[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12174]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               CALLING FOR A COMPREHENSIVE ENERGY POLICY

  (Mr. EMANUEL asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, last week the Associated Press reported 
that Iraqis are paying 5 cents for a gallon of gas; 5 cents, a nickel. 
Why are the Iraqis getting such a good deal while the rest of the world 
has an energy crisis? Because the American taxpayer is subsidizing the 
Iraqis to the tune of $167 million a month so they can get discounted 
gasoline. This comes to $500 million every 3 months, $1 billion every 6 
months, $2 billion over the year.
  Here in America, hard-working families are paying close to $2, if not 
more, per gallon, up 50 cents since the beginning of the war in Iraq.
  Since this is energy week here in Congress, what are we doing? We are 
bringing up a piece of legislation that a Republican Senator dubbed the 
``No Lobbyist Left Behind'' bill for the energy industry. For too long, 
this administration has two sets of books, and values: One for Iraq and 
one for America.
  We cannot deny Americans the same dreams of affordable health care, 
quality education and affordable energy that we promise Iraqis. The 
same values that we hold for Iraq, we must pledge to Americans.
  Mr. Speaker, this week we should work to solve the Nation's energy 
needs, and not retread bad policy.

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