[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 16]
[House]
[Page 22418]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  2115
  URGING A ``NO'' VOTE ON GASOLINE FOR AMERICA'S SECURITY ACT OF 2005

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Walden of Oregon). Under a previous 
order of the House, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is 
recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, there is no doubt that one of the biggest 
concerns that we hear from our constituents is the unjustified increase 
in the price of fuels. Just in Ohio today, gasoline is over $3 a 
gallon. People cannot afford to take their families for weekend drives 
or vacations because the cost of gasoline prohibits it. Farmers and 
other small businessmen face higher fuel costs that are making it 
nearly impossible for them to make a profit. Individuals are concerned 
about the cost of home heating this year as heating oil and natural gas 
prices go up faster than windchill blowing across the Great Lakes, and 
programs like heating assistance for those that cannot afford to pay 
their bills, like senior citizens, are facing flatlining by the 
Republican majority in this House when it is eminently clear that the 
need will be greater this year than ever in the past. We always seem to 
be able to find money to send to other countries, but we cannot take 
care of the people right here at home. What a shame.
  So what does this Congress do about all of this? Tomorrow we are 
supposed to be debating the Gasoline for America's Security Act of 
2005, H.R. 2360. The wordsmiths have been busy little elves with this 
one because not only does it have the right words to make the public 
believe that this body is really doing something about the problem, but 
it really is not. They have tucked away goodies for their friends in 
the oil industry who thought that the energy bill that some people 
voted here a few weeks ago was not enough for them. In the words of 
former President Reagan, ``There they go again.''
  They give new regulatory subsidies to the refining industry when 
those industries' profits are at breaking records. If we look, just in 
this past year of 2004, the five major U.S. oil companies, Exxon, 
British Petroleum, Shell, Chevron and Conoco, have almost tripled their 
profits, taking in more than $50 billion, $50 billion, more than they 
did just 2 years before. How much more do they want when so many in our 
society are living right at the edge?
  In 2005, after months of suspected price gouging, these five major 
oil companies are on target to pocket over $100 billion more, nearly 
$40 billion more than Congress has appropriated so far to rebuild the 
entirety of our devastated gulf coast, think about that, which has 
taken generations to build. That is how much money just those companies 
are taking in.
  The bill rolls back authority currently given to our Federal Trade 
Commission to deal with price gouging. It seems to target smaller 
retailers while limiting the areas that can be investigated for price 
gouging. According to a September 1 Wall Street Journal article, after 
Hurricane Katrina, unleaded gas prices surged 36 percent in just 3 
days, pushing the wholesale price average up 132 percent above a year 
ago. And this massive increase occurred despite the fact that in the 
same 3-day period, the price of crude oil went up just 4.25 percent. 
Over the past year, crude oil prices have gone up 64 percent, so that 
means that the wholesale price of gasoline jumped nine times as fast as 
the price of crude in 3 days and is running more than double the 
increase of crude over the past year. And these companies are just 
swimming in the windfall benefits.
  So instead of renewing our vows to imported oil, we need to be 
developing new renewable energy sources here at home: wind power, 
solar, biofuels, fuel cells, hydrogen, clean coal. We consume 25 
percent of the world's oil production, spending tens of billions of 
dollars to import oil from some of the most unstable and undemocratic 
regions of the world. At the same time, we have only 3 percent of known 
reserves.
  According to a study done for the National Resources Defense Council, 
if we were to follow an aggressive plan to develop cellulosic biofuels 
over the next 10 years, we could produce the equivalent of nearly 7.9 
million barrels of oil per day. That is equal to more than 50 percent 
of our current oil use for transportation and more than three times 
what we import from the Persian Gulf alone. We have more than 5 million 
vehicles on the road right now that will run on 85 percent ethanol and 
a growing number that run on biodiesel blends of 5 percent or higher. 
The people who drive these cars in many cases do not even know it, and 
if they do, they cannot find the fuel in their home communities because 
we have not done enough to make these renewable and less costly fuels 
available to our own constituents. What a shame.
  Some want us to keep drilling. They do not care where. It could be in 
a critical water area like the Great Lakes. Perish the thought.
  In my view, we do not need to drill any more holes in our own heads. 
What we really need is an energy plan that develops self-sufficiency 
from renewable sources and a plan that not only calls for renewable 
fuel standards but provides support for the infrastructure and public 
education campaign to get there. A country that could land a man on the 
moon can do this as well. We need resolve right here in this Congress.
  I urge this Congress to take a giant dose of Beano and cast a 
resounding ``no'' vote on the Gas Act of 2005 that will come up 
tomorrow. We can and surely must do better for our children.

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