[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 13710]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1015
                     LIFT BAN ON OFFSHORE DRILLING

  (Mr. BARRETT of South Carolina asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. BARRETT of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, last week, Senator John 
McCain stated that we need to lift the Federal moratorium on offshore 
drilling for oil and gas. President Bush also agreed that the U.S. 
needs to lift its long-standing ban on offshore oil and gas drilling so 
we can increase our energy production here.
  I agree. We need to increase U.S. oil production to lower gas prices 
for American families. Mr. Speaker, the U.S. has access to 112 billion 
barrels of onshore and offshore oil and access to 1 to 2 trillion 
barrels of recoverable oil shale. To ban exploration of these energy 
sources is simply outdated.
  The rise in gas prices has brought a daily increase in the cost of 
consumer goods due to higher transportation costs, groceries and 
airfare. American families are looking for relief, Mr. Speaker, and the 
President is correct when he said Americans are turning to Washington 
for solutions. The only way we can help these families is to lift the 
ban on energy resources that we have here at home.

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