[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 7824]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  TIME FOR ACTION ON RECORD GAS PRICES

  (Mr. WELCH of Vermont asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WELCH of Vermont. Madam Speaker, for the past 7 years, President 
Bush has been delivering an energy policy that has resulted in the 
highest increase in the cost of energy in the history of this country. 
Last week, the President continued his call for more of the same when 
he touted an old plan for domestic drilling in the Arctic that would 
produce a 6-month supply of oil 10 years from now. It is not going to 
do anything about the price at the pump now, it is not going to do 
anything about the price at the pump later.
  Instead, the President is blaming congressional Democrats for not 
addressing the problem, but it's the President who won't suspend 
purchases of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve which would bring down 
prices 25 cents immediately. It's the President who won't work with us 
to get rid of the Enron loophole which is enriching speculators and 
clobbering middle class families.
  This year, in fact, the Democratic Congress has passed energy 
legislation that's getting nowhere because of being held hostage in the 
Senate and it has no support from the President of the United States.
  The reality is that we have actions we can take in the short term, 
the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the Enron loophole, and in the long 
term, to reduce our reliance on carbon.

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