[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 20]
[House]
[Page 28544]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        HIGH PRICE OF CRUDE OIL

  (Mr. POE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, crude oil prices went to a record high of $93 a 
barrel today. No doubt Americans will feel it at the gas pump. There 
are numerous reasons for the increase: Mainly, oil producing countries 
are unstable. Mexico has cut oil production 20 percent because of bad 
weather in the Gulf of Mexico. Africa's largest exporter of oil to the 
United States, Nigeria, has had incidents where pirates have kidnapped 
workers from offshore drilling rigs.
  The Middle East is still a tinder box of uncertainty with Iran's 
nuclear development, Turkey fighting the Kurdish rebels, and, of 
course, the problems that persist in Iraq and Syria. All of this 
affects the disruption of oil exports. This, plus a weak dollar, means 
that crude oil prices will grow even higher.
  Until the United States develops a safe energy policy that allows 
complete offshore drilling for crude oil and drilling in ANWAR, we will 
be held hostage by Third World countries, rogue dictators, and 
political enemies. We have the ability to explore and drill safely our 
own abundant natural resources. We must take care of ourselves or the 
days of higher oil prices have just begun.
  And that's just the way it is.

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