has failed 
miserably, failed miserably in that task, and has failed miserably in 
that task under both Democrat as well as Republican administrations.
  Now, President Obama is trying to shift blame to oil speculators just 
as he did back in 2008. And this is in spite of the fact that, as 
Washington Post's Jennifer Rubin notes: It is the administration's own 
policies that are contributing to yet another drain on the wallets of 
average Americans.

[[Page H3047]]

  The Washington Post has not been a particularly conservative 
newspaper that has promoted conservative policies. That is what 
Jennifer Rubin said: The administration's own policies are contributing 
to yet another drain on the wallets of average Americans. And she is 
absolutely correct in that assessment, and I commend her for saying so.
  Earlier this month, the House passed the Energy Tax Prevention Act, 
H.R. 910, to stop the Obama administration from imposing a backdoor 
national energy tax that will further drive up gas prices. President 
Obama says he is going to veto that legislation, proving that he won't 
let skyrocketing gas prices get in the way of his administration's job-
crushing anti-energy agenda regardless of the cost to American families 
and small businesses.
  I have got a small business in the timber industry in Lincoln County, 
Georgia, and the owner of that business recently told me he parked all 
of his trucks because he cannot afford to put fuel in those trucks, and 
that has cost several jobs in Lincoln County. Lincoln County has an 
unemployment rate that is way, way higher than the national average. In 
fact, the State of Georgia's unemployment rate I think just recently 
was reported to be over 10 percent.
  This administration's anti-energy policies are crushing jobs, 
crushing small businesses, crushing family budgets, and it is anti-
American. House Republicans are making strong efforts to create jobs 
and lower fuel prices in this country.
  Recently, CNN did a poll. They found that seven in ten Americans 
support increased offshore drilling for oil and gas--seven in ten. I 
wonder about the other three in those ten. Forty-five percent strongly 
favor.
  Here is the question. They asked how Americans feel about increased 
drilling for oil and natural gas offshore U.S. borders, and here is how 
they responded: 45 percent said that they strongly favor us doing 
increased drilling for our own oil and gas in the gulf coast offshore, 
24 percent mildly favor, 16 percent strongly oppose, and 15 percent 
mildly oppose.
  Now, that 15 percent and 16 percent, I wonder if they have looked at 
their checkbook. I wonder if they have looked at the cost of bread and 
milk, cabbage and potatoes in their grocery store. Because the prices 
of those goods that we all depend upon when we go to the grocery store 
are markedly affected by the cost of gas and oil in this country.
  Increasing American energy production will help create new jobs, and 
it addresses the rising gas prices. And Americans know it. The House is 
prepared to vote on legislation to boost offshore energy production.
  As I said, seven in ten Americans support offshore drilling for our 
oil and natural gas. It belongs to us, it belongs to the American 
people, and we are being prohibited from tapping into that by this 
administration and the Democratic Party policy.
  Implementing a comprehensive plan to build a more stable supply of 
petroleum from our own North American resources, along with reforms 
that end litigation, the endless litigation, and reveal policies that 
artificially inflate cost will provide immediate relief to the price of 
gasoline. The market knows that more energy means lower prices.
  When President Bush removed the executive moratorium on offshore 
drilling in 2008, as a good example, crude oil futures by the 
speculators fell more than $9 almost immediately. It is not the 
speculators that are causing the rising cost of oil. It is not the 
speculators who are causing the rising cost to Americans when they go 
to fill their cars and pickup trucks. It is failed policies by the 
Obama administration, failed policies by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid 
and their cronies here in the House and in the Senate.
  We can create good jobs. We can insulate the economy from energy 
price shocks by actively producing our own energy resources here in 
this country. And we can do that, we must do that, while we are good 
stewards of our environment, repealing Federal mandates and the 
prohibitions that artificially drive up the cost of gasoline and 
stopping the EPA's backdoor energy tax. They are trying to implement 
what I call tax-and-trade by EPA edict in a dictatorial manner when 
they could not pass that bill through Congress in the last Congress. 
And by halting the President's drilling permatorium, as some of us call 
it, it has been described, and unlocking our own energy resources that 
God has given us here in America both on- and offshore, all these will 
help alleviate the pain at the pump, the pain at the grocery store, the 
pain for every good and service, even the pain in the doctor's office 
and the pain of all the higher energy costs and the pain of all the 
increased costs of every good and service in this country.

                              {time}  1800

  Through the American Energy Initiative, House Republicans are 
actively working to increase American energy production in order to do 
a number of things: to lower the cost of gasoline, to create American 
jobs, to generate revenue to help reduce the debt and this deficit 
that's unsustainable, and to strengthen our national security by 
decreasing our dependence on foreign energy, particularly on foreign 
oil.
  As I mentioned just a few minutes ago, I believe very firmly that, if 
a country is not energy independent, it is not a secure nation. We are 
not secure today. We must make America energy independent, and we do 
that by developing our own energy resources--all of our energy 
resources, not only oil and gas but coal. We need to develop clean coal 
technology. We need to look at alternative energy resources, such as 
wind and solar and waves, and all of those things. We need to have 
research and development on nuclear energy and on all of the things 
that are critical for us to be energy independent as a Nation.
  Republican bills would create 250,000 jobs short term and 1.2 million 
jobs long term, according to Louisiana State University's Joseph Mason. 
We've got to create jobs, but the energy policies that this 
administration and our Democratic colleagues are promoting are killing 
jobs, not creating them. Republican policies want to create jobs.
  Under the Republican bills that we have introduced, one of which is 
H.R. 1230, the Restarting American Offshore Leasing Now Act, we would 
expand American energy production and create jobs by requiring the 
Secretary of the Interior to conduct oil and natural gas lease sales in 
the Gulf of Mexico as well as offshore of Virginia that have been 
delayed and cancelled by the Obama administration.
  H.R. 1229, Putting the Gulf of Mexico Back to Work Act, will end the 
Obama administration's de facto drilling moratorium in a safe, 
responsible and transparent manner, and it will put thousands of 
Americans back to work, increasing American energy production to help 
address the rise in gasoline prices that Americans are facing every 
single day. Every single day, we see gas prices jump.
  H.R. 1231, Reversing President Obama's Offshore Moratorium Act, will 
lift the President's ban on new offshore drilling by requiring the 
administration to move forward on American energy production in areas 
containing the most oil and natural gas resources.
  Many organizations support the three bills I just mentioned: the U.S. 
Chamber of Commerce, Americans for Tax Reform, the National Taxpayers 
Union, Americans for Prosperity, Citizens Against Government Waste, 
Americans for Limited Government, the National Federation of 
Independent Business, the 60 Plus Association, the American Trucking 
Association. I could go on and on and on. Gulf organizations are 
supporting the passage of the Outer Continental Shelf legislation, and 
I could list organization after organization.
  I won't continue with those right now because I've been joined by a 
good friend who is stalwart on this issue and who, I think, has 
probably done as much or more than any other Republican Member of 
Congress to try to help make us energy independent as a Nation and to 
help us create jobs here in America.
  My dear friend, John Shimkus, I yield to you.
  Mr. SHIMKUS. Thank you, Congressman Broun. It's great to be with you, 
and I appreciate the introduction. You're too kind.
  One thing I do know: If you want to create good-paying jobs, it's in 
the fossil fuel industry.

[[Page H3048]]

  During this recession, one of the two biggest job engines for 
organized labor has been the production of a new, supercritical coal-
fired power plant. There will be thousands of building trade workers 
building this power plant and hundreds of people who will be working in 
this power plant and mining the coal. They'll have great wages and 
superb benefits. So, if we want good, high-paying jobs in this country, 
the fossil fuel industry is one sector that can do that.
  The other major job engine next to my congressional district is the 
expansion of a refinery in Wood River. Actually, it's in Congressman 
Costello's district, but we're right next to each other. It's the 
ConocoPhillips-Wood River Refinery, and it has thousands of employees. 
It's a $2 billion project to help crack the oil that would come from 
the Canadian oil sands. You have thousands of jobs right now. You have 
another supply decreasing our reliance on imported crude oil from an 
ally with North American Energy--great wages, great benefits, secure 
jobs. It's the fossil fuel industry.
  I am just amazed at the continued attack on that sector by my friends 
on the other side and of the whole debate about what drives the cost of 
energy. It's a simple formula. We all learned it in basic economics and 
accounting: supply and demand. If you want to lower the cost of the 
good, you have to increase the supply. We continue to demand more. In 
fact, we're going to demand 30 percent more in electricity generation 
by 2030. If we don't marry that with increased electricity generation, 
guess what? We're going to have higher costs. The same is true with 
liquid fuels.
  So we're in a very exciting time in this country because, for the 
first time, we really can make the argument that we could be 
independent of imported crude oil by using what we're proposing as an 
all-of-the-above energy strategy. Let these energy commodities compete 
for our purchase. One example we drew up with some friends on the other 
side is an open fuel strategy so that anybody can use anything when 
they pull up to the pump. Another manner in which you do that is you 
continue to allow all commerce to compete for electricity. You don't 
allow government to stifle the electricity generation or the liquid 
fuel market.
  So many of us have seen these, and I'll go through them quickly since 
I know you've got some issues you want to talk about.
  In an all-of-the-above strategy, we say ``all of the above.'' If you 
want to use solar and wind, great. That's part of ``all of the above.'' 
A small portion of electricity generation does nothing for liquid fuel, 
liquid transportation fuels, but it might add 3 percent of electricity. 
OCS, we've got to be there. We've got new excitement in the Marcellus 
shale. That's got to be an exciting new venue that can go for 
electricity generation and for liquid fuels. We've got fuel from coal, 
not just electricity generation. For years, South Africa has been 
turning carbon-based coal into liquid transportation fuel or aviation 
fuel, and as you know, I'm very supportive of the biodiesel provisions.
  It all comes down to this: jobs. When we continued to add additional 
regulations on the fossil fuel industry, what happened to these miners? 
They all lost their jobs--a thousand of them in one mine. The attack by 
this administration and by my colleagues on the other side with regard 
to the fossil fuel industry has to stop.
  I know we've been joined by another of my colleagues, and I'll end 
with this because you hear it quite a bit on the floor.

                              {time}  1810

  I just want to pose a question: If you raise taxes on a commodity 
good, how does that lower its price? If you raise the tax on a 
commodity, how does that lower the price to the consumer? It cannot, 
and it will not. It will only add to the price of that energy.
  Thank you for letting me join you.
  Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Thank you, Mr. Shimkus. I appreciate it. And I 
appreciate your efforts over many Congresses since I have been here. I 
am in my third Congress, as you know. You have been a stalwart fighting 
this issue all along, and I appreciate the hard work you have done for 
the people in your district in Illinois and for this Nation. So thank 
you so much for what you have been doing.
  I have also been joined tonight by another friend of mine who has 
been very active in this issue because he is from Louisiana. He has 
been on the floor many times talking about the moratorium and the 
permatorium that has been going on, as some have called it. This has 
cost people jobs in his home State of Louisiana.
  I yield to my good friend Steve Scalise from New Orleans.
  Mr. SCALISE. I thank the gentleman from Georgia for yielding. I 
appreciate the hard work that you have been doing for years, as I have, 
on this issue. I appreciate the comments from my colleague from 
Illinois who just talked about just what is happening here.
  In the last 2 weeks we were in our districts, and I got the 
opportunity to go through parts of my district. When you talk to people 
about what is happening in this country with the economy, the biggest 
question that comes up, beyond the short-term issues of the economy and 
jobs, is the high price of gasoline, and just why is it that right now 
people are paying almost $4, if not $5 in some parts of the country, $5 
per gallon for gasoline, and we are still not even into the heart of 
the summer.
  It is very clear as people look, it is very clear that the policies 
of this administration that have completely shut off our ability to 
produce, go and explore for and produce energy in America, is one of 
the main contributing factors to this high price of gasoline.
  Of course, you don't have to go far in south Louisiana to see the 
direct impact because, as my colleague from Georgia just pointed out, 
not only the moratorium that was imposed about a year ago, but the 
permatorium that we are still experiencing today, where the 
administration won't let our people go back to work exploring safely 
for energy, people that had absolutely nothing to do with the BP 
explosion of the Deepwater Horizon, people in much deeper waters, 
drilling safely back then that now cannot go back to work.
  We have lost over 13,000 jobs in the energy industry in south 
Louisiana in the past year specifically because of President Obama's 
policies that have shut those areas down. It has literally run 
thousands of jobs, 13,000 by the White House's estimates--we think the 
number is much higher, but I will just use the White House's numbers--
13,000 people in this country who have lost their job in the energy 
industry, high-paying jobs, by the way, that have gone to foreign 
countries.
  We have tracked some of these deepwater rigs that have left. Of 
course, the President goes to Rio de Janeiro a few weeks ago and brags 
that he wants to drill in Brazil. I would suggest, Mr. President, let's 
drill in America safely, where we know there are billions of barrels of 
oil here in this country, where we can create thousands of high-paying 
jobs and generate billions of dollars that the Federal Treasury would 
take in because of all that economic activity and the royalties that 
would be paid by those oil companies, that would lower our deficit. And 
yet, no, the President says we want to shut you down and put your 
people out of work, but we want to go and spend our resources drilling 
in Brazil.
  This is the backward policy that this administration has pursued that 
has gotten us to this point where we are paying over $5 in some places 
in this country--$4, close to $4 in my district--for a gallon of 
gasoline, and we are not even in the heart of the summer.
  So then when you look at what the administration's plan is. Clearly, 
our plan is we want to let our people go back to work exploring and 
drilling safely for energy, creating thousands of good jobs, bringing 
all that tax revenue into this country to lower our deficit. But the 
Presidents's answer, is, you would think maybe he would be agreeing on 
us with this. This should be a bipartisan issue, there is bipartisan 
support, by the way, to do what my colleague from Georgia and I are 
talking about, but the President not only doesn't support our plan, but 
the President's proposal is to raise taxes on American energy.
  He goes out, and I guess every time he speaks he wants to go and beat 
up on an American industry, and right now it is the oil companies. 
Well, frankly, the oil companies that are out there right now, many of 
them are producing in other countries. But our

[[Page H3049]]

local producers, the small businesses, these aren't the big guys. These 
are the small businesses that are barely hanging on by a thread, 
struggling to survive, that he would be shutting down by raising taxes. 
His plan is to raise $22 billion in taxes on American energy 
production.

  Now, his plan, by the way, coincidentally, doesn't apply to foreign 
countries. So when he goes to Rio and says ``drill in Brazil,'' his 
package that he actually has asked Congress to pass, and I sure hope we 
don't pass it, but his package not only raises taxes on American 
energy. That same tax increase doesn't apply to the drilling in Brazil 
or in Saudi Arabia or some of these other Middle Eastern countries that 
use that money to do things that are counterproductive not only to 
American energy security, but our homeland security.
  So the President would say to raise $22 billion in taxes on American 
energy production, which, by the way, runs even thousands more jobs out 
of our country and increases our dependence on Middle Eastern oil. This 
is counterproductive policy, but that is the President's answer to high 
gas taxes, is to raise taxes on American energy, which means higher 
prices at the pump. And, by the way, we are already paying too much at 
the pump. Gas prices have more than doubled since President Obama took 
office.
  It is not just bad luck that gives us high gas prices. It is bad 
policy that comes out of Washington, D.C. That is why I really 
appreciate the gentleman from Georgia bringing us here tonight. But 
also the legislation that we will be voting on tomorrow that actually 
starts to address this problem and says, you know what, if people in 
America want to safely explore for and produce energy here in America, 
we are going to let them do that. We are going to let them go to work 
here so that we don't send those jobs and those billions of dollars to 
countries like Brazil, and, even worse, Middle Eastern countries who 
want to do us harm.
  So clearly the policy impacts the price of gas we are paying at the 
pump. We have got to reverse these policies that make absolutely no 
sense that are coming out of this White House and get back to an all-
of-the-above strategy that actually allows us to utilize our resources 
here in America in a safe way, that produces thousands of good-paying 
jobs and brings billions more dollars into the Federal Treasury to pay 
down the national debt.
  Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, the rules that were presented by 
Mr. Bishop from Utah from the Rules Committee are the two bills that 
Congressman Scalise was just talking about that will start forcing 
actually this administration to start letting out leases and helping us 
to develop our own energy resources here in America.
  But I wanted to ask Mr. Scalise before he leaves, I am on three 
committees. I am on Natural Resources, I am on the House Homeland 
Security Committee, and I am also on the Science, Space, and Technology 
Committee. Just today in Science, Space, and Technology, I heard 
Democratic colleagues talk about the number one issue in America today. 
One lady said, it is jobs, jobs, jobs.

                              {time}  1820

  And I have heard it in my other two committees. I've heard that from 
Democrat after Democrat. I know the gentleman is on the Energy and 
Commerce Committee, and the question I wanted to ask Mr. Scalise is, 
Have you heard in that committee, one of our eight committees--one of 
the most important committees dealing with energy production--have you 
heard that same mantra from our Democrats on Energy and Commerce? Has 
it been jobs that we need to be focusing upon?
  Mr. SCALISE. I appreciate the gentleman yielding. This mantra that's 
thrown out there, frankly, for over 2 years now, yourself, myself, 
we've been clamoring for policies that actually create jobs. And then 
when we bring forward legislation, actual bills--not to run up the 
deficit like our colleagues on the other side, not to run more jobs out 
of our country like our colleagues on the other side--but when we 
actually bring bills to say, Stop the madness, change these policies 
and bring that work back to America, create those jobs here, bring in 
that revenue here, they actually criticize us and say that has nothing 
to do with jobs.
  Well, it shows, first of all, that they're out of touch. They don't 
understand how job creation works in this country. But they also, 
obviously, haven't been tracking the history; tracking exactly what's 
happening all across America, but especially in using the areas around 
southeast Louisiana as the prime example. You don't have to go any 
further than to go down to south Louisiana and you'll see the job 
losses that have occurred because of this administration's policies 
which have, one, shut off American energy production, which have led to 
higher gas prices, but also run thousands of high-paying jobs out of 
America. We've tracked those rigs, those deepwater rigs, which each of 
them is about a billion-dollar asset. So you have got an American 
employer that said, You know what; I can't even do business in America 
any more with my billion-dollar asset. I've got to move it somewhere 
else; to a foreign country. One of those rigs went to Egypt. I think we 
all know what's going on in Egypt right now.
  Isn't it a sad indictment on this administration's failed energy 
policy that an American employer would say I think it's better to do 
business with my billion-dollar asset, to bring that asset over to 
Egypt and take the chances over there because of how bad the 
environment is business-wise in America. By the way, that one rig--and 
there are multiple rigs that have left our country--that one rig that 
went to Egypt is representing about a thousand high-paying jobs that 
are no longer here in America, that are no longer here in America, that 
are now in Egypt. I think that's a shame. It shows the failure of this 
administration's policies and it's the reason why--one of the few, but 
an absolute reason why--American families all across this country are 
paying higher gas prices at the pump. And there's no reason for it. We 
can reverse it. We need to reverse it.
  I'm glad your committee passed legislation that we'll be voting on 
tomorrow. I know in our Committee on Energy and Commerce we're working 
on similar solutions. I think American people want as many solutions as 
possible. But at least we're finally putting solutions on the table to 
say, Mr. President, your plan might be to raise taxes on American 
energy and raise the price of gas at the pump. We've got a different 
approach. The House Republicans here, and hopefully Senators, will 
understand and push this issue. But our approach is to lower gas prices 
by increasing the supply here in America so that we're energy secure, 
we don't have to rely on these Middle Eastern countries, and we don't 
have to send our jobs and billions of dollars to those Middle Eastern 
countries, which jeopardize our security here at home, which as a 
member of the Homeland Security I know you know about very well, too.

  Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Absolutely. In fact, I'm not a good lawyer--I'm 
not even a lawyer. I'm a medical doctor, as the gentleman knows. In law 
school they teach you not to ask a question if you don't know what the 
answer is. And I didn't know what your answer was going to be, but I 
felt sure you were going to answer the way you did, for the simple 
reason that we hear our colleagues on the other side, the Democrats, 
keep talking about wanting to create jobs. But their policies are 
destroying jobs--American jobs, private pay jobs. Their policies are 
developing bigger jobs, bigger government here in Washington, D.C., so 
much so that the only city in this country that real estate prices have 
not gone down is Washington, D.C. They've gone up.
  Why? Because this administration, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and their 
colleagues in the House and the Senate in the 111th Congress are 
creating bigger government, more regulations, more taxes, more attacks 
on jobs in the private sector, more attacks on small businesses, and 
it's creating a bigger government. Thus, higher real estate prices here 
in Washington because we've created government jobs. They claim about 
all the jobs created with the stimulus bill, et cetera, but it's 
government jobs is pretty much what we're creating.
  We've got another problem. In fact, I introduced H.R. 1032, the 
RELIEF Act, because we have excessive and frivolous lawsuits against 
our own energy production and it has significantly delayed and in many 
cases prevented our

[[Page H3050]]

energy resources from reaching the American marketplace. H.R. 1032, the 
RELIEF Act, doesn't stop people from having their day in court. But 
what it would do is it would allow the environmental wackos that are 
trying to stop energy production here in this country from having this 
endless plethora of lawsuits that stop the permitting and stop the 
production.
  What it would do is it would require that all lawsuits be filed 
within 60 days and that the courts would have to have a determination 
or solution to that case within 180 days, and that if the district 
court ruling was appealed, that it would go to the Supreme Court and 
the Supreme Court would have a ruling within another 180 days. It would 
also allow some relief from the frivolous lawsuits by allowing the 
prevailing party to be able to seek legal fees and other expenses under 
the Act. This is the kind of bill that we need to pass. I've been 
asking Members of Congress to cosponsor this because we need to pass 
this kind of legislation.
  We hear from our colleagues, Let's stop the subsidies to the big oil 
companies with all their billions of dollars of profits. I would like 
to stop subsidies to everything, including ethanol, which has not made 
sense. I'm a good southern boy. I love my grits and cornbread. And it 
makes no sense to me to drive down the road burning up my grits and 
cornbread in my Yukon. It's destroying engines, it's destroying food 
prices, it's destroying jobs here in this country. We need to stop all 
of this. We need to start developing our own energy resources.
  Mr. Speaker, what can the American people do? What American people 
can do is contact their Members of the Senate and the House and demand 
that we start producing American energy. America is not secure as a 
Nation because we're not energy secure. We've got to start developing 
our own energy resources here in America. All of them. We need to have 
an all-of-the-above energy policy. It's up to the American people to 
demand that from their Members of the House as well as the Senate.
  Former U.S. Senator Everett Dirksen one time said when he feels the 
heat, he sees the light. The American people absolutely must contact 
their Senators and Congressmen to say: We need American energy. We've 
got to start developing our own energy resources--all of the American 
energy resources--coal, oil, natural gas, wind, solar, nuclear energy. 
Every single energy resource. It's absolutely critical. It's critical 
for us to lower the cost of American energy, lower the cost of 
groceries in the grocery store and in restaurants, lower the cost of 
all goods and services by lowering the cost of energy production, make 
us secure as a Nation. It's up to the American people to demand it from 
your Member of Congress, from both your U.S. Senators as well as U.S. 
House Member. If we get enough heat upon Members of Congress, 
particularly heat upon our Democratic colleagues in the House as well 
as our Democratic colleagues in the Senate, as well as the Obama 
administration, we can be a secure Nation, we can be energy 
independent. We must. And it's up to the American people to demand it.
  I yield back the balance of my time.

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