[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6675]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                 DRILL

  (Mr. POE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, gasoline prices keep going up, and Americans 
want some answers and some action.
  One reason gasoline is rising is because the U.S. dollar continues to 
get weaker. The weaker it gets, the more it costs to buy that crude oil 
from the OPEC monopoly and the dictator of Venezuela.
  Another reason is the U.S. is the only major nation that ignores its 
own natural resources. This stubborn, hard-headed Congress refuses to 
let American oil companies drill offshore. Plus, subsidizing the corn 
industry to make ethanol has driven world food prices to an all-time 
high; and now, African nations are even going hungry.
  Mr. Speaker, we have crude oil in all of these red zones outside the 
United States. But environmental intimidation and fear tactics prevent 
drilling in this gold mine of crude.
  We only drill off Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The rest 
of these red zones don't have a problem taking that crude oil and 
gasoline, but they say ``No!'' to drilling off their shore.
  Unless we drill offshore and in ANWR, we are all going to be walking 
to work, and come winter, freezing in the dark.
  And that's just the way it is.

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