Recognizing and celebrating the 50th anniversary of the entry of Alaska in the Union as the 49th State.

I do thank the ranking member, and I do thank my chairman for cosponsoring this legislation and being supportive of it.

On July 7, that marks the 50th anniversary of the enactment of the Alaska Statehood Act, as approved by the United States Congress and signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Alaska would officially be admitted as a State January 3, 1959.

I introduce H.R. 127 which commemorates this occasion to recognize all of the people of Alaska who represent the pioneering spirit which built this great Nation and contributes to our culture and ethnic diversity.

Alaska is the most northern, most western, and most eastern State in the Union and composing an area one-fifth the size of the United States. And for all those trivia buffs out there, Alaska is roughly 2\1/2\ times the size of Texas.

Purchased from Russia in 1867 for $7.2 million, or 2 cents an acre, after Congress had concluded its resources would be vitally important to the Nation's future growth. At the time, the purchase was nicknamed ``Seward's folly'' because it was believed foolhardy to spend so much money on a remote region. Secretary of State William Seward would have the last laugh, though.

Alaska is the source of 16 percent of the daily crude oil in the United States, has 44 percent of the country's undiscovered resources. Alaska's 34,000 miles of shoreline form a gateway to one of the greatest fisheries in the world, providing for 60 percent of the country's commercial seafood harvest.

Alaska has 230 million acres set aside in national parks, wildlife refuges, and national forests which are visited each year by more than a million tourists. To give you some idea, Mr. Speaker, the State of California has 103 million acres. We put aside 230 million acres for parks and national wildlife refuges. Forests add to Alaska's beauty and provide a renewable economic resource with 28 million acres of commercial forests.

Alaska contains half of the Nation's coal reserves and its largest silver and zinc mines. Glittering gold in Alaska's streams and mountains still lures miners to work private claims. About 50 million acres of soil in Alaska are suitable for farming. About 1 million acres currently are in production.

I know that the people of Alaska will continue their commitment to the preservation and protection of this great State, but they also want to develop the resources. Alaskans are proud, strong, and independent Americans who are not afraid to stand up for what they believe in, and I'm honored and humbled to stand here today on their behalf as we again recognize this great important date in U.S. history.

Mr. Speaker, may I suggest, right above you there is a plaque, placed there in 1949; it says, Let us develop the resources of our land, call forth its powers and build up its institutions, promote all its great interests, and see whether we also in our day and generation may not perform something worthy of being remembered. Daniel Webster. Let us develop our resources.

Alaska has the key to the solution of many problems of this great Nation, especially the energy crisis, and I ask this body as you recognize the 50th anniversary of the great State of Alaska, recognize what we can and what we have contributed to the Nation as a whole. As the 50th State, we are proud and we are extremely excited with the possibility to contribute more in the future. And I do urge my colleagues to pass this resolution

I thank the gentleman, the chairman, and the ranking member.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I want to stress the importance of understanding the supply side of energy. And we may not be able to lower the price, ladies and gentleman, at the gas pump, but we can at least stabilize it because if you think this is going to go down if we don't have a supply side, you're badly mistaken.

We just saw something last week which shocked many people. We had a jump of $11 a barrel in one night because of some action in the Middle East. And that could affect us down the road where it's $137 a barrel, $137 a barrel today. We predict it's going to go $200 a barrel if we don't get the supply side moving.

I will tell you if we have one action on the floor of the House to take and address the supply side, the price of a barrel of oil will drop automatically $10 to $15 a barrel. It might go back up later on. But it eliminates the speculation. It would show those that say we're not doing anything as we have not done for 35 years after the pipeline itself was built.

The Saudis, the Middle East, the OPEC countries will not increase production when they can get $137 a barrel. Why would they? Ask yourselves if you own something, why would you produce more to lower the price?

The only way we can do this is to increase our domestic supply, not only just oil, but all forms of fossil fuel and alternate forms of energy. And as the gentleman from Indiana mentioned, if we do not do that, we are not serving our constituents as we should.

It is the future of this Nation to allow the productions. Remember the quote I had right above the seat of the Speaker: Let's develop our resources.

As we celebrate this day, the 50th anniversary of the Alaska Statehood by an action of Congress, that's all we ask. Let us develop our resources. That's all I ask you now. Let us develop our resources for the good of this Nation. That is our responsibility. This is not politics. This is reality.

Again, for Mr. and Mrs. American, the price of oil and gasoline may not drop dramatically, but it will drop and it will stabilize if we address the supply side. If we do not, it will rise more, more, and more. Not good for the nation. Not good for the future generations.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 127) recognizing and celebrating the 50th anniversary of the entry of Alaska in the Union as the 49th State.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I might consume.

Mr. Speaker, as a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, I'm pleased to join my colleagues in the consideration of H. Res. 127 which recognizes the 50th anniversary of the State of Alaska, and highlights its contributions to America's economy and heritage.

H. Res. 127 was introduced by our colleague, Congressman Don Young of Alaska, on February 5, 2007. On April 16, 2008, H. Res. 127 was considered by and reported from the Oversight Committee by voice vote. This measure has the support and cosponsorship of over 50 Members of Congress, including all of the delegation from the State of Alaska.

On October 18, 1867, the Alaskan peninsula was purchased from Russia and, in 1912, after major development during the Gold Rush era, Alaska was granted territorial status.

Enshrined as the 49th State of the Union on January 3, 1959, Alaska is commonly referred to as the last frontier. And the word Alaska, which is derived from the indigenous Aleut language, means mainland or, literally, the object towards which the action of the sea is directed.

Today, Alaska's economy is strong, with the third highest gross state production out of any State of the Union. And since the issue of gas was such a major point last week for my colleagues, I should also mention that Alaska currently provides over 16 percent of the daily crude oil production in the United States.

And so, Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young) for sponsoring this measure. And given the 50th anniversary of Alaska statehood, and the enormous contributions Alaska has given to our Nation, and to the world, I urge passage of this legislation.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve.

Mr. Speaker, let me ask, did the gentleman from Indiana yield back all of his time?

Mr. Speaker, in closing, let me thank both the gentleman from Alaska and the gentleman from Indiana not only for their support of the resolution to honor the State of Alaska, but I was also pleased to hear them talk about the tremendous gas crisis that we have in the country. I was pleased to note that the State of Illinois played a role in the purchase of Alaska.

In terms of Secretary of State Seward, after he did not get the Presidency, did in fact become Secretary of State and did in fact make sure that we purchased Alaska. And, of course, that's a lesson for all of us to know that you don't necessarily have to win the nomination for President in order to do significant things afterwards. There is certainly much work to be done.

But let me just mention that recently, Congress overwhelmingly passed bipartisan legislation to temporarily suspend the oil purchases for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. As a result, the President was forced to suspend shipments and sign the deal which he previously opposed. Continuing to fill the SPR would take 70,000 barrels of oil off the market each day even though the reserve is 97 percent full with enough to meet our national security needs. We passed the farm bill that contains in it biofuels, new methods of creating energy, new sources from which energy can come.

And so there is movement, and I'm confident. Yes, we did become the majority in both the House and the Senate in the last 2 years, and when we get the other office, I have no doubt in my mind that we're going to see great relief from the oil crisis.

I urge passage of this resolution.

I yield back the balance of our time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I am very happy to yield such time as he may consume to the sponsor of the bill, my good friend, the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young).

(Mr. YOUNG of Alaska asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, in 1860, at the Wigwam Convention Center in Chicago, Illinois, a man named William Seward marched around with his crowd of supporters, and he got to the convention center too late because the gallery was stacked with supporters for a guy named Abraham Lincoln. As a result of his getting there a little bit too late on the third ballot, Abraham Lincoln was nominated for President of the United States, and Mr. Seward lost, and he was the favorite. He was the odds- on favorite to be the Republican nominee for President and to be the next President of the United States. Well, he lost, and it was a crushing blow for him.

Yet, later on, Abraham Lincoln saw the qualities of William Seward, and he appointed him his Secretary of State, and Secretary of State Seward did an outstanding job in that capacity. The thing he did best, in my opinion, was in making sure that the United States purchased Alaska. He purchased Alaska for $7.2 million, and it was the best buy, by far, of anything that this country has ever done. The resources that are up there are just unbelievable.

A couple of years ago, I had the pleasure to go up to Alaska with Representative Don Young, and I had a chance to see the vastness of it and to realize the resources that are available to us up there. You just couldn't believe it. We had a chance to see ANWR. We had a chance to look at the Alaska Pipeline, and we could see what great potential there is out of Alaska if we would just use our heads and go after those resources.

One of the things that I don't understand and that, I think, the American people don't understand is why the Democrats and the Republicans in this body can't get together to start using our resources to reduce the cost of fuel, gasoline and energy in this country. As the gentleman from Alaska just said a few minutes ago, they have the resources up there. We could get up to 2 million barrels of oil a day out of the ANWR, and there may be more up there, and we could do it in an environmentally safe way. It's two to three times the size of Texas. If there were a spill up there--and of course I don't think that would happen--it still wouldn't hurt the ecology as much as we are suffering now under the energy pressure that the American people are feeling at $4-plus a gallon of gas. We should drill in Alaska. We should drill in the ANWR.

The Alaskan Senators and Congressmen want that done. They want those resources brought to the surface. Yet, the opposition party--my good friends over there like Danny Davis--won't let us drill in the ANWR. I do not understand it. I just simply do not understand it. We are drilling in Texas. We are drilling in Oklahoma. We are drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Yet, way up north in the ANWR we cannot drill. I just do not understand it.

I wish my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who are influenced so much by the environmental lobby would go out on the street tomorrow morning at the gas stations and say, ``Hey, you're paying $4.10 a gallon for gasoline. Would you mind if we drilled in the

If the gentleman is not yielding back, I will reserve the balance of my time as well, Mr. Speaker.

Let me yield, then, to my colleague once again, my good buddy from Alaska (Mr. Young).

Mr. Speaker, I have no more speakers, and if you would like, I would be happy to yield back.

Madam Speaker, I was unable to be present for votes on June 9 or 10. For the information of my constituents and my colleagues, I want the Record to reflect how I would have voted on the following votes I missed.

On rollcall 388, on H. Res. 1255 expressing support for designation of June 2008 as National Safety Month, I would have voted ``yes.''

On rollcall 389, on H. Res. 1243 expressing the immeasurable contributions of fathers in healthy development of children, supporting responsible fatherhood, and encouraging greater involvement of fathers in the lives of their children, especially on Father's Day, I would have voted ``yes.''

On rollcall 390, on H. Res. 127 recognizing and celebrating the 50th anniversary of the entry of Alaska into the Union as the 49th State, I would have voted ``yes.''

On rollcall 391, ordering the previous question on H. Res. 1253, I would have voted ``yes.''

On rollcall 392, on agreeing to H. Res. 1253 the rule providing for consideration of the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act for 2008, H.R. 6003, I would have voted ``yes.''

On rollcall 393, on H.R. 6028 the Merida Initiative to Combat Illicit Narcotics and Reduce Organized Crime Authorization Act, I would have voted ``yes.''

On rollcall 394, on H. Res. 1063 marking the 225th anniversary of the treaty of Paris of 1783, which ended the Revolutionary War, I would have voted ``yes.''

On rollcall 395, on H. Con. Res. 318 supporting the goals and ideals of the International Year of Sanitation, I would have voted ``yes.''

On rollcall 396, on H. Con Res. 336 honoring the sacrifices and contributions made by disabled American veterans, I would have voted ``yes.''

Madam Speaker, I am proud to commemorate June 2008 as National Homeownership Month and would like to thank my colleague, Congressman Gary Miller, for introducing H. Res. 127, recognizing National Homeownership Month and the importance of homeownership in the United States.

In 2002, President George W. Bush designated June as National Homeownership Month to strengthen our Nation's commitment to equal housing opportunities for all, setting a goal to increase minority homeownership in America by 5.5 million by 2010. Purchasing a home is the largest investment made by most households, providing economic security and an opportunity for homeowners to build wealth.

It has become clear, however, with at least 1.4 million foreclosures predicted next year and as many as 2.8 million Americans projected to lose their homes in the next 5 years due to the subprime mortgage crisis, that we must rededicate ourselves at all levels of private, public, and nonprofit sectors to keep homeowners in their homes and ensure equal housing opportunities for all people. We must work together as a Nation to protect American homeowners and ensure that every American has the opportunity to live and hold onto the American Dream.