[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 13081]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            DOMESTIC ENERGY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Thompson) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, each day, we hear about 
new opportunities as a result of developing our own domestic energy 
resources. What we hear less about is how many crises we have avoided 
as America has moved from energy scarcity to energy abundance.
  Last week, on July 15, historian, Pulitzer Prize winner, and renowned 
energy expert Daniel Yergin stated that, without the recent domestic 
boom in oil production, the United States would be in deep economic 
trouble.
  ``I am convinced, were it not for what's happened these last few 
years, we'd be looking at an oil crisis,'' he said, according to the 
Pennsylvania energy news publication, StateImpact, covering Mr. 
Yergin's remarks.
  ``We'd have panic in the public. We'd have angry motorists. We'd have 
inflamed congressional hearings, and we'd have the U.S. economy falling 
back into a recession,'' he added.
  Not only that, Mr. Speaker, we have jobs coming back to the United 
States that were previously headed overseas due to cheaper labor and 
other competitive advantages. Today, the U.S. is looking a bit more 
welcoming for businesses and job growth and for the American worker.
  From The Wall Street Journal earlier this week, ``The competitive 
advantage that U.S. companies will receive from the lower cost provided 
by shale gas . . . is attracting investment from some of the industry's 
bigger names. Just last week, the International Energy Agency said some 
30 million European jobs are at risk as manufacturers of 
petrochemicals, plastics, and fertilizers are relocating to the U.S.''
  Additionally, as reported in Politico earlier this week, ``A strange 
thing happened in the past few months as Ukraine battled with Russian-
backed separatists, rockets flew over Israel, and much of Iraq fell to 
Islamist insurgents: gasoline prices for U.S. motorists stayed pretty 
much flat. The price at the pump has even fallen in the past week, even 
after Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 exploded over Ukraine and Israel 
sent ground forces into Gaza . . . It's yet another sign of the 
unexpected changes wrought by the U.S. energy boom, which has turned 
the United States into one of the world's largest oil producers and the 
biggest producer of natural gas.''
  Mr. Speaker, the opportunities of domestic energy production are 
apparent. As a result, we have new opportunities here at home and 
abroad. Americans are keeping more money in their pockets due to lower 
heating costs and prices at the pump.
  U.S. businesses are bringing operations back to the U.S. to create 
jobs here at home. Companies from across the globe are bringing their 
operations to the United States, so that they can do business at a 
lower cost.
  American families are able to find good-paying jobs. We are helping 
the U.S. remain competitive, and we are becoming more economically 
secure.

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