[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9616]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 9616]]

                          MISPLACED PRIORITIES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Gary Miller) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. GARY MILLER of California. Madam Speaker, I had not planned on 
speaking today but it reminds me of a group of comedians coming forward 
today, and blaming President Bush for the energy crisis.
  He has been in office a few months, yet the previous administration, 
President Clinton, did nothing about our energy problems. We became 
more reliant on foreign oil. We became more reliant on other products 
to provide services for our people, rather than providing for 
ourselves.
  This Nation has changed dramatically. When I was a child, a person 
went to turn the light switch on and the lights came on. When they went 
to fill their gas tank, it was reasonable to fill their gas tank. In 
those days, we swatted flies and we poisoned rats. Today we set aside 
habitat for flies and rats. And who pays for it? Private property 
owners have to pay the price of setting their property aside for some 
stupid endangered species that some wacko Democratic politician wants 
to preserve.
  In the words of the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Traficant), beam me up, 
too. Both of us need to be out of here.
  This is crazy. And we talk about big oil. If we had enough oil, we 
would not have enough energy to provide an argument for these people to 
complain about. So if we have less oil, they can complain more about 
Republicans not providing oil.
  Wake up, America. There is something seriously wrong and it is the 
Democratic Party, excluding the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Traficant) who 
has finally learned what real world life is like. Buy America; provide 
energy; close our borders. It is realistic.
  Two years ago and three years ago, this body realized there is 
something wrong with the IRS. In 1913, when we started the Tax Code, it 
was 11,400 words. The Tax Code today is over 7 million words.
  In 1914, people voluntarily paid taxes. The government did not force 
them to pay taxes. They came forward and said our government needs 
help. We need to pay taxes.
  350,000 good Americans paid taxes the first year and the IRS audited 
every doggone one of those people who paid voluntary taxes. Beam me up 
again.
  Now we realize the IRS is out of control. There is a problem with 
this country, and it is the way people vote. If we want energy, let us 
provide more oil. If we want gas, let us provide more gas. We have not 
built a refinery in the United States for 22 years.
  We have 15 different formularies or 19 formularies required in 
different States. In California in the L.A. basin, where I come from, 
we cannot bring gas from Northern California to our area. We cannot 
bring it from Washington, from Oregon, from Arizona, from Colorado, 
from Nevada, because it does not meet our standards. So when we have a 
problem with refineries, guess what? We have no gas; and yet we are 
more concerned about preserving flies and rats than we are providing 
energy for the American people that we are supposed to represent.
  Let me say, people are part of the environment, too, and they are at 
the top of it as far as I am concerned. If we happen to save a rat in 
the process of saving a human life, so be it. But if we have to poison 
that rat to save a human life, as far as I am concerned that rat is in 
trouble.
  Last year in California, Fish and Wildlife in October said we need to 
set habitat aside for the Stevens kangaroo rat, for the gnat catcher 
and for Longhorn sheep, and they set 2.9 million acres of land aside in 
California and it looked like a checker board. Now this is not where 
they live. This is habitat that would sustain those critters. If one 
does not own habitat, guess what? You own associated habitat. And then 
we complain that we cannot provide affordable housing for people.
  What do we want to do? We want to give them a section 8 voucher from 
the government.
  When one buys a new house in this country, on average 35 percent of 
the costs of that house are government fees. Now, you tell a young 
person they are going to go out and buy a $100,000 home, if they can 
find one, and $35,000 of the price of that home is fees to the 
government? Beam me up again, I would say to the gentleman from Ohio 
(Mr. Traficant). Something is seriously wrong with this Nation.
  Then we say our children cannot afford to live in our communities. We 
need to change the direction of this country and we need to be more 
responsible and accountable to the people that we represent.
  How do working people get helped in this Nation? By everything that 
can be done to engender the best economic environment for businesses, 
because when businesses do well, guess what happens? They give their 
employees raises because they need them. They give them better 
benefits. They give them more vacation pay.
  When we create recession because of wacko bureaucratic laws that we 
pass around here and businesses suffer, guess what they do? They lay 
people off. People are lucky to work 40 hours a week. They are not 
surprised if they lose their benefits and have their vacation pay cut.
  We need to change the direction of this Nation and start representing 
the good for the American people.

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