I thank my colleague from Texas for yielding me some time. Mr. Speaker, I think it's very appropriate that we are heralding this innovation today. I want to tie this into what we have been trying to…
I thank my colleague from Texas for yielding me some time.
Mr. Speaker, I think it's very appropriate that we are heralding this innovation today. I want to tie this into what we have been trying to do here on the House, what Republicans have been trying to do all this year, and that is to allow us to create more American-made energy by drilling in Alaska and drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf and using that money that we, the Federal Government would get, for the leases, to find new and exciting alternatives for our energy situation, the challenges that we face. I want to highlight again what some newspapers across the country have said about the cynical bill that was passed last week by Speaker Pelosi and the Democrats and show that this is understood all across the country.
The New Hampshire Union Leader editorial said, ``Drilling for cover: Pelosi & Co.'s phony bill . . . Democrats in the U.S. House want you to think that they support expanded drilling for oil and natural gas. They don't. Their vote on Tuesday proved it . . . This bill is a total fraud. It gives access to only 12 percent of the estimated oil reserves we are currently not allowed to access. . . . The bill . . . does not allow States to share revenues from oil leases granted there. So States such as California, which faces a huge budget shortfall, have less incentive to give that approval. Democrats who have opposed expanded domestic drilling forever suddenly found themselves on the losing end of a major economic issue after gas prices hit $4 a gallon. Now they are pushing a phony drilling bill to fool the American people into believing that Democrats support new oil exploration.''
In the Honolulu, Hawaii, Star-Bulletin editorial, ``House energy bill falls short of bipartisan solution. Representative Neil Abercrombie's admirable effort to craft a comprehensive energy plan worthy of bipartisan support has been cast aside. Instead, the Democratic House leadership has pushed through a surrogate measure on a
party-line vote that is doomed either in the Senate or by presidential veto, while providing Democrats political cover from voters angry about high gasoline prices. . . . The bill backed by Pelosi, a long-time opponent of offshore drilling, would keep the ban in effect within 50 miles of the shore. It would allow drilling from 50 to 100 miles from the shore if adjacent States gave their approval and would extend it beyond 100 miles with or without such approval. That means that 88 percent of the estimated 18 billion barrels of oil in waters now under drilling bans would remain off limits.''
The Washington Examiner editorial. ``Pelosi's sham editorial bill is an oily dodge.'' It says, ``The reality is this sham legislation effectively keeps the 26 year-old congressional drilling ban in place for 85 percent of all offshore petroleum reserves. Pelosi's measure allows virtually no drilling within 100 miles of U.S. coastlines, yet that's where most of the untapped resources are.
``Incredibly, that's not the worst of it. Pelosi's bill leaves in place the endless delays created via lawsuits filed by rabid environmentalists. U.S. Representative John Shadegg calls this problem the bill's 'litigation loophole.'''
The Charleston, West Virginia Daily Mail editorial, ``A Drilling Bill That Does Nothing. When House Democrats came back to Washington, they quickly passed a bill that Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu of oil- producing Louisiana pronounced dead on arrival in the Senate.''
It goes on to say: ``Pelosi's plan is a slap in the face of Americans. Americans need to be as independent of foreign oil as possible. The public sees that. Yet Democrats refuse to pursue policies that will increase American oil production. This position is senseless, and it is especially so in an election year.''
The Los Angeles Times editorial: ``Wasted Energy Bill. House Democrats' push for expanded offshore oil and gas drilling was more about electoral positioning than drilling, aimed at convincing voters that the party shares their pain at the pump.''
And then an op-ed in Forbes, ``Washington's Offshore Snake Oil. On Tuesday, the House Democrats went on the record supporting an offshore drilling bill in a piece of legislation that now heads promptly over to the Senate to die.''
Mr. Speaker, I would like to put the remainder of my comments in the Record.
Investor's Business Daily Editorial: ``Drill-Shy Congress .
. . House Democrats have passed an `oil drilling bill that
bans drilling where most of the oil is . . . On that first
day of the new fiscal year, the congressional prohibitions
expire on offshore drilling for oil and natural gas, as well
as for the oil shale available in Western states. The
Democratic-controlled, do-nothing Congress for once is
frantic to do something before that deadline hits. In a big
election year, with summer gas prices exceeding $4 a gallon,
voters won't swallow an extension of the ban. So Speaker
Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday had the House of Representatives pass
legislation she unveiled less than 24 hours earlier, with
Republicans blocked from offering amendments . . . But Texas
Rep. Jeb Hensarling, the Republicans' Study Committee
chairman, correctly called the bill `a sham' with no
provision addressing the dire need for construction of new
oil refineries, `no clean coal, no energy exploration in
arctic Alaska, no nuclear energy and--if you read it--no
exploration in the Outer Continental Shelf for energy in
their bill.' '' (9/18/08)
