[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 1565]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            A NEW DIRECTION

  (Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, today we are going to discuss energy and 
a new direction.
  The Speaker has set a vision to get us off our oil addiction. And in 
order to do that, we have got to find some money to begin to develop 
alternative energy sources.
  Now, the newspapers today are filled with stories about why we are 
still in Iraq. We are trying to get a law passed over there that puts 
in production sharing agreements with the big oil companies of this 
country. We are trying to get a hold of the Iraqis' oil. We want to 
take 70 percent of the profits at the beginning.
  Now, no Iraqi who has any nationalist feelings is going to sign that, 
and that is why we are still there 4 years later. We are till trying to 
get a hold of their oil and control it.
  This country has to take the beginning step today, with H.R. 6, to 
get us off this oil addiction. Alternative energy, whether you are 
talking solar or wind or biomass or bio diesel, all these are ways that 
Americans can use for energy and we don't have to live off the rest of 
the world. We get 3 percent of our oil from the United States. All the 
rest comes from outside. We are totally dependent on it.

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