[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 11973]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1030
                   INCREASE THE SUPPLY OF OIL AT HOME

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Madam Speaker, President Bush recently went to Saudi 
Arabia to ask the gulf kingdom to increase its oil production to help 
bring down gas prices. Instead of flying all the way to the Middle 
East, perhaps he should have made the short trip down Pennsylvania 
Avenue for a visit with Congress to ask the lawmakers here to increase 
the supply of oil right here at home.
  According to the Department of Interior, 86 billion barrels of oil 
are available in the Outer Continental Shelf, added to the 53 billion 
barrels available in land. According to the Bureau of Land Management, 
we have 139 billion barrels of oil right here at home. That's more than 
the oil-rich countries like Kuwait, Venezuela and Russia have. Last 
year we imported over 6 billion gallons of refined gasoline into the 
United States.
  One might ask, considering these numbers, why aren't we attempting to 
access more of our fuel right here at home? The Democrat leaders have a 
roadblock to every bill to drill for oil, natural gas, shale oil, right 
here in the U.S.
  How long is it going to take them to learn?

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