[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 13947-13948]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    SOLUTIONS FOR HIGH ENERGY PRICES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Biggert) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. BIGGERT. Madam Speaker, tonight I rise because my constituents 
in my district are sick and tired of paying record-high gas prices 
while Congress does nothing to increase domestic energy production. 
Imagine for a moment that you are a regular working mom struggling to 
make ends meet. You need to get the kids to and from school, you need 
to get to work, you need to buy groceries, you need to do all of the 
things that millions of working parents do every day. Then at the end 
of the week, you stop by the gas station only to find that prices are 
so high that you can't even afford to fill your tank. What do you think 
she would want from her representative in Congress?
  I know what my constituents want us to do. Everything. We should 
allow exploration of America's own energy reserves in places like ANWR 
and the Outer Continental Shelf waters. We should bring new carbon 
friendly nuclear reactors online and begin the reprocessing of nuclear 
energy. We should invest in clean coal plants with carbon sequestration 
technologies. We should invest in research and development of 
alternative energy technologies, be that wind, hydro, geothermal, 
solar, and we should provide the tax incentives necessary to accelerate 
their deployment.
  In short, we should do all of the above and more. America can neither 
drill nor conserve its way to cheaper energy. We must have a 
comprehensive approach that does have both short- and long-term 
solutions.
  Madam Speaker, as a member of the House Science and Technology 
Committee, I have been a long-time advocate for research development 
for energy technologies like hydrogen, cellulosic fuels, solar, wind, 
and green buildings. In my own district, scientists at Argon National 
Laboratory are leading the way on the development of specialized 
batteries for special hybrid vehicles. They will allow motors to drive 
40 miles before using a drop of gas. That's more than enough to cover 
Americans' commute to work and back. Then they can just plug the car 
into a regular electric socket and recharge it for another 40 miles.
  I believe that the significant advances in these energy technologies 
are just around the corner, but in the meantime, we must provide relief 
to hardworking Americans being squeezed by soaring gas prices, and that 
means increasing the domestic supply of energy.
  America is the only industrialized Nation in the world that prohibits 
oil and glass exploration in its Outer Continental Shelf waters. 
Foreign nations, like Cuba, are permitted to drill closer to our shores 
than the American companies; and yet instead of opening America's vast 
energy reserves, Congress forces us to rely on expensive oil from the 
Middle East.
  I agree that examining futures markets for excessive speculation and 
exercising proper oversight is fine and good, but if we want to 
effectively curb speculation in the oil market, we should show that we 
are serious about developing our own energy reserves. When more supply 
is on the horizon developing our own energy reserves, speculators will 
have much less incentive to invest in oil commodities.
  This debate isn't just about the price that Americans are paying at 
the pump. It's about the growing threat to our economy and our 
security. Last year alone, America increased its dependence on foreign 
members of OPEC by an additional 7 percent. How much more money and 
control are we willing to turn over to nations in these unstable 
regions of the world? And yet despite this growing threat, Congress is 
still debating legislation that holds zero potential to increase 
domestic energy production or help break our addiction to foreign oil.
  Madam Speaker, I'm glad that the House leadership has finally 
realized that we need to bring bills to the floor to address America's 
energy needs. I just wish the legislation considered today was up to 
the task.

[[Page 13948]]



                          ____________________