[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9047]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        DOMESTIC FUEL PRODUCTION

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. On April 24, 2006, while campaigning to become Speaker of 
the House, the Democrat leader said, ``Democrats have a commonsense 
plan to help bring down skyrocketing gas prices.''
  On the day the Democrats took control of Congress in January of 2007, 
gas in my home State of Pennsylvania was averaging $2.37 a gallon. 
Today, it's averaging over $3.75 a gallon.
  Many people have taken to calling this $1.38 increase the ``Pelosi 
premium.'' This Congress has yet to do anything substantive to help 
American families who are paying nearly $4 a gallon at the pump.
  The Democrats in Congress have been voting against increasing 
domestic oil and natural gas production as well as domestic refining 
capacity for years. This is a matter of supply and demand. We have 
billions of barrels of oil in Alaska and in the deep waters off the 
Outer Continental Shelf right here in the United States. Yet, due 
mostly to the Democratic opposition, we have been unable to access 
these vast resources. We should take steps now to increase production.

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