[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6498]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               AMERICA NEEDS COMPREHENSIVE ENERGY POLICY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Price) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, tomorrow is April 15, an important 
day. It is tax day. Today, millions of Americans are in the process of 
filing their taxes. When all is said and done, many will get a refund 
from Uncle Sam. Hopefully, these refunds will not be needed to pay to 
fill up their gas tank.
  At every town hall meeting I have held, the price of gasoline has 
been a significant issue. Last weekend when I was at home in my 
district, I saw gas costing $2.15 and $2.24 and even higher per gallon. 
The prices do not seem to be coming down any time soon.
  If we had a comprehensive energy plan in place, we might not have 
seen these massive price increases. The time to act is now.
  What are the facts? Well, since 2001, the average price of gasoline 
increased 86 percent, from $1.23 to $2.29 a gallon. U.S. imports of oil 
over that period of time have increased by more than 10 percent, and 
the price of a barrel of oil has more than doubled from just over $23 
to over $50 a barrel today.
  Many remember the early 1970s when we sat in lines to get our 
gasoline, and those lines often stretched for blocks and blocks. That 
gave us a lot of time to think, and most of us vowed that our Nation 
should never be dependent on foreign oil again.
  Today, however, the sad truth is we are actually more dependent on 
foreign oil than we were then. So, as tax day arrives, let us be 
certain that we adopt an energy policy so comprehensive that future tax 
refunds will do more than just get spent on a tank of gas.

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