[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 6623-6624]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       RAPIDLY RISING GAS PRICES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Rhode Island (Mr. Langevin) for 5 minutes.

[[Page 6624]]


  Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to join 
together to immediately address one of the greatest problems facing our 
families and small business right now; that is, rapidly rising gas 
prices.
  As I traveled across Rhode Island during the district work period, 
the issue of high gas prices was never far from anyone's mind. It 
affects every family's bottom line and the budgets of small businesses 
that are still recovering from the recession.
  As our fragile economy continues, it is imperative that we work to 
find solutions in the short term as we turn our attention towards a 
serious, long-term solution to reduce our demand for oil. Our Nation 
simply cannot have low gas prices without reducing the amount of oil 
that we use.
  We remain in constant competition right now with India, China, and 
other developing Nations, and the world does not have the resources to 
continue to supply us all with cheap oil, especially with disruptions 
in the Middle East that continue to affect production.
  I supported the American Clean Energy and Security Act last session 
because it took steps to immediately reduce demand through improved 
vehicle fuel economy standards and energy efficient technology in our 
buildings and homes, while investing in clean energy, including an 
increased commitment to the research and development of offshore wind.
  We should put our money behind those efforts instead of giving 
billions of dollars in tax breaks each year to oil companies. As we 
just recently heard, ExxonMobil just reported first quarter earnings of 
$11 billion, a nearly 70 percent increase, with other oil companies 
following closely behind. Mr. Speaker, let's eliminate subsidies for 
these big corporations that don't need our help.
  In the short term, Congress must partner with President Obama and 
support Attorney General Holder's efforts to monitor oil and gas 
markets and safeguard consumers against unlawful practices. We also 
need stricter guidelines for speculators and getting speculators out of 
the market. We need guidelines for people who buy oil just to sell it 
at a profit, perhaps by allowing people to buy oil on the market only 
if they can actually receive product.
  Additionally, I urge my colleagues to pressure oil companies to drill 
on domestic lands where they already have existing leases. The industry 
right now is drilling on less than a quarter of the 80 million acres 
where it already has leases approved. While this is not a long-term 
solution, we need responsible drilling on lands where there are 
existing leases. Now, this is, I believe, a faster, fairer, and safer 
path to more domestic production, unlike legislation on the floor this 
week which will put oil rig workers and the environment at risk by 
expediting critical safety reviews.
  None of this, of course, lessens the urgency of switching to 
alternative fuels.

                              {time}  1040

  The U.S. has only 1.4 percent of the world's proven oil reserves but 
currently consumes 22 percent of the world's oil.
  In the long run, we will remain susceptible to repeats of the current 
crisis unless we take every opportunity to decrease our dependence on 
oil. Now I want to highlight one important initiative in my State that 
involves public transportation. The Rhode Island Public Transit 
Authority acquired just recently 53 new hybrid buses and is upgrading 
10 trolleys to hybrid propulsion, and we should encourage others to 
follow their lead. RIPTA expects that their new hybrid fleet will save 
them approximately 20 percent on fuel usage, which will help prevent 
price increases and route closures.
  We should build on the success in Rhode Island nationally by 
requiring specific hybrid and fuel efficiency standards for any 
vehicles involved in Federal grant programs. Complicated problems, like 
the price of gasoline, often require difficult solutions. But we cannot 
let this prevent us from moving forward and delivering to our 
constituents who cannot afford these costs or a slowed economic 
recovery. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to work together to enact 
short-term provisions and long-term solutions to bring relief to 
working families and small business.

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