[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 12038-12039]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         THE PRICE OF GASOLINE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Madam Speaker, if you went out to a gas 
station this morning or tomorrow morning and you asked anybody pumping 
gasoline what the number one issue is, they would tell you without a 
doubt it is the price of gasoline because it is having an impact on 
their food and on every other commodity that they deal with.
  The American people want gasoline prices and energy prices to come 
down. And the thing that really amazes me about my colleagues on the 
other side of the aisle, Madam Speaker, is they won't listen to the 
American people. Eighty percent of the American people, according to 
recent polls say that if we have the resources here in America, we 
should drill for them right here. Obviously, everybody is concerned 
about the environment, but we can drill for oil in the ANWR and off the 
continental shelf and use coal shale to create a tremendous amount of 
gasoline and energy in this country without even relying on the foreign 
sources. The problem is that my colleagues on the other side of the 
aisle will not listen to the American people.
  Now I was watching Sean Hannity on Hannity and Colmes the other 
night, and Mr. Hannity said he couldn't figure out why the Republicans 
weren't talking about this and making this a big issue.

                              {time}  1815

  And if he were here tonight, I would say, ``Sean, we are doing it. We 
are screaming from the top of this Capitol that we ought to drill in 
the ANWR, we ought to drill off the Continental Shelf. We have a 500 
year supply of natural gas. But the Democrats on the other side will 
not listen to the American people, and the price of gasoline goes up 
and up and up and the price of energy goes up and up and up.''
  I understand that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle want 
to go to new forms of energy that are environmentally safe, and I think 
everybody in this body wants that.
  But while we are transitioning to the new technologies, we still have 
to live. We still have to have heating oil. We still have to have 
gasoline. We still have to have energy. And the way we can get it and 
not depend on foreign resources is by drilling in the ANWR, drilling 
off the Continental Shelf, using coal shale and using natural gas. But 
the environmentalist lobby, and my colleagues will never admit to this 
on the other side of the aisle, but the environmentalist lobby has them 
by throat, and as a result they will not yield to the America people's 
will that we drill here in this country to reduce the price of energy.
  Now, I believe this will be an issue in the fall campaign. I know 
everybody is talking about Obama and McCain and the presidential race. 
But the people who are in this country are really concerned about 
getting to and from work and paying their bills. I would just like to 
say to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, go to any gas 
station tonight, go to any gas station tomorrow, and ask anybody 
pumping gas this question: Do you think we ought to drill for our own 
oil? Do you think we should depend less on foreign resources

[[Page 12039]]

like Saudi Arabia or Venezuela? And 80 percent of them will look you 
right in the eye and say, you bet. I want the price of gasoline to go 
down.
  My Democrat colleagues, I want you to listen to them, because they 
are going to get more and more angry with you because you will not 
listen. We could bring the price of gasoline down immediately if we say 
we are going to drill in ANWR, drill off the Continental Shelf, because 
our competitors around the world are going to say, ``oh, my gosh, there 
is going to be competition,'' and you will see the price of gasoline 
and oil per barrel go down.
  So, tonight, once again I will just say to my colleagues on the other 
side of the aisle, please, please listen to the American people. They 
want to drill in the ANWR. They want an environmentally safe way to 
drill in the ANWR, and we have it. They want to drill off the 
Continental Shelf. They want us to drill for our own oil and our own 
natural resources, and they don't want to depend on Saudi Arabia, 
Venezuela, Mexico or anyplace else. And we should listen to them. We 
should listen to them.
  So if Sean Hannity were here tonight, I would say, ``Sean, we are 
listening to you. We have heard you. We are screaming from the top this 
Capitol, but our colleagues on the other side of the aisle aren't 
listening right now.''
  But if we keep this up and the American people listen, and I think 
they will, they are going to hold my colleagues on the other side of 
the aisle, the Democrats, they are going to hold them responsible for 
the cost of energy.
  So I would just like to say to you, the election is coming up and 
everything looks pretty good for your side of the aisle, but you better 
do something about energy, because the American people want something 
done and they want it done quickly.

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