[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 13] [House] [Pages 18443-18444] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]{time} 2230 ENERGY POLICY The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Hall) is recognized for 5 minutes. Mr. HALL of New York. I must comment on the gentlelady's remarks that just preceded me and describe them as fiction. I'm sorry to have to say this because many things have happened in this body on a bipartisan basis, especially on the Veterans' Committee that I serve on, where we are in almost unanimous agreement on all issues. But on the issue of energy, our colleagues across the aisle keep going on dishonest tirades about our national energy crisis in order to distract from their record of oil company capitulation and failure to protect consumers. I guess they're operating under their party philosophy that if you repeat something often enough, you can make people forget that it's not true. I actually have more faith in the American people than that. They know that for most of this decade energy policy has been written in the White House by Big Oil and led to record dependence on imports and skyrocketing prices. They know that Republicans in this Congress have been pursuing a none-of-the-above strategy, blocking every attempt to move forward at real energy solutions. At every step, they have said no. They said no to responsible drilling in Alaska and making oil companies drill on the 68 million acres that are already open. They said no to increasing oil supply through the SPR, releasing oil from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is the only way to immediately bring down prices. They, our Republican colleagues, said no to reigning in market speculation to keep prices from skyrocketing. They said no to protecting the American driver from price gouging and oil company exploitation. And while they stood in the way, the American economy suffered and family budgets braced for high home heating costs. I think it's time to share the views of most of Americans when I say enough is enough. We need more energy and we need to enter a new era of energy technology instead of staying stuck in this ``drill first, ask questions later'' mindset that will not lower prices. According to our own Energy Information Agency, at the most, it's 1.8 cents lower after 8 to 10 years, or possibly longer. It will not make us more energy secure, and it will not allow America to prosper, which is why I have joined with the rest of the majority to support drilling responsibly for more American oil. And that means, by the way, making sure that the American taxpayer and the Treasury get the money from our oil. Oil under Federal lands and offshore leases belongs to the American public, to our children and our grandchildren, and those royalties were given away by the previous Congress, which for 6 years had control of all branches of government, the White House, both Houses of Congress, and the court system. For 6 years they did [[Page 18444]] nothing but give away our resources, our children's and our grandchildren's resources without asking for fair royalty payments by the oil companies. We have provided key tax incentives for renewables, like wind and solar and high efficiency. And I beg to differ with the gentlelady that spoke before me. These things are available today. West Point, in my district, is putting in wind energy on their hundreds of acres of campus. They are putting in a 5,000-gallon E85 tank, which is actually a breakthrough, considering the fact that thousands of flex fuel vehicles have been sold in my State of New York, and there is hardly any place you can even buy flex fuel or E85. We are seeing students at high schools like Arlington High School in Dutchess County, New York, come to me and to the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and ask for money for solar panels so that their high schools can be powered today by solar power. We have voted to break the chains of our dependence on Middle Eastern oil by using American innovation to create hundreds of thousands of green jobs that cannot be outsourced. When I was in Denver a couple of weeks ago, I learned that one of the biggest new solar photovoltaic installations in Colorado was being built, fortunately, with American jobs doing the installation but, unfortunately, with solar panels that are being built in China. We should not go from buying oil overseas to buying solar panels from overseas or buying wind turbines from overseas or buying geothermal systems from overseas. The country that put man on the Moon should lead the way in this technological innovation and develop this energy at home that's a broad, real energy policy. And it's time to pass that kind of complete really all-of-the-above plan now. It's time for action now. ____________________