[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 25]
[House]
[Page 34143]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          THE NON-ENERGY BILL

  (Mr. POE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, this winter it's going to be cold in the 
Northeast. Home heating oil is needed for those who want to keep warm 
in the northern States. Gasoline prices continue to rise above $3 a 
gallon, and crude oil may go to $100 a barrel. So what does the House 
of Representatives do? Makes it more expensive for American oil 
companies to do business in America. How so? The non-energy bill that 
passed this House contains a $21 billion tax increase on the production 
of oil and natural gas in America. That tax will be passed on to the 
consumer in the higher prices of energy.
  The bill doesn't open up new sources of exploration off our coast or 
in ANWR. Now, only Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama allow 
drilling off the coast. You see, States like California, Florida, and 
northeastern States don't want drilling off their coast but they don't 
have a problem with consuming the crude oil from States that allow 
offshore drilling. This bill punishes oil-producing States like my home 
State of Texas. The Wall Street Journal stated, In this bill, the 
biggest winner is OPEC. So, Mr. Speaker, maybe to survive, Texas and 
the other oil-producing States should just join OPEC and get a better 
deal on our crude oil.
  And that's just the way it is.

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