[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 16]
[House]
[Page 22399]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



        PROTECT NATIONAL SECURITY BY ASSURING OUR ENERGY SUPPLY

  (Mr. GIBBONS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, yesterday President Bush decided to refill 
our national strategic petroleum reserves to full capacity. This is 
very critical and very important and I applaud his decision. During 
this time of war, the last thing that our Nation needs to worry about 
is its energy supply. Obviously our President has the foresight to try 
to prevent a domestic energy shortage as we saw last year, and so did 
this Chamber and this House when we passed the Energy Security Act 
months ago. Yet the Democratic leadership in that other body refuses to 
act on this critical issue.
  A majority of our energy supply comes from one world region, the 
Middle East. According to the Energy Department, the United States 
increased its oil imports between 1973 and 1996 by 40 percent. During 
these times of war, concentrating oil imports from any one region 
places America's energy and economic security at great risk.
  It is time to reduce our dependency on foreign oil. It is time for 
the Democratic leadership in the other body to act and pass the Energy 
Security Act so it can be signed into law.

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