[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 16]
[House]
[Page 21332]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    CONGRESS NEEDS TO TAKE THE WHEEL

  (Mr. KUCINICH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, the administration has the answer to the 
energy crisis. Drive less, they are telling the American people.
  Drive less? Oil companies are making record profits, kids are not 
going to school in Georgia, gas lines are forming in the South, and 
here in the Nation's Capital, gas prices are over $3 a gallon.
  Drive less? Since this administration moved from Texas to Washington, 
DC, the top five oil companies earned $254 billion in pure profit. 
Think about it. These companies made $254 billion in profit from the 
last 5 years. The cleanup from Katrina will cost at least $200 billion.
  What are we doing here? Drive less? The administration is asking 
every American to sacrifice mobility but not asking the oil companies 
to sacrifice a dime of their profit. The problem is not that the 
American people are driving too much. The problem is that the oil 
companies are driving our Nation's energy policies, driving up the cost 
of gasoline, natural gas and home heating oil, and every chance of 
driving themselves toward huge profits.
  It is time for Congress to take back the wheel. It is time for a 
sustainable energy policy which puts consumers, the environment, human 
health and peace first.

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