[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 11] [House] [Pages 15224-15225] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]OFFSHORE OIL EXPLORATION (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 [[Page 15225]] minute and to revise and extend his remarks.) Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, until this week, there were two prohibitions on offshore drilling, two prohibitions from keeping us from accessing billions of barrels of American oil. One was imposed by Congress; another by executive order in 1990. But now President Bush has lifted the executive ban. Standing in the Rose Garden he said, ``The only thing now standing between the American people and these vast oil resources is action from the U.S. Congress. Now the ball is squarely in Congress' court.'' There can be no mistake. Congress must answer to the American people why we are not allowing the production of American-made energy right here at home, why Congress prefers the money to be sent to dictators and unsavory regimes around the world. Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic leadership in this House should bring legislation to the floor to vote on opening the deep waters off our coast to allow us to access billions of barrels of American-made energy immediately. Otherwise, the price of gasoline and home heating oil will continue to rise. ____________________