[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 96 (Thursday, June 19, 2014)]
[House]
[Page H5500]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  AMERICA NEEDS NATIONAL ENERGY POLICY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Shimkus) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SHIMKUS. Mr. Speaker, headlined today in one of the papers: ``Oil 
Prices to Rise as High as $120 Per Barrel Due to the Iraqi Crisis.''
  Headlined a couple of days ago: ``Oil at a 3-Month High on Iraq 
Anxiety.''
  This brings me back to an issue that I have spoken of many times 
throughout the years as a Member of Congress, that this Nation needs to 
have a national energy policy and, just like you would in a good 
investment portfolio, a diversified energy portfolio.
  In the energy arena, I break it into two areas: electricity 
generation and transportation fuels. In electricity generation, we need 
to have the full range of competitive fueling technologies to have 
enough electricity at low prices to fuel and run our economy.
  It is hot in Washington, D.C., today. A lot of air conditioners are 
on, and we want to be able to cool our homes at low prices. That means 
having a diversified energy portfolio: nuclear power, coal, natural 
gas, hydro, wind, and solar.
  A debate on a diversified energy portfolio doesn't put all of your 
eggs in one basket. It allows you to have flexibility when there is a 
crunch or crisis in one of the other areas--likewise in the 
transportation fuel arena, especially with the crisis in Iraq.
  Mr. Speaker, who would have thought, after all these years, we would 
still be held hostage to high crude oil prices from an unstable region 
far away off our shores? Shame on us for not taking advantage of what 
we have locally and in the North American continent.
  That is why we need to continue our focus on a diversified portfolio 
for liquid transportation fuels. Based upon the premise of energy 
security, we should not be held hostage to countries that don't like 
us, who want to do us harm, who use our money to fund extremists, but 
here we are again, in that same position.
  So what would a diversified liquid transportation fuel portfolio look 
like? Well, we know what it would look like. Let's make sure we use 
this new technology of fracking and take this crude oil and natural gas 
out of our ground and use that to fuel ourselves, not relying on other 
countries.
  Let's finish the Keystone XL pipeline from our North American 
neighbors--the Canadians--who are our friends and allies, who will not 
be an unstable regime, but would be a loyal ally, as they have been for 
years and years and years.
  Let's continue to move on a renewable fuel portfolio, use our 
agricultural resources in ethanol and soy diesel and beef tallow to 
ensure that there is a diversified portfolio, so that if any one sector 
is stressed, you have other sectors in the liquid transportation arena 
that can pick up the slack and make sure that we are never held hostage 
again by these foreign regimes.
  It is very frustrating to go through this energy cycle where we think 
everything is fine, the world is at peace, and we start having debates 
about shutting down this diversified portfolio, only to be reminded--
like we are right now--of unstable regimes that don't like us, that 
when they go into crisis, we all pay.
  Mr. Speaker, it is time that we remember energy security means energy 
security and a diversified portfolio on electricity generation and 
liquid transportation fuels. I hope we continue to make that message as 
we move through the legislative calendar this year.

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