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




                       BIG OIL: USE IT OR LOSE IT

  (Mr. BRALEY of Iowa asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BRALEY of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, the two men most responsible for our 
record prices at the pump today are President Bush and Vice President 
Cheney. They came to the White House from the executive suites of Big 
Oil, and their energy policies continue to mirror Big Oil's agenda.
  President Bush has, once again, called for drilling in ANWR even 
though his own Energy Department has said that opening up the Arctic 
would only save pennies per gallon 10 years from now. Now the President 
has suggested opening up the Outer Continental Shelf to drilling even 
though 80 percent of the oil available there is already open to 
leasing.
  Why would we give Big Oil access to more of our land and waters if 
they refuse to drill on the 68 million acres they have now? If 
President Bush believes that drilling is the answer, why isn't he 
demanding that Big Oil use the land they already have?
  Mr. Speaker, Republicans have repeated the same domestic drilling 
rhetoric for years. Tomorrow they have the chance to act on that 
rhetoric and to tell Big Oil to either use it or lose it by joining us 
in passing the Responsible Federal Oil and Gas Lease Act of 2008.

                          ____________________