[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 5950]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   URGING ACTION ON THE ENERGY CRISIS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Dent). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Emanuel) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, everyone is talking about gas prices. This 
morning President Bush presented the Nation with, he said, a ``plan to 
lower gas prices.''
  A little over a year ago on June 6, 2005, energy was $2.09. I use 
that date because that was the date that the President of the United 
States signed his energy bill that he hailed would be a great 
improvement for energy and energy prices here in America. $2.09. Today 
in Chicago it stands on average a little over $3 in the Chicago area. 
Over a little less than a year ago when the President signed his energy 
bill, the one that this Congress delivered to him, energy was $2.09 a 
gallon. Today in Chicago gas is $3.32 a gallon.
  In the year in which we debated the energy bill, the oil and gas 
interests spent $86 million lobbying this Congress and got $14.5 
billion in taxpayer subsidies. They spent $86 million lobbying the 
House of the American people, and they got a $14.5 billion gift. You 
cannot get that type of return on Wall Street. That was about a 10 
percent return. You cannot get a return like that on any other 
investment where you give $86 million to influence the people's House 
and get $14.5 billion of hard-earned taxpayer money, and energy is 
trading at $75 a barrel.
  I understand if you want to help the oil and gas companies at $17 a 
barrel, $25 a barrel to help them drill for energy. At $75 a barrel, I 
would expect Exxon and Mobil and Chevron and Phillips, all who are 
making not just good money, historic record prices, would actually be 
able to go on their own and drill without the taxpayers having to pay 
for it.
  So not only are we paying a record amount of $3.50 a gallon, not only 
are they making record profits, but at $75 a barrel, the taxpayers are 
paying them $14.5 billion. So the American consumer pays more at the 
pump, and they pay more on April 15 because of what this Congress did. 
Over the last year, in less than 1 year, energy went from $2.09 to 
$3.30, but that is only one example.
  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. EMANUEL. I yield to the gentleman from Indiana.
  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I just want to say that we are 
drilling for oil in Texas, California, Oklahoma, and Nebraska. How did 
the gentleman vote when we wanted to drill in the ANWR, which is 3.5 
times the size of Texas? We could have gotten almost 2 million barrels 
of oil a day, and it would have helped these prices.
  Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I voted against that; 
and I vote against giving them $14.5 billion because I do not believe 
there is a worse example of corporate welfare, only to be followed by 
the prescription drug bill and the corporate tax bill that was a $5 
billion problem. You all handed out $145 billion to corporate 
interests. Only in Washington do you try to resolve a $5 billion 
problem that cost you $145 billion, and it still did not resolve the 
original $5 billion problem.
  I bring this all up for one simple point: For the last 5 years, this 
is supposed to be the people's House, and when that gavel comes down, 
it is supposed to open the people's House, not the auction house. And 
from the prescription drug legislation to the energy legislation to the 
corporate tax bill, you have sold off America's interests. Billions of 
dollars have been spent lobbying the people's House, and it shows when 
you go from product to product, from line to line. That is what has 
happened here.
  Now all of a sudden everybody is worried about how we are going to 
deal with the energy problem. When you had an energy bill, you hailed 
it as a great victory for the American people. Since that time energy 
has gone up more than a buck a gallon at the pump.
  But that is also an example of what has happened with the corporate 
tax bill and the pharmaceutical bill. People have used their influence. 
I do not bemoan what the energy companies have done. I do not bemoan 
what the pharmaceutical companies have done. I do not bemoan what the 
HMO industry has done. I do not bemoan what corporate interests have 
done to influence this Congress. What I bemoan is what the Congress has 
done for that money and what they have done to the American people's 
interests. And what is happening here, because now this week I think it 
is ironic we are all talking about energy, this Congress is going to 
bring up a lobbying bill. That piece of legislation has become the 
incredible shrinking legislation. It does nothing. The Washington Post 
called it ``a watered down sham. Simply a joke.''
  USA Today writes, ``Congress still doesn't get it. After more than a 
year of negative headlines about political corruption and money-soaked 
alliances with lobbyists, House leaders are weakening their already 
anemic excuse for reform.''
  It doesn't deal with an independent Office of Public Integrity. It 
does not ban gifts from lobbyists. It does not close the revolving door 
for Members who leave here. It does not deal with disclosure of 
lobbyists' solicitation of campaign checks.
  The lobbying legislation we are dealing with is exactly the energy 
legislation we dealt with. The two are the same pieces of legislation. 
Those who have given and they are giving their checks because all that 
is left on K Street is checks. There are no checks and balances left in 
this system.

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