[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 256]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 ENERGY INDEPENDENCE AND CLIMATE CHANGE

  (Ms. KAPTUR asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, President Obama struck several 
important themes. None was strategically more vital than making America 
energy-independent again. Then he referenced the related challenge of 
climate change and its impact on life on our continent and world. Only 
fools would fail to pay attention to the necessity of change to meet 
the needs of a new era.
  Our dependence on importing foreign oil cost America over $321 
billion last year, racking up a $140 billion trade deficit in petroleum 
and energy alone. With that lost income comes lost jobs by the hundreds 
of thousands. So many more people could be employed here at home, 
developing domestic energy sources rather than defending exploitation 
and extraction abroad.
  And on climate change, the President recognized the reality of fierce 
and expensive weather incidents like Hurricanes Sandy and Katrina, or 
our declining lake levels and river levels, like the Mississippi, or 
the 2-foot drop in Lake Erie over the last year. We must anticipate and 
adapt our lives where possible.
  Yes, as the 113th Congress begins, our primary aim will be to welcome 
the challenges of change, not cling to the past. Working together, as 
the President challenged, America can meet the test of a new day. My 
brother, Steve, the inventor, innately grasps this challenge. So must 
we.

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