[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 7588]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           ENERGY TASK FORCE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
January 20, 2004, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, today I hope we are one step closer to 
prying the doors of the White House open in regard to Vice President 
Cheney's Energy Task Force.
  For 3 years now, the Vice President has done everything he can to 
keep the records of the Energy Task Force secret. The secret task force 
developed President Bush's energy policy, a policy that was then made 
into legislation here in Congress, legislation that is now stalled in 
the other body. Nevertheless, the end result was bad energy policy. 
There is no doubt that the energy industry succeeded with its influence 
during these secret, closed-door meetings in crafting a policy that 
benefited them rather than benefiting Americans who at the time 
desperately needed relief from high energy prices.
  Mr. Speaker, today Americans face high gas prices, but they should 
not be fooled by claims from congressional Republicans and President 
Bush that the legislation they pushed would reduce the cost of energy 
in this country. Instead, the President's plan was nothing more than a 
payback to the oil and gas industry numbering in the billions of 
dollars and embedded in tax incentives, loan guarantees, liability 
protection and research and development.
  For 3 years, the Vice President has refused to let the American 
people know who made up this Energy Task Force. For 3 years now, the 
Vice President has refused to let the American people know how and why 
the task force came to the conclusions that it did.
  Finally, after 3 years of hiding the information, today the U.S. 
Supreme Court hears from the Vice President's lawyers why Cheney thinks 
it is so important that this information remain secret. Today, the 
Supreme Court hears from the Sierra Club and the conservative group, 
Judicial Watch, who sued Vice President Cheney seeking an accounting of 
energy industry participation in crafting the Bush administration's 
destructive energy policy. A district court has already ordered the 
administration to provide information about participation from those 
industries but once again the Bush administration refused to divulge 
any information. Fortunately, the court denied the request, and last 
December the Vice President appealed that decision to the Supreme 
Court.
  So what does the Vice President do once he realizes the Supreme Court 
would be hearing the case? He goes duck hunting with one of the Supreme 
Court justices as a guest of an energy executive. The situation begs 
several questions. First, was the energy executive hosting the Vice 
President and Justice Scalia a member of the Energy Task Force? Second, 
was the Vice President attempting to use this trip to Louisiana as a 
way to persuade Justice Scalia that the documents being requested 
should remain secret under the cloak of executive privilege? And, 
third, how could either Vice President Cheney or Justice Scalia think 
this trip to Louisiana for duck hunting, in which both flew to and from 
together on Air Force Two, would not look like a conflict of interest?
  Justice Scalia should have recused himself from this case, but Vice 
President Cheney should have realized how this trip would appear to the 
American public. Think about this for a minute. Imagine that you are a 
plaintiff in a case and you learn that the defendant and the judge had 
vacationed together several months before. Would you accept that 
scenario? The Sierra Club asked Justice Scalia to recuse himself but 
Justice Scalia refused.


                Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman will please suspend.
  The Chair must remind all Members that remarks in debate may not 
engage in personalities towards the President or the Vice President. 
Policies may be addressed in critical terms, but personal references of 
an offensive, accusatory nature are not proper.
  The gentleman may proceed in order.
  Mr. PALLONE. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
  Mr. Speaker, I just hope the Cheney decision in this case is not 
another 5-4 decision in which Justice Scalia is the deciding vote in 
favor of the Vice President.
  It is time for the Vice President to come forward with the list of 
participants on the Energy Task Force. What information is so damaging 
that the Vice President does not want to make it public? I think the 
time has come for both President Bush and Vice President Cheney to lift 
the cloak of secrecy on its national energy plan and basically disclose 
what happened, who the participants were, and how and in what way they 
influenced the energy bill that came forward here in the House and is 
now in the other body. I think it is very wrong for them to continue to 
not provide this information, not disclose who was involved, and 
frankly have to go to the Supreme Court to try to make the Supreme 
Court say that that information should not be divulged.

                          ____________________