[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 2]
[House]
[Pages 2599-2600]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    THE RISING PRICE OF GAS: THIS ADMINISTRATION MUST CHANGE COURSE

  (Mr. PENCE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PENCE. Mr. Speaker, there are a lot of issues being debated here 
in our Nation's capital, but Hoosiers are talking about just one thing, 
and that is rising prices at the pump. The average price of gasoline in 
Indiana right now is $3.82 a gallon. That is 10 cents higher than the 
national average. And it is worth noting that when President Obama came 
to office, the average price of gasoline nationwide was $1.79.
  This administration pushed cap-and-trade and a national energy tax 
that the President said would cause utility rates to skyrocket, they 
pushed it through regulations even though it didn't make it in the 
Congress, they suspended deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico for a 
time, they placed the entire Pacific and Atlantic coasts off-limits to 
drilling, refused to explore Alaska, decreased production across the 
Western part of our Nation, and most recently rejected the Keystone XL 
pipeline.
  With no joy in saying this, Mr. Speaker, I say rising gasoline prices 
are a natural result of the policies of the Obama administration, and 
this administration must change course. It's time that we enact an all-
of-the-above energy strategy that includes more access to America's 
energy reserves, more alternative energy sources, and encouragement of 
conservation. That's how we will tackle this crisis.
  I rise on behalf of hardworking Hoosiers and everyday Americans who 
are struggling with the prices at the pump

[[Page 2600]]

on this first day in March to say to this administration: Accept the 
Keystone pipeline, approve more domestic exploration, abandon your 
headlong rush toward regulation and a national energy tax, and let's 
give Americans real relief at the pump as this spring begins.

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