[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2897]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    INCREASE DOMESTIC OIL PRODUCTION

  (Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, last Tuesday the top front-page 
story in USA Today said gas will soon hit $5 a gallon. If it does, it 
will really slow our recovery, and some think it could lead to another 
recession. It will really hurt the already hurting small towns and 
rural areas because their people on average have to drive farther 
distances to go to work.
  Environmentalists want gas to go much higher so people will drive 
less; but if gas goes to $5 a gallon or even higher, it will hurt a lot 
of poor and lower-income and working people. I know most 
environmentalists come from very wealthy or upper-income families, and 
I know they will say we don't have enough oil to drill our way out of 
this problem; but if we would at least start producing a little more 
oil, it would be harder for other countries to keep raising their 
prices.
  President Clinton vetoed drilling in ANWR in the mid-nineties, 
stopping a million more barrels a day from being produced here. When 
environmental radicals stop more domestic oil production, it helps 
foreign energy producers, but it really hurts middle- and lower-income 
Americans.

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