[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 20438]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       LET'S TAKE CARE OF AMERICA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, a year ago today, when we recessed for 
the August break, there were some of us who stayed here on the House 
floor and continued to talk about energy and American independence in 
energy. Eventually, the powers that be turned out most of the lights, 
turned off the microphone, turned off the cameras, but we talked on 
that Friday, and then we continued to talk through most of the month of 
August, even though a formal session did not occur. And we talked about 
the need to be energy independent.
  Now we've gone a year from that, and what has happened in that 1 
year? Well, things have only gotten worse as far as energy independence 
has gone. Let me give you one example.
  In 2008 at this time, in the United States proper we had 1,808 rigs 
drilling for crude oil and natural gas. A year later, we only have 
1,128, so that means 680 rigs fewer now than we did a year ago 
producing oil and natural gas. What has happened? Well, things have 
only gotten worse.
  We have, or this body passed, barely, legislation to punish energy 
consumption by the cap-and-tax bill, which means that if you use energy 
in this country, natural gas, electricity, you use gasoline, you're 
going to have to pay more down the road. Hopefully, the Senate will not 
pass this legislation.
  And we have fewer rigs and we are not more independent. We're more 
dependent. And who are we dependent on? We're dependent on the 
countries who hate us, some countries in the Middle East, some 
countries that we know and we have heard that actually the money that 
we spend on crude oil that we send them finds its way to people who 
don't like America and funds their organizations.
  Why do we continue to do that? Because we don't take care of 
ourselves. We hear about clean energy, and we all want to go to 
alternative energy, but we're not there yet, Mr. Speaker. We need to do 
the simple things. We need to use and drill for our own natural gas and 
our own crude oil, and we can do that in the United States, in ANWR. We 
can do that offshore, and that keeps the money in the United States. It 
produces jobs for Americans, and doesn't send those jobs overseas. It 
keeps our oil companies and our natural gas companies in the United 
States. It's a good thing for America.
  But because of the fear lobby, we're afraid to drill for natural gas 
and crude oil. And that is a mistake, because it can be done safely, 
and it should be done safely. The places that we drill offshore, it's 
been proven that it can be done safely. And we should continue to do 
that. So, a year from now, hopefully we won't be in a worse situation, 
depending on foreign countries for our energy.
  We should do the obvious. Take care of America. Drill safely, drill 
anywhere that we have natural gas or crude oil and help bring energy 
back home to America, furnish jobs, keep that money in the United 
States and quit sending it overseas to people who don't even like the 
United States.
  And that's just the way it is.

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