[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 17758]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 CONGRATULATIONS ON CONFERENCE REPORTS

  (Mr. BURGESS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker, it has indeed been an incredible week in 
this Congress, where we have seen the conference reports for the energy 
bill and the highway bill both completed, and likely they will come to 
this House this week.
  I want to thank the chairman on the Committee on Energy and Commerce, 
the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Barton), who worked so hard on the energy 
bill. The chairman was fair and listened to all sides of every 
argument, and I believe he has produced a balanced bill.
  The fact is, Mr. Speaker, we can neither drill nor conserve our way 
to energy independence, and indeed this bill addresses that fact and 
also applies significant attention to alternative energy sources as 
well as hybrid technology.
  I want to thank the chairman of the Committee on Transportation and 
Infrastructure, the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young), for pushing so 
long on a process that was frequently derailed by politics in the 
highway bill. I believe he also has got a good product and a product 
that we can afford. On the 50th anniversary of the interstate highway 
system, I believe it is appropriate we will be voting to extend the 
highway reauthorization act this week.

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