[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6047]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       LOWERING THE COST OF FUEL

  (Mr. SHIMKUS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SHIMKUS. Madam Speaker, it is, in essence, the third day in the 
legislative schedule when I come to the floor to talk about energy 
prices.
  When this Democrat majority took over the House, the price of a 
barrel of crude oil was $58 a barrel. Today, it hovers around $111 a 
barrel.
  In 2006, the Democrat leadership promised lower gas prices. What 
we've seen, in reality, is higher gas prices. We've seen negative 
change, which has caused bitterness in rural America with the high-
increasing cost to travel around rural America. All we're asking is for 
a plan to bring on more supply.
  I have been in this well numerous times in this Congress to talk 
about coal-to-liquid technologies. We shouldn't limit it to that. We 
should talk about expanding renewable fuels. We should talk about the 
outer continental shelf. We ought to talk about ANWR. We need to bring 
more supply to lower the cost of fuels because the average American 
citizens are tired of paying these high gas prices, and it hurts the 
economy of this country.

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