[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11458]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  BEGGING CONGRESS TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE EVER-INCREASING COST OF 
                                GASOLINE

  (Mrs. SCHMIDT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mrs. SCHMIDT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask Congress, no, to beg 
Congress to do something about the ever-increasing cost of gasoline.
  Mr. Speaker, my constituents are struggling every day with this ever-
growing burden. Just Sunday, as my husband was filling up with gas, a 
young couple begged him for money so that they could get home.
  This very day there is indeed drilling activity off of our country's 
coast. Not by our U.S. companies. That would be illegal. Instead, the 
Chinese are drilling off the coast of Florida with their new energy 
partner, Cuba. This Congress has failed to act time and time again. Our 
oil resources along our coastlines and in Alaska remain untapped in the 
name of environmentalism.
  Mr. Speaker, my constituents are more than willing to do their part 
for the environment, but without their ability to earn a paycheck, 
there is little they can do, except to suffer like that young couple 
was on Sunday.
  We have all suffered enough. Please, Mr. Speaker, let us act. Let us 
act wisely. Let us act prudently. Let us drill, and let us drill now.

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