[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15223]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  REPUBLICANS' ENERGY SOLUTION IS WORKING FOR BIG OIL BUT NOT FOR THE 
                            AMERICAN PEOPLE

  (Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, when the President took office, gasoline 
cost less than $1.50 a gallon, and a barrel of oil was selling for $30. 
So they had a planning meeting down at the White House, and gas has 
jumped to $4.50 a gallon and oil is nearly $150 a barrel.
  Despite these facts, the President would like the American people to 
believe that he has proposed a credible new plan to lower energy 
prices, but consider this: The President's invasion of Iraq and tacit 
military threats to Iran have destabilized the Middle East and driven 
oil prices out of control.
  Big Oil has leases, access, and decades to drill on millions of acres 
on the Continental Shelf, but they choose instead to drill down into 
the wallets of the American people. Oil companies are already exploring 
today. They're exploring the upper limits of their stock prices by 
using their billions in profits to buy back stock, not to reinvest in 
America.
  We still don't know what the Vice President's secret meeting with the 
industry was when gas prices were $1.50 a gallon, but it sure looks 
like it's working for the oil companies, but it isn't working for us.
  We've got a plan, and we will propose it and bring it out here on the 
floor.

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