[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 9200-9201]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              DEMOCRAT PLAN TO ACHIEVE ENERGY INDEPENDENCE

  (Mr. PAYNE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, when I return to my home district, where the 
price of regular gas has topped $3 a gallon at many service stations, I 
hear constituents tell me loud and clear that they believe that the 
Republican majority in Congress has led this country in a drastically 
wrong direction.
  Unfortunately, from the very beginning, the Bush administration has 
excluded the concerns of ordinary Americans from their energy policy 
debates. In fact, the secretive energy task force, headed by Vice 
President Cheney, deliberated behind closed doors, and, as a result, 
billions of dollars in subsidies were provided to big oil interests.
  Last fall, the Republican House rubber stamped an energy bill that 
even President Bush's own Energy Department predicted would raise gas 
prices. Almost 1 year later, the price of gas at the pump has 
skyrocketed. In fact, Americans are now paying an incredible 100 
percent more for gas than they were when President Bush took office. 
Meanwhile, the incomes of middle income families have fallen every 
year.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask that we turn out those who have given us this 
flawed policy.

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