Madam Speaker, tonight we come with a quarterly report from the freshmen Republicans. This is something that we promised to do when we were first elected, and we continue to do it each and every quarter because we want to come back to the…
Madam Speaker, tonight we come with a quarterly report from the freshmen Republicans. This is something that we promised to do when we were first elected, and we continue to do it each and every quarter because we want to come back to the American people and tell them what their House is doing.
Tonight, for many of you and many of your houses it might be summer school, and last week I just got my daughter and my sons' report cards. They did very well, if you were concerned about that, Mr. Heller. But what the report will be from this Congress on this night is not good.
In less than 2 days, this House is scheduled to adjourn; adjourn without solving the energy crisis, or even allowing a vote on this floor. So tonight as the freshmen Republicans come to you to talk about this quarterly report, something has happened in the last 2 weeks.
You know, in the minority party here, Madam Speaker, one thing that these freshmen Republicans will do is they don't sit back.
Even if the majority party, the Democratic controlled House here, will not allow a vote on the floor, we believe the American people are hurting; we understand the American people are hurting when it comes to the energy crisis with the price of gas over $4 a gallon, the heating fuel costs which continues to not only hurt the individuals, but it hurts the nonprofits, it hurts the school districts. As we continue to move forward, some districts in my area are talking about even maybe going to 4 days a week, some are talking about charging if the kids want to even ride the bus to school. So we talked about, how can we go about helping America? How can we help solve this problem?
So collectively as freshmen and as Republicans, we got together along with our leader, Mr. John Boehner from Ohio, and we decided, let's go on the all-American energy tour and let's actually sit down and talk to some experts.
So not last weekend, but the weekend before, we went together to Golden, Colorado. In Golden, Colorado they have the National Renewable Energy Laboratory from the Department of Energy. Here, they study from wind, from solar, to hybrids, to hydrogen cars. We drove them. We looked at them. We went through with the biomass, different ways about where the future will go in energy and how we can actually become independent and have an American energy program that creates American jobs. Because, as many of you know, in America today we use 20 million barrels of oil a day but we only produce 7. So to solve this problem, we really need all of the above. We need more wind, we need more solar, we need to actually be able to conserve more, but we also have to be able to explore more.
So just as we went out and looked at the renewable energy and we looked to where you build the windmills; you build them where the wind blows. Where do you put out the solar panels? You put them out where the sun shines. Where do you explore for oil? Where it is, underground.
From there we traveled up to Alaska. We landed in Fairbanks and we went up to ANWR. We went out and looked exactly where we are already drilling today. We went out to the first place where the Alaskan pipeline starts. The Alaskan pipeline, when it starts right there, it sends 700,000 barrels of oil a day. It takes 9 days to get from the beginning to the end. But in 1989, that used to produce 2.2 million barrels a day. Every year that we do nothing, it loses 15 percent. That is 15 percent less barrels of oil coming down. America is still using 20 million barrels, but only producing 7.
And as we looked around, we looked for environmentally friendly ways to do it. We found that in the past you would take 64 acres, today you would only take maybe 16, maybe 6. You could actually drill down and drill out 8 miles because of technology advancements, and that we could do it in an environmentally sound way. And as we went to ANWR, just a few miles over, we found that there is another 10 billion barrels.
We found out that if ANWR was allowed to be drilled, where this body will not even let it come up for a vote, it would add 1 million barrels a day. And 1 million barrels a day added inside that pipeline, what would it mean to you back home? What would it mean to the average citizen? It would mean 50 cents less in the gasoline per gallon that you buy.
Our Federal Reserve Chairman was before our committee just 2 weeks ago, and he said 1 percent added in production would decrease the cost by 10 percent. That is just a 1 percent addition. One million barrels of oil would lower the barrel $20 a barrel from what you see out on the market.
We have a plan. We have an idea. But tonight, and unfortunately when we come to you, the power of the idea will not win on this floor. Not because the desire is not there, but because the majority party will not allow it.
Today we had a very big vote, like many of our votes here. But do you know what the vote was today? By one simple vote. If you wonder if that one votes ever makes a difference, that one vote made a difference today, because on this floor by one vote the Democrat-controlled Congress voted to adjourn, voted to adjourn while the gas prices were over $4 a gallon; saying to the American people that, as I listened to the Speaker the other day, she is trying to save the planet. She is looking at the longevity of the world. I am looking back for the constituents back home that can't afford to continue to live the way this economy is going.
Tonight, we are going to listen to a lot of the different freshmen that actually went on the tour, been a part of it, seeing what is going on in America today. And first we are going to start off with my good friend from the State of Michigan, District 7, back in Battle Creek, Tim Walberg.
Well, I thank the gentleman from Michigan as he tells of the personal stories within his district of the suffering, of the pain.
But as I said earlier, what did this Democrat-controlled Congress do? Today it voted to adjourn, adjourn for an entire month, as many across America dreamt about maybe going on a summer vacation, but told their kids, no Disneyland this year; we can't afford even to drive there.
But, as the Republicans, we don't sit back and just complain. We believe that we can lead. When you look at Congress, you look at the opinion polls, it is down at 9 percent. Many across America are now beginning to call this Democrat-controlled Congress the ``No Drill Congress.''
And we won't even bring up appropriation bills. One of the major jobs of this Congress is to fund government. 13 appropriation bills they are supposed to bring up each and every year, but the majority won't even bring them up because they are afraid of an amendment coming on the bills. The amendment would say, let's create an energy plan. And what would that energy plan be? It would be all of the above. It would expand solar, it would expand wind, it would explore, it would go beyond for the new technologies at the same time, and it would lower the price of gas and create an American energy independent program that creates American jobs.
We have other members from the Freshman Class here with us tonight. Our next speaker, you may have heard him just a little bit ago talking about the National Guard in Nevada, and he continues that leadership now as he begins to talk to us about the energy. Representing Reno, Sparks, Carson City, the majority of Nevada, coming from the Second District, I yield to my good friend, Representative Dean Heller.
Well, I thank the gentleman from Nevada for the leadership he continues to show in this work that we are trying to do within the energy.
Tonight, when we went up to ANWR, one thing that I found most interesting when we talked about is how you can do it environmentally friendly. One thing that they showed when we were up in Alaska, that in the 1970s, it took them 20 acres and they would go down 1 mile. 1980s it took them 16 acres.
But you think about technology, and the greatest way for America to understand technology, think of that very first cell phone. It came in a bag. It was about the size of a brick. Today it is a very little phone, and you know within that phone that it has more technology in the cell phone today than we had on the Apollo when it landed on the moon.
But you expand with that technology. Today, present, it takes only 6 acres, so your footprint is much smaller. But what they are able to do when they drill down, to go out 8 miles across, what does that mean to the American people?
One, that we are able to explore much further, to do it in an environmentally sound way, have a much smaller footprint, and actually have fewer wells to drill.
There is a plan to be able to go forward that allows exploration, wind and solar, but the Democratic-controlled Congress will not even allow it to come up on to the floor.
This is becoming, Madam Speaker, a ``No Drill Congress.'' But the American people continue to suffer.
And tonight we wanted to hear from our good friend from Ohio, Jim Jordan. I yield to my friend from Ohio.
Well, I thank the gentleman from Ohio. And the one thing that he was talking about was we flew over ANWR. We took a few photos. And what you will see here, here is a photo of ANWR. You wonder, where are the animals? Where are they at?
And people wonder about, well, how far away is this from where we are currently drilling? It is within 70 miles. 10 billion barrels of oil sitting right there. It would not take you 10 years to begin.
Gladly.
The gentleman makes a very good point because in 1970 when this was created, back then when Jimmy Carter became President of the United States, he had full intention of drilling in ANWR because that's where the oil is. That's why you put the windmills where the wind blows and the solar panels where the sun shines. You discover where it's at.
And what the Member did talk about was if you look here, this is where we currently are, and ANWR is just to the side. And you're wondering just how large is it. It's 19 million acres. We're looking at only talking about 2,000 acres.
To put it in perspective, as you go out when school starts back up, you go to your high school football games, I want you to look across that football field when no one's there. I want you to just look out at it, and I want you to take one little postage stamp and set it on the field. That's the equivalency. That's how much we want to be able to talk about being able to get 1 million barrels of oil a day out of ANWR, a postage stamp on a football field.
The gentleman from Ohio brought up a very good point that we have this infrastructure, this pipeline. It produces 700,000 barrels a day. Once it goes to 300,000, it will no longer produce then. You have to have more than that.
Now I would like to yield to my good friend, a new member from the freshman class from the First District of Louisiana, Steve Scalise.
I thank the gentleman from Louisiana. He made some very good points. And one thing you think of this House and you think of America. I still believe this is the most beautiful building we have in all of this country. You would think the power of the idea would win at the end of the day. And you would think of the debates you have here. But when did you ever think that the Democratic controlled Congress would be so afraid of having a debate, to actually allow a vote to take place? They have the majority. They can vote the way they want.
Today they had the majority to vote to adjourn. Now they're going to have to go home and answer to the American people why they are not back working and finding an American independent energy policy to move forward.
Now I would like to yield to my good friend from eastern Tennessee, David Davis.
Would the gentleman yield for one moment?
So what the gentleman is saying is the Democratic controlled Congress, the majority who controls what comes to the floor, will not even allow a vote? Not even allow a vote on a plan that says all-of-the-above, that says ``yes'' to solar, ``yes'' to wind, ``yes'' to more drilling, ``yes'' to the new technologies for geothermal and others, but you can't even have a vote on this floor?
You're all raising very good points, but you're showing what is happening on this floor by not allowing the vote. But there is another way. There is all-of-the-above. If we were able to drill in ANWR, the Federal Reserve Chair said, if you increase production by 1 percent, it goes down 10 percent. ANWR will produce 1 million barrels a day. That automatically would lower the price per gallon by 50 cents.
But think about what's happening today. It's the largest transfer of wealth from our country, America, to countries that disagree with us. If we had an American energy plan that made us independent, what else does it do? It creates American jobs. The $700 billion stays in America.
Reclaiming my time, because as we begin to end here, one, I want to thank all my colleagues for coming down, for talking to the American people about the quarterly report, telling them what actually goes on in this building.
When we think for one moment that, as this House adjourns--not because anybody on this floor right now voted to adjourn. We said let's stay here and let's create a plan that creates an energy program that has all the above, from wind, to solar, to hydrogen, to nuclear, to exploration, takes us into the new frontier.
Because when you think of the floor that we're on, they built this Dome in the Civil War. You think of the challenges that this country has faced. And time and time again, we have met that challenge. But how did we meet that challenge? By not being afraid of debate, by not being afraid of the idea coming forward, not being afraid of one side of the aisle or the other, not saying the country's red or blue. This country is red, white and blue.
And that's the American energy plan we have. It makes us American independent of foreign countries. It stops sending the greatest amount of wealth out of this country to somebody else by creating American jobs right here.
But the only way we're ever going to be able to do it is that this Democratic-controlled Congress has got to change. It's got to allow the idea to come forth and not be afraid of the vote.
So, today, when you go home and when you see your Member out maybe in a parade, maybe on a street corner, maybe they're having a town hall meeting, ask that Member if they voted to adjourn. Did they vote to stay? Did they vote to make America energy independent? Or did they vote no, let's go home, let's let that price go up higher?
Well, I want to thank the Members for being a part of this tonight, and thank you for coming down and telling the American people where the report stands, where we're going forward and being willing to lead, going to Golden, Colorado, to see the renewable energy, and going to