[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 19]
[House]
[Pages 26390-26391]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          PASS ENERGY BILL NOW

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Terry) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. TERRY. Mr. Speaker, I think back, somewhat romantically, to when 
I turned 16, got my driver's license, and my dad let me drive that 1970 
rusted-out brown station wagon to Northwest High School in Omaha, 
Nebraska. I have a not-so-romantic memory of that 1970 station wagon, 
waiting in line on Fort Street in a line about two blocks long to get 
gas, and wondering if those who remember that second oil crisis in the 
late 1970s, around 1977, if you share this memory too of waiting in 
lines blocks long to pull up to the gas pump, wondering if when you get 
up there, there is not going to be that white piece of notebook paper 
up there saying ``out of gas.'' And gas prices doubled and tripled.
  Well, since those days in the 1970s, we were about 35 percent 
dependent on foreign oil; and as we stand here tonight in this Chamber, 
we are about 58 percent dependent on foreign oil for our energy needs 
in this country. When we look at those last 20 and 30 years and we see 
how our economy is growing and has grown, mirrored to that is our 
energy needs and use in this country. Our energy sector represents 300 
billion, a 300 billion piece of the American economy, and it is that 
that powers America and powers our economy.
  Now, I remembered or thought back to that oil crisis in the late 
1970s, but there are a lot of people that just have to remember back to 
last year when oil prices reached record highs of $40 per barrel. In 
Omaha, Nebraska, we were seeing gas stations with $2-plus per gallon 
cost for gasoline.
  Now, a lot of people that rely on natural gas to heat their homes in 
the winter saw a nearly 60 percent increase in natural gas. For 
electrical generation, most peaking plants and a lot of new generation 
plants rely on natural gas, so that 60 percent increase in natural gas 
is certainly passed on to the consumers.
  Here is just a couple of interesting facts about what our future 
holds in America and how we are going to power ourselves and our 
economy. The U.S. energy use has increased by 33 percent over those 
last 30 years that I mentioned, while domestic energy production has 
increased 12 percent. America now imports, as I said, 58 percent, and 
that is expected to grow as high as 75 percent by 2010 to 2015. The 
Department of Energy expects that by the year 2020, the U.S. energy 
consumption will increase 50 percent for natural gas, 45 percent for 
electricity, 35 percent for petroleum, and 22 percent for coal.
  Mr. Speaker, we face an incredibly important issue for this country. 
There is not a person listening here that does not understand the 
impact of energy on how we do business in America, how we work with our 
families in our homes, but also how it impacts foreign policy 
decisions. I think there is probably a lot of us in this House that 
would love to diminish our dependence on Saudi Arabian oil. Just our 
imaginations can run wild with how that may free a great deal of our 
foreign policy. But yet, as I stand here tonight, we have a problem in 
the United States Congress between two chairmen whose bickering refuses 
to pass out of conference an energy bill.
  See, back in June and July, this House did its business and passed a 
very comprehensive energy bill that I thought dealt appropriately with 
our current needs and future demands. Likewise, the Senate had 
difficulty passing their bill and took up last session's bill, put it 
on the floor to get it to conference. And I am very disturbed that we 
cannot get that bill accomplished. I certainly encourage our House 
leadership to take control of that conference, the Senate leadership to 
take control of that conference and get it done. This is too important 
for our Nation to allow pettiness to deteriorate progress to this point 
so that we cannot pass a bill.

[[Page 26391]]



                          ____________________