Floor Statements

I thank very much the gentleman for yielding. And I appreciate your having this very important discussion this evening. I have been sitting here listening to the other gentlemen this evening. I have been having what we call ``courthouse conferences'' in my district. What I have been doing is I have been going around the district. We go to two counties a day when we are not in session. We are there from about 8 o'clock in the morning to about 12:30 in one county, and then 1:30 to 6 in another county, and I meet with constituents almost every 10 minutes.

What you have been talking about is on the minds not only of your constituents, and your constituents in Pennsylvania, but constituents across this country. And I will tell you, the question on their minds is about jobs. And it is about saving that wealth that they tried to accumulate, as you said, in their 401(k)s and their IRAs. They are worried about the Federal spending that is going on out there.

You're absolutely right. The small-business owners are the ones that are creating the jobs in our area right now. A lot of people think it is the big corporations. No. It is not. It is those smaller companies.

I sit across the table from these individuals. They look you in the face and they say, ``do you know what? I'm not sure how I am going to keep my doors open. We are having a liquidity problem. We are having a problem where we are losing our orders.'' But there is one thing that they all say. They all say the same thing: ``I feel a responsibility to the people I hire. How am I going to look those people in the face in a few months? I have 20 employees or 30 employees. And I have to start laying these people off. These people not only work for me, but they are part of my family now. They live down the street from me.''

You're absolutely right. We are going down that road of ruin. It was not that long ago, back in the Carter administration, when we saw interest rates in this country go up to 21 percent. And what did that do? As you said, Federal Government does not create any wealth. We consume wealth. It is that small entrepreneur out there that creates the wealth for this great country of ours. So when we watch what happened back in the Carter administration, it is not that long ago that you couldn't go down to the local bank and get a mortgage. You couldn't get a loan. I started practicing law back in those days. We had to do what they call ``laying contracts,'' where the seller actually had to do the financing for the buyer because there was no money.

I will tell you, the last thing we want to see in this country is interest rates going back to 21 percent. I remember, though, you could get a money market at that time, you could get a 14 percent return on your money. But if you are paying 21 percent, you're in the hole.

So not only the folks back home in northwest and north central Ohio are scared, but people across this country. They tell us, ``here we are in our businesses cutting back. We are trying to scale back in every possible way that we possibly can. But what's the Federal Government doing?''

They just see us with the $700 billion bailout last fall for the financial institutions. And then they find out about AIG and the big pay outs. And they ask how about the stimulus package, how is that going to help me? How is the $75 billion on the mortgage bailout going to help me? What is going to be in it for me with the $410 billion omnibus. And as the gentleman talked about, we might be talking about another stimulus package. Who is going to pay for it? You are absolutely right, the generations to come are going to be paying for it.

If the gentleman from Missouri would yield, I think the real question is where is this taking us? As the gentleman mentioned, $1.1 trillion, and the American people and the folks in my district are saying this: $1.1 trillion, what is this all adding up to?

Right now, this country is $10.6 trillion in debt. By the end of this fiscal year, this country is going to be $12.7 trillion in debt; $12.7 trillion.

And it hasn't been very long, when you start looking at the figures, in 1979, the national debt of this country was only $129 million. We went to $2.8 billion in 1989, and it started going up. But when you start looking at the totals, the thing that really concerns me is not only are we building this debt up, but we have a $1.75 trillion deficit. The real question is: Who is buying this debt? Who is buying this debt?

Right now, we have a $3 trillion debt that we owe to foreign countries and governments, $727 billion is what we owe the Chinese right now--they are our largest debt holders--and that is not counting what they own in Fannie and Freddie, which takes them over $1 trillion of our debt.

What is happening in this country is, we are going to not only have problems in this county trying to pay this back, but we also have a problem in this country, we have a situation where we are trying to say, in our foreign policy, who is going to start dictating it, us or our debt holders? And that scares the living daylights out of me.

Will the gentleman yield?

I think the number I'm now seeing is that by the year 2012 we'll be paying a billion dollars in interest on the debt every day, which is absolutely putting our future generations in the hole that they're never going to climb out of. And that worries me with our kids back in Bowling Green and what we're going to do to their future. And I don't think it's right what this Congress is doing.

I think a little earlier I might have misspoken when I was talking about some of the debt numbers. You start throwing around billions and trillions, and I think the numbers I should have been saying were trillions when we talking about the debt in 1989 and 1999 and 2007. But those numbers keep going up. And we can't have that going on because, again, as I've mentioned and as all the gentlemen have mentioned this evening, when you look at what we have been doing to this country and owing foreign governments only $119 billion in 1979 and, as I said a little bit ago, that we now owe over $3 trillion. As the gentleman from Pennsylvania mentioned, the problem we're going to be having is that we're going to have a situation with this debt going up. The President has already said if we can't get people to buy that debt, we're just going to have to raise that interest rate. And as I mentioned a little bit earlier, we're going to be right back where we were in the late 1970s with President Carter when we had 21 percent interest rates, and the problem is going to be that no one is going to be able to get any loans out there and the situation we're going to be in is a dire one because back 30 years ago, this country was on top of the heap. China is now the number one manufacturing country in the world, not the United States. They've passed us this year, and now we are going be in a situation where how do we climb out of it?

Madam Speaker, pursuant to the Republican Leadership standards on earmarks, I am submitting the following information regarding earmarks I received as part of H.R. 1105, the FY 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act.

Requesting Member: Congressman Robert E. Latta

Bill Number: H.R. 1105, FY 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act

Account: Commerce; NOAA--Operations, Research and Facilities

Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Bowling Green State University

Address of Requesting Entity: 106 University Hall, Bowling Green, OH 43403

Description of Request: $355,000 for monitoring of Lake Erie water quality with remote sensing for Bowling Green State University and Heidelberg College, in partnership with the consortium partners of OhioView and the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL). The funding will be used to continue the project of monitoring algal blooms in Lake Erie with LANDSAT TM satellite data. This will allow for real-time, continuous monitoring and assessment of harmful algal blooms and coliform in Lake Erie and its Southern-shore tributaries. This research is authorized by the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Act of 2003. The funds will be used to develop the systems for determining cyanobacteria in Lake Erie and in local water supplies and to continue to collect data for analyzing and further study. This project began in 2006 and provides continuous monitoring from the satellite data of the potentially harmful algal blooms. I

certify that neither I nor my spouse has any financial interest in this project.

Requesting Member: Congressman Robert E. Latta

Bill Number: H.R. 1105, FY 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act

Account: DOJ; OJP--Byrne Discretionary Grants

Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Defiance College

Address of Requesting Entity: 701 N. Clinton Street, Defiance, OH 43512

Description of Request: $145,000 for genetic analysis equipment for Defiance College's Forensic Science program. Due to the critical need for trained forensic scientists, the requested funds will be used to expand the capability of Defiance College's dedicated forensic science lab to include an Applied Biosystems 3130 Genetic Analyzer. This crucial piece of equipment is found in all professional forensic science labs and it is important for students to be trained with this equipment to prepare them for the workforce. It is my understanding that Defiance College is providing the remaining share towards the project. I certify that neither I nor my spouse has any financial interest in this project.

Requesting Member: Congressman Robert E. Latta

Bill Number: H.R. 1105, FY 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act

Account: U.S. Department of Energy; Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy account

Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Bowling Green State University

Address of Requesting Entity: 106 University Hall, Bowling Green, OH 43403

Description of Request: $951,500 for the Coastal Ohio Wind Project: Collaborative Research Effort in Onshore/Offshore Wind Energy Development. Funding would be used for project expansion by its partnership with the University of Toledo to include advance remote sensing research for off-shore applications and to gather site data with a temporary tower on the Firelands campus, ultimately to test new wind turbine technologies. The project will promote the use of renewable energy by conducting research and testing wind power and developing wind energy for the region. The partners in the projects have committed to match the federal funding at the required level. I certify that neither I nor my spouse has any financial interest in this project.

Requesting Member: Congressman Robert E. Latta

Bill Number: H.R. 1105, FY 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act

Account: US Army Corps of Engineers; Investigations

Legal Name of Requesting Entity: The Northwest Ohio Flood Mitigation Partnership

Address of Requesting Entity: 101 West Sandusky Street, Findlay, OH 45840

Description of Request: $119,000 for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for funding regarding the Western Lake Erie, Blanchard River Watershed. Funding would be used to perform a comprehensive Flood Damage Reduction and Ecosystem Restoration study, and related activities. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has completed a preliminary feasibility study of the entire Blanchard River Watershed, and recommended a further flood control feasibility study. The partners in the projects have committed to match the federal funding at the required level. I certify that neither I nor my spouse has any financial interest in this project.

Requesting Member: Congressman Robert E. Latta

Bill Number: H.R. 1105, FY 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act

Account: US Army Corps of Engineers; Construction

Legal Name of Requesting Entity: City of Fremont

Address of Requesting Entity: 323 South Front Street, Fremont, OH 43420

Description of Request: $500,000 for the Off-Stream Water Supply Reservoir project in regards to Ohio Environmental Infrastructure. Funding would be used for construction of a new off-stream water supply reservoir to replace an existing reservoir impounded by the Ballville Dam on the Sandusky River. The new reservoir will provide drinking water to approximately 22,000 people in the City of Fremont and surrounding area. The new reservoir is necessary to eliminate nitrate maximum contamination level (MCL) in the City's drinking water. There will be two phases of the project, with Phase I consisting of building the reservoir and Phase H consisting of the raw water intake, pumping station and water mains to and from the reservoir. It is my understanding that the state and local share will be $14.5 million of the cost share. I certify that neither I nor my spouse has any financial interest in this project.

Requesting Member: Congressman Robert E. Latta

Bill Number: H.R. 1105, FY 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act

Account: US Army Corps of Engineers; Section 205

Legal Name of Requesting Entity: The Village of Ottawa

Address of Requesting Entity: 136 North Oak Street, Ottawa, OH 45875

Description of Request: $252,000 for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for funding regarding the Village of Ottawa Flood Control and Mitigation Reconnaissance and Feasibility Studies. Funding would be used for a Section 205 Feasibility Study of flood risk management plans for the Blanchard River at Ottawa, Ohio. The funding would fulfill the Federal share needed to complete the Feasibility Study. The Village of Ottawa has allocated $250,000 to fulfill the required non-Federal match. I certify that neither I nor my spouse has any financial interest in this project.

Requesting Member: Congressman Robert E. Latta

Bill Number: H.R. 1105, FY 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act

Account: STAG Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Project

Legal Name of Requesting Entity: City of Defiance

Address of Requesting Entity: 631 Perry Street, Defiance, OH 43512

Description of Request: $300,000 for the Defiance Combined Sewer Overflow Elimination project. The funding would be used for engineering for three subprojects and construction for three other subprojects. The wastewater infrastructure of Defiance, Ohio is in need of improvement. The city's 44 combined sewers have been divided into 20 subprojects. There will continually be one project in sanitary sewer evaluation survey, one project in engineering design, and one project in construction. These projects will separate virtually all the combined sewers in Defiance and will eliminate discharge of untreated/partially treated sewage into the Auglaize River, the Maumee River, and Lake Erie. The City of Defiance will provide at least the local matching funds in the amount of 45%. I certify that neither I nor my spouse has any financial interest in this project.

Requesting Member: Congressman Robert E. Latta

Bill Number: H.R. 1105, FY 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act

Account: Elementary & Secondary Education (includes FIE)

Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Putnam County Educational Service Center

Address of Requesting Entity: 124 Putnam Parkway, Ottawa, OH 45875

Description of Request: $238,000 for the Putnam County Education Service Center (ESC). The funding would be used for Project MORE: Mentoring in Ohio for Reading Excellence. The MORE program is a volunteer reading mentoring project designed for students with disabilities. Through the program children with disabilities receive one-on-one structured, volunteer reading mentoring 3-4 days per week. These funds will be used to start 30 additional Project MORE programs in Ohio, as well as outside Ohio. The project is intended to create awareness to expand the use of the volunteer reading mentoring program throughout the nation. The remaining funds for the project will be supplemented by local partners in the program. I certify that neither I nor my spouse has any financial interest in this project.

Requesting Member: Congressman Robert E. Latta

Bill Number: H.R. 1105, FY 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act

Account: Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)-Health Facilities and Services Legal Name of

Requesting Entity: Visiting Nurse Association Healthcare Partners of Ohio

Address of Requesting Entity: 2500 East 22nd Street, Cleveland, OH 44115

Description of Request: $95,000 for the Visiting Nurse Association Healthcare Partners of Ohio. The funding would be used to purchase daily tele-monitoring equipment for the Tele-care Program for Chronically Ill Seniors. This program provides daily monitoring via a small, clock-like device that ``talks'' to the patient and collects essential baseline vital signs. Data is wirelessly or telephone transmitted to the central receiving station at the home health agency office. It is my understanding that besides the requested appropriation amount, the state of Ohio and program partners are providing the local cost share. I certify that neither I nor my spouse has any financial interest in this project.

Requesting Member: Congressman Robert E. Latta

Bill Number: H.R. 1105, FY 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act

Account: Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)-Health Facilities and Services Legal Name of

Requesting Entity: Memorial Hospital

Address of Requesting Entity: 715 S. Taft Avenue, Fremont, OH 43420

Description of Request: $190,000 for Memorial Hospital in Fremont, Ohio. The funding will

be used for the Herbert-Perna Center for Physical Health Expansion project. This 29,000 square foot building houses Memorial Hospital's physical, speech, and occupational therapies as well as HealthLink, the region's largest occupational health provider. HealthLink provides services to many companies in the region and saves significant dollars by providing overall wellness programs. The funds will be used to finish the construction of the Center and therefore offering X-ray services in the Center. This will allow workers to continue to rely on the program and return to work quicker. It is my understanding that the hospital is contributing $5,350,000 towards the project, with an additional $950,000 being provided through local and community support. I certify that neither I nor my spouse has any financial interest in this project.

Mr. Speaker, last week it was my privilege during our work period back in the district to be at seven of my county courthouses. What I did was I met one-on-one all morning and all afternoon and we got locked into the courthouses in the evenings to talk to these people that we represent. And they are concerned. They are concerned about the spending that has been going on in this Congress.

I had one gentleman wait 4 hours, 4 hours, to come up and just sit across from the desk from me for 30 seconds and say we are spending too much money in this country. They are worried about what is happening to their future, to their kids' future and their grandkids' future.

You know, it is tough when you pick up the paper and try to explain it to them. They say, where is this money coming from that is being borrowed? Over the weekend we saw the Secretary of State was over in China with cup in hand saying we need you to keep buying our debt.

The folks back home are concerned about their future and they want this Congress to do something, and that means we have got to quit spending.

Well, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I would really like to follow up a little bit on what the gentleman from California just said.

I come from a State and from a district that has heavy manufacturing, and we're hurting out there, and there is no question about it in my district in the State of Ohio. America is hurting. You know, the stimulus package has been talked about. We're not talking about a package that is going to help America. This has turned not into a jobs bill but into a spending bill.

If I could just follow up a little bit, I was on a tele-town hall last night with my constituents. The big question those people had was: What's in this for me? How is it going to help me? I couldn't tell them. I couldn't tell these folks how this package was going to help them. Just today, they asked: What happened to that $700 billion that we just had in that financial bailout? It's gone.

As the gentleman from California said: What's going to happen right now?

Well, we're going to raise the national debt ceiling that we have here for Federal debt to over $11.1 trillion. It just went up last fall to $10.3 trillion. He is absolutely right. Where is this money going to come from? Well, we're going to go out, and we're going to have to get our tin cans out and ask for it from our foreign creditors out there, who already own $3 trillion of our debt today. The Chinese own $682 billion. We're going to have to say: Can you bail us out? Those people are saying: Wait a minute. We've got our own problems in our own country right now.

As the gentleman so rightly pointed out, when that day comes as to when these countries say, ``we're not going to bail you out,'' we're going to have to raise the rate that we're going to get for that interest. As had been pointed out a little bit earlier, what is going to happen is that our credit markets are going to dry up.

Today, I had 14 local bankers in town. These folks are worried. They're worried about what happens when it's a tight market right now and they're trying to get out there. They want to get out there and lend and make sure that people can run their businesses and that people can buy houses. Yet the problem we're going to have is that the Federal Government is going to take that money, and there is going to be a huge sucking sound around this country of the dollars coming into the Federal Government as it's using that money to borrow. We can't have that happen because, when that does, we're going to be in the same situation that we were in years ago until we can get those markets back and can let them borrow and start again.

So I just want to sum up. I know there is another speaker here.

The American people are rightly concerned. The people of the Fifth Congressional District are rightly concerned as to what this bill is going to do, not for them but to them. So I thank the gentleman for sponsoring and for yielding. Thank you very much.

Madam Speaker, last weekend I was home, and folks back home are worried. They're worried about what this Congress is doing. They're worried about their futures, they're worried about their kids, they're worried about their jobs.

One of the things when I was talking to a lot of the folks at home over the weekend was, first of all, they said what happened to that $700 billion that you all passed last year for the financial bailout? And they're worried about what's going to be going on right now with this $838 billion that we've seen come out of the Senate. And, of course, that's not the correct figure because after you figure in your interest, you're over $1 trillion.

And when you talk about that $1 trillion, you know right now we owe $3 trillion to foreign governments, with as of 2 months ago the Chinese owning $682 billion of our debt. We watch this keep rising and rising, and the people want to know what's the future going to hold for them; where are the jobs going to be.

Well, the Republicans have offered a plan, especially one in which Ohio, under our plan, would create 246,000 jobs, compared to the 142,000 jobs offered under the current stimulus package.

I think that this Congress should examine what this Congress should be doing, making sure that we spend our dollars wisely.

I appreciate the gentleman for yielding, and I also appreciate the comments that we have already heard from the gentleman from Georgia and also from the gentleman from California.

Just to follow up, I was not going to speak to this, but if I may, I just happen to have in front of me the unemployment numbers during the Great Depression and the numbers leading into the Great Depression. I think about the statement from the Secretary of Treasury in 1939 and what he said about what the spending had done. When President Roosevelt was sworn into office in 1933, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, we had a 24.9 percent unemployment rate.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 1933, when he was sworn in, there was 24.9 percent unemployment.

Just to kind of jump forward a little bit to the statement that was made to the House Ways and Means Committee by FDR's Secretary of the Treasury in 1939, that number was at 17.2 percent unemployment in this country. So, when they were talking of their trying the spending and of their trying to see how much they could do by spending more and more and more to get these numbers down, it did not work.

Just fast-forwarding a little bit, unfortunately, when we got close to entering World War II in 1941--when the United States was becoming that arsenal of democracy--we had an unemployment rate of 9.9 percent. Then through the main war years of '42, '43, '44, and '45, we saw our unemployment rate go down to 4.7, 1.9, 1.2, and 1.9 percent. Again, let's just think about that. We had 16 million Americans in uniform at that time. We had everybody working--we had everybody in the war plants. All of the women were working--so Rosie the Riveter was everywhere. That unemployment rate dropped, but it was because of World War II, not because of what was going on in the Roosevelt administration in the 1930s.

I appreciate the gentleman for yielding.

That is absolutely correct. I don't think there is any economist out there who will say there was anything until we got into World War II when we saw the Great Depression break. Before Pearl Harbor in 1941, December 7, the unemployment rate was going down. Why? Because we had Americans working in those defense plants, who were making those arms that we were shipping overseas at the time, for example, under Lend- Lease. So we watched those numbers start to drop, and they really dropped, of course, during World War II when Americans were out there in uniform and in the defense plants.

As the gentleman had mentioned a little bit earlier, one of the things that concerns me is: Where are we going with this debt? Because we just keep adding to it in this country.

I appreciate you yielding back, and I think what you're talking about is, when we're running up these debts, I'd just like to run across just numbers.

Let's just go back. If you look at this number on this chart right now, we're looking at over $10 trillion, $10.6 trillion of debt that this country owes, but let's just go back a few years, and it doesn't take us very long to do this.

In 1979, the United States debt was at $829 billion; 1989, it was $2.8 trillion; 1999, $5.6 trillion. And here we are 10 years later just doubling this number, when you look from 1999 to where we are today at $10.6 trillion.

But the real question that really concerned me is this, not only that massive huge debt but who owns this debt, you know, and you start looking at this chart right here. Right now, $682 billion of our debt today is owned by China. Going across, you're looking at Japan. Japan owns $577 billion; the United Kingdom, $360 billion; the Caribbean Banking Centers, $220 billion; the oil exporters--we send our money over to them. They're using our money to buy our debt. They have $198 billion; Brazil, $129 billion.

But it always wasn't this way. You know, in 1979, let's just go back a few years again. 1979, we had foreign debt of $119 billion; 1989, $429 billion; 1999, $1.2 trillion. These numbers are just escalating.

And the problem we have today is this. We're having a situation out there is what happens when these other countries start stimulating their own economy and they start saying, you know what, we can't buy that American debt, who's going to be out there to buy that debt? And we have a couple of alternatives; either not issue that debt or have to put a higher interest rate out there to make these other countries want to buy our debt. Americans are saying we're not buying it; these other countries are.

So I have a real concern of these problems, that other countries are owning our debt, that they could actually start dictating to the United States. The Chinese are telling us that we have to do something about our economy, you know.

I appreciate the gentleman for yielding again.

Again, you are absolutely correct. We're hitting that situation right now. The rest of the world is looking at the same problems that we're having in this country, but we're issuing this massive debt out there, saying, please, buy our debt.

And all we can do is, there's been very few articles in the national papers about this, and one of the few times we've seen some of the articles, they're saying, well, we have to make it attractive enough to keep people wanting to buy it out there. Well, how far is that and when are we going to get to that?

My good German grandmother used to tell her grandkids this one saying, that he who goes a borrowing goes a sorrowing. And you know, we're at that point.

And the real question is how are the future generations of this country, not just this generation but the next generation, and the one right after that, going to pay for this debt and how are they going to do that?

Absolutely.

I thank the gentleman for yielding. I appreciate your efforts today on putting together this Special Order. Tomorrow, we are going to have tens of thousands of Americans here. They are coming here to support the rights of those who can't speak for themselves, the right of the unborn. I know in my hometown of Bowling Green, at Bowling Green State University, I know that at least 40 college students will be coming down tomorrow to be out there on that Mall.

It's great that we had so many people here yesterday, but we also have young people coming out to talk about and support those who can't speak for themselves.

As already has been mentioned by other of the Members today, talking about their views on the Freedom of Choice Act and what that will do in this country, it will be a travesty. The world judges us by what we do, and they will judge us harshly when they see what we do if this bill would ever become law.

I have always been pro-life. When I was in the Ohio Legislature, I had the privilege of chairing the Senate Judiciary Committee and the House Criminal Justice Committee. Probably one of the toughest days that we ever had was when we had the partial birth abortion ban bill up. And when you sit on a committee that hears about all the gruesome crimes that are committed against the living, and I'd always have some of my constituents say to me, after they sat through some of our hearings after a long day, they would say, ``Latta, how do you sit through that stuff day after day after day?'' I'd say, ``It's my job.''

But then when we had the partial birth abortion bill come before our committee, it was kind of also very unique to sit there in that committee room and look out across that audience and looking down across the committee to the folks sitting in their chairs. There was a lot of squirming going on that day because of the testimony of the doctor that testified that day to explain exactly what partial birth abortion was.

It was one of those days that I had the initiative at times as the Chair that I can actually tell that we are not going to have anyone under the age of 18 in the hearing room because of what it might do to affect some of the kids that might be there.

But when we heard the testimony that day, I can look down on both sides, left and right, and see from my members on that committee that they had heard enough. And they wanted to vote. It was a bill that we were able to bring to the floor quickly. We got that bill passed in Ohio to ban that horrible, horrible procedure, as discussed a little bit earlier.

We do things in this country that, when you see what we try to do to save the living, it's time that we do what we can to save those who cannot speak for themselves.

According to the National Right to Life, since 1973, there have been 49,551,703 abortions performed in this country. In the State of Ohio, from the Department of Health, we have records showing that 32,936 abortions were performed in Ohio alone in 1 year.

And I will close on this, because we have to think about this. We have all these troubles and travesties that are coming before our country today. We have to ask ourselves, of those 49,551,703 lives, who among those could have found the cure for cancer? Who among those could be out there that found that energy cure that we have to have for this country? And, who in that number could have been the next President of the United States?

So I am very, very glad to be here to support those who cannot speak for themselves and stand before you and say that it's time for this country to remember those who cannot speak and defend themselves.

I yield back. Thank you.

Madam Speaker, pursuant to the Repubublican Leadership standards on earmarks, I am submitting the following information for publication in the Congressional Record regarding earmarks I received as part of H.R. 2638, The Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, and Continuing Appropriations Act, 2009. The following are the Department of Defense and Military Construction projects I have requested that have received funding approval:

Project Name: N-STEP Enabled Manufacturing Cell for Future Combat Systems.

Bill Number: H.R. 2638.

Account: RDTE, A.

Requesting Entity: Joint Systems Manufacturing Center/General Dynamics; 1161 Buckeye Road, Lima, Ohio 45804.

Project Description and Amount: Joint Systems Manufacturing Center- Lima (JSMC) has developed, designed, installed and implemented an N- STEP Enabled Reconfigurable Manufacturing Cell and has completed performance demonstration phases using automatic processes. To make the core equipment production ready for FCS, specific weld process development using the Friction Appurtenance Welder, FAW, must be completed. This funding request will provide for the necessary technical resources required to develop the weld machine parameters/ specifications for support of vehicle production activities. $2,400,000.

Project Name: Electronic Motion Actuation Systems.

Bill Number: H.R. 2638.

Account: RDTE, N.

Requesting Entity: Moog: FloTork Facility, 1701 North Main Street, P.O. Box 68, Orrville, Ohio 44667.

Project Description and Amount: The purpose of the project is to develop shipboard-qualified prototype electric actuators and demonstrate their satisfactory performance in shipboard applications. Successful completion of the technology will reduce shipboard personnel and reduce repair and maintenance costs. The Department of the Navy has repeatedly stated its desire for an all-electric ship. The target ship for this concept is the DDX which is due to hit the water in 2010. Environmental hazards associated with hydraulic systems will also be eliminated by moving to an electric actuator. $800,000.

Project Name: Barracks, Camp Perry Training Site, Port Clinton, Ohio.

Bill Number: H.R. 2638.

Account: Department of Defense, Army National Guard.

Military Facility Address: Ohio National Guard, Camp Perry Training Site, 1000 Lawrence Road, Port Clinton, Ohio 43452.

Project Description and Amount: Provide $2 million in P-341, unspecified minor military construction, funds pursuant to Title 10 U.S. Code 2805, to construct a new 80-bed baracks at the Ohio National Guard's Camp Perry Training Site, Port Clinton, OH. The request will increase the readiness of our servicemen and women in the Ohio National Guard and help them better prepare for the challenges they face both at home and abroad. $2,000,000.

Madam Speaker, I had the pleasure of meeting with home delivery volunteers in the Fifth Congressional District on Monday to discuss H.R. 6675, a bill I introduced in July.

H.R. 6675 would increase the standard deduction for home meal delivery volunteers from the current rate of 14 cents per mile to 58.5 cents per mile. Home meal delivery programs across the country are losing volunteers as the cost of gasoline continues to rise.

This legislation will help retain and recruit additional volunteers to carry out this important work. For those who receive home delivered meals, these volunteers serve an important role in delivering meals that provide needed nourishment, in addition to boosting the morale and spirit of those individuals.

As we continue to debate the comprehensive energy reform policy in Congress, we must be aware of the important contributions volunteers have on our great country. Volunteer firefighters, civic group leaders, and others who give so much of their time and resources are what make our community and our country a great place to live, work, and raise a family.

Well, thank you very much for yielding.

I appreciate that from my friend from northeastern Ohio. As mentioned, I am the newest or, I can say, the least senior or the most junior--I'm not sure which is the best term for me--but I am truly humbled to be here with you this evening and to be part of this great delegation because the Ohio delegation has always been one of those great delegations, I believe, in this United States House of Representatives, and it has always been really like a family, an extended family, for all of the Members who are within it. I know it has to be a tough decision for you all to make to leave this body.

I know my dad served here for 30 years, and I know, when he left here, it was a tough decision, but it's a decision you have to make at some point in time. When you look at the experience that has already been mentioned with Congressman Regula, with Congressman Hobson and with Congresswoman Pryce, who have 18, 9 and 8 terms that they've served here, that's 70 years of experience; that's 70 years of knowledge; that's 70 years of experience not only on this floor but also on those committees. That's going to be hard to make up because, as people come and as people go, there are so many folks who look to those Members who have served here for a good number of years for that experience, for what they need to know when they come onto these committees or when they come onto the floor.

One of the things that has already been said is that they have all served this House well with great distinction, and I think that one of the things, again, that has been mentioned is that they've all been great public servants.

As to one of the things my dad taught me, because he had had 36 years of public experience, he said that you always want to remember that you want to be a public servant and never a politician. I think that each of these three individuals whom we honor here tonight have been great public servants.

What is the difference between a public servant and a politician? It is very, very simple, and it was explained to me. Public servants see how much they can give of themselves to the people they represent while politicians see how much they can take from the people they represent for their own benefit.

Again, I think the people we have here before us this evening all epitomize that one great fact, that they've all been great public servants. They've worked hard. They've served their districts. They've gone home. You know, they make sure that their people back home are being taken care of, but at the same time, they recognize the duty they have to this great Nation that we all serve.

As I mentioned, it's truly a tough thing to see these folks go. I know that I first met Congressman Regula many, many years ago because his office is right around the corner from where my dad's was up on the third floor there of the Rayburn. You know, Dad's office was there at 2309, and I always thought he had quite an impressive office. I know when I was in to see Congressman Regula when I was running, I looked out there, and I knew it would be a long time coming before I'd get a view like that.

I'm truly blessed and privileged to be here with them tonight. This House has

been made a much better place by you three serving here. You've blessed your constituents, and you have a Nation that's very grateful for all of the hard work that you've done. I just want to say thank you very much for your service.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate this opportunity to control this hour. A lot has happened, not only this week, but in the last several weeks here in this great country of ours.

We have been talking a lot today about what's been happening on the financial markets, but we always have to worry about what's happening on the energy markets. As you know, we have all seen those commercials on television from T. Boone Pickens talking about that $700 billion transfer of wealth out of this country in 1 year's time. When we are talking right now about what is happening in the financial markets, we are talking about maybe a bailout of $700 billion.

Not only are those two numbers both very, very high, but they are also the same. We can't watch those American dollars flowing out of the country that should be staying right here. As we stand here today, we have about a $9.6 trillion national debt, of which $2.6 trillion of that is owned by foreign governments.

One of the things that I have been saying for a good long period of time is what happens when they start dictating to the United States. I think one of the most interesting stories that did not get a lot of play, but was on the front page of the Washington Times during the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bailout, is that when the bailout was being worked out, the foreign banks out there, and creditors, had about $1 trillion of Fannie and Freddie. They are secured, but we have a lot of American banks out there that didn't have that preferential treatment, and they are on pennies on the dollar.

But, again, as one of the things that was stated in that article, which I again found very, very interesting, it could be one of the first times since maybe the Revolutionary War when a foreign power is actually telling the United States what it is going to be doing. I think these are very, very tough times, but they are also times for action that we have to be doing in this country.

At this time, I would like to recognize the gentlelady from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx) who has been a great advocate. I would like to yield to her at this time.

I thank the gentlelady from North Carolina for her eloquence and steadfastness and willingness to roll up her sleeves to work for a solution on these problems that we have.

Mr. Speaker, at this time I would like to recognize my good friend, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Gingrey).

I thank the gentleman for his eloquence also tonight and for all of his hard work on trying to get this energy issue resolved, because it really is the number 1 issue that's really facing so many Americans out there.

And I know that when I go home a lot, and I go home every weekend and I put a lot of miles on the car, I know as well as you all do. When you're at the gas station you have a lot of people come up to you and ask you the same question, what are we going to do about this energy question.

And as we talk about it for a little bit, we talk about what we're doing down here and what we're trying to get accomplished, it's kind of interesting every so often because then some people ask you, well, how do you stand it, with all this? And I say, you know, it's not that bad. If you know what the problem is and we know what the solution is, we just have to get there. So I'm two-thirds of the way there, and I think that's the best way to go.

And as the gentleman was talking about, as where we are today and it's a real crisis, and I'd like to invite my good friend, the gentlelady from Minnesota, to the podium also to talk about not only energy but also some of the financial things going on in the country at this time.

But as has been pointed out, I know by the gentlelady from North Carolina, the big story today was that crude prices went up over $30 a barrel in a 1-day jump. And suddenly, finally a record jump of $16.37, and what that's spurred on by is by this financial problem that we have in this country. It's just not on the energy side, where we had all of these folks out there trying to find where's a safe haven to be right now. So they're looking at commodities for that currency hedge. And so you watch gold, silver, copper all posting strong gains today. But at the same time we saw oil that had been slowly but steadily going down, and trying to help the American people out there not have to spend so much at the pump.

And I know the gentlelady has been very, very concerned on this same issue. And at this time I'd just like to turn over to you for a little bit to chat a little bit about where we are on the financial side, and we can talk about the energy issue at the same time.

You're absolutely right, because when you're talking about that $700 billion, that translates into about 70 percent of all the oil that we use every day is imported in this country. And you're absolutely right, because when that price of oil keeps escalating up, then the question becomes what happened to the regular American person out there?

Well, the problem is this. That means a person or a family won't be able to buy a new car because they've got to worry about what oil prices are.

I have the largest washing machine plant in the world in my district. So that means of those 5 million washing machines, the problem then becomes, well, maybe people won't be able to buy washing machines.

Absolutely.

You're absolutely right, because we need self-sufficiency on energy in this country; we keep the money in our own pockets. And you know, when it comes down to it, my district, I had the Corning International Manufacturers. You know, we have the ninth largest number of manufacturing jobs in the Fifth Congressional District in Ohio. That's a lot of jobs that are all dependent on one thing: energy.

You know, when I go into my plants, I try to go in plants every week when I'm home. If we're here Monday through Thursday, I'm usually someplace on Friday. And the one thing that they'll do every time, they'll say, you know, what's driving us in cost here is the problem with energy. And a lot of times it's the oil. Well, it's the oil base that they have to have in their product that they make. It could be the energy that they have to consume to make that product. It could be higher electric costs. It could be, you know, you go right down the line of what it is.

And the problem that we have been having in this country is we haven't been taking care of ourselves. We have to have what we've been advocating on our side of the aisle is an all-of-the-above energy policy. And that policy, of course, is what we're talking about is having more nuclear, to have more clean coal technology, to go out and have oil, have natural gas, as you pointed out, and to have that solar, that wind, that hydrogen, that ethanol, the biodiesel.

But as our good friend from Georgia just mentioned a little bit ago when talking about coal, we have 24 percent of the world's known coal supplies in this country, and we're absolutely stymied at this time in not being allowed to get to that coal, because we could take that coal. I have an individual in my district that's invented a clean coal technology, and that's what we have to do. We have to utilize what we have here in this country so we don't transfer that wealth overseas.

You're absolutely right when you talk about that 420 trillion cubic feet of gas, 86 billion barrels offshore right now. You know, what has just been passed last week under the Democrat plan, we're not going to get to that oil. You want to know the reasons why? Well, first of all, a lot of that oil is within that 50 miles offshore, not 50 miles to 100. And the second thing is there's nothing in that bill talking about lawsuits and preventing those lawsuits from slowing these leases from being developed. Because if we can do that, we can start developing.

But it's about time that Americans take care of Americans because we're in a situation here, and you're absolutely right what you're talking about on the financial side, we're in a crisis stage here. We've watched all these dollars go overseas.

I talked a little bit earlier about what happened with that $2.6 trillion of our national debt now being owned by foreign countries, $1 trillion being owned when it came to Fannie and Freddie Mac by foreign creditors, that they're actually dictating to us now. They're at the table. They're bargaining, or maybe they're not even bargaining. They might be dictating. And we're in a situation that we have got to get something done in this country, and I'm sure that you are very well aware of it.

Well, when you're talking about who's going to be footing this bill, the other things that scares me is this. The reports out right now is that China will become the number one manufacturing country in the world next year. The United States, after more than 100 years, is getting knocked off that hill as being number one.

So as we are in a situation where the taxpayers are being asked pretty much again to step up, foot these bills, who is going to pay it? Because the problem is the jobs.

When I'm out at these factories in my district, one of the things that I ask the folks that are running the companies is, ``Out of curiosity, how far do your people drive in?'' It's not uncommon in my district that the people are driving 50 miles one way to work.

Well, then you talk to the people out on the floor, and they're saying, ``You know what? If I have to drive 500 miles a week, with gas prices as they are, is it really worth it to me to actually have this job, or should I try to find a job some place closer to home?''

Then the manager of the companies then say, ``If I lose these trained employees, where am I going to get the people to run this plant? I'm going to have to move it either across the country or out of the country.''

It's almost like the dog is chasing its tail here. And we've got a real situation in this country where the people out there don't have the dollars in their pockets because they're paying more and more out.

We had that report not too long ago that said we used about 4\1/2\ percent less fuel and energy this past summer. That was almost like a good news/bad news. Good news is we have more fuel supply, but the bad news is we had companies not making product. We had people not going places. We have a lot of places in my area, the State of Ohio, especially along Lake Erie--which is a huge tourist destination area-- and a lot of people said, ``You know what? We can't take that summer vacation this year. We can't go there.'' So by them not doing that, they didn't help the local tourist trade in our area.

So it's a very tough situation. You know, when other countries are out there, they're exploring. As you pointed out as we were talking about oil shale that 2.1 trillion barrels, trillion barrels. And you're absolutely right; we are the Saudi Arabia when it comes to oil shale.

At the same time you have got the Chinese and the Indians and the French and a lot of other countries in the world right now are out there producing energy. And you have got China in the next 25 to 30 years, they're probably going to build 40 nuclear power plants. The Indians are going to be building another 25 to 30 in the next 25 years. You have the French. The French right now are at least 75 percent nuclear. They have enough power that they can export that power into Europe.

And here in this country we've got a situation where they're saying, ``What are we going to do in the future? What have we done?'' You know, the last nuclear power plant site in this country was 1977. Last one to go on line was in 1996. That's a crisis.

In one year.

You bring up a very interesting point when you're talking about what is happening, especially with the oil situation.

When we went up to ANWR, there were 11 of us from the House side that went up. And we saw that pipeline. We saw mile marker zero, that 800- mile pipeline. That pipeline, as you remember, was carrying 2.1 million barrels of oil a day down it. It's at 700,000 barrels today. The problem we're going to have is we're watching about a 15 percent reduction every year in that pipeline. And because the Prudhoe Bay area and the other areas, they're slowly starting to tap out.

When that pipeline gets down to 300,000 barrels a day, as you remember, probably the most telling problem that we're going to have up there is that pipeline can't flow any more. And it's just that they can't say we're just going to shut the pipeline off and we'll turn it back on in a few years. Once that oil stops, that pipeline is ruined.

So if we can't get that million extra barrels a day that could be coming from ANWR--and let's just talk about that ANWR area as you mentioned a little bit earlier.

It's the size of South Carolina, 19 million acres. Congress, in 1980, had set aside that section 1002 ground which was about 1.5 million acres. The area that we're looking----

That's absolutely correct. And you're looking at that 1.5 million acres. The area that we're looking at is comprised of about 2,000 acres, which most of us from the farm country know that there's 640 acres in a section. So we're talking about 3\1/2\ sections of land, a little over 3\1/2\ square miles, probably. That's a pin drop up in Alaska.

And Alaskans, 80 percent, want those jobs. They want to make sure that they get that oil down here. They want to make sure there is natural gas. Right now, as you remember, what's happening with that natural gas? They can't bring itself. There's no pipeline. So they're reinjecting it back in the ground.

When you're talking about your constituents out there wondering what they're going to do this winter about--I've got my constituents right now that are only buying half a tank of propane because the problem is it is the same price as it was for a full tank last year.

So, the problem is, what happens when they run out of that half a tank of propane halfway through winter? It is a crisis, and we have got to address it, and if we are going to stop the flow of watching our dollars leave this country, if we want to make sure that we can have a future for our kids and that the people aren't living from hand-to- mouth and they start thinking about their future, that they can put things away for their own retirement, thinking about their kids' college education. And then to buy those things, the only thing we didn't talk about. Buying that new house, putting new windows in from that company that makes them up in your district.

So we've got a problem, and that problem's got to be solved now. We can't wait. We can't say we will pass this on to another Congress and pass this on to another generation, because we're going to be held responsible by every future generation as to what we do in this House Chamber in the next week.

Something else at play in the hands in the last few weeks is called a hurricane, by not having diversification in this country and not having our fields dispersed around this country where we can get oil and natural gas. Everything had to be shut down in the gulf. Not only is everything shut down in the gulf, but we also then lost refineries. We haven't had new refineries built in almost three decades in this country.

So we don't take care of ourselves. The problem has been in this country, we say, you other countries take care of us, we'll pay for this oil. It's not too expensive.

But boy, I tell you, the chickens have come home to roost by now because by watching what's happening in the gulf and still knowing that we can't get the production up in the gulf, they're saying we might be out for another seven to eight days and maybe a little bit longer before we get back up. But at the same time, when I left Bowling Green this morning, I filled up the car. It was $3.79 a gallon. That was before there was a spike of $16.37. So when I get home, gas will probably be over $4 a gallon again, and people are going to say, wait a minute, what are we going to do.

One of the things I did this morning was I was at our senior center in Wood County at their Meals on Wheels, the kitchen where they make the meals. They send out about 750 per day from that place. The problem is this: These folks are out there, a lot of the volunteers are saying, wait, I can't afford to volunteer my time anymore because I can't afford the gasoline.

We've got volunteer firemen around this country, they're out there. We have all these people that do so much greatness for this country by being volunteers that are being shut off from doing it, not because they don't want to do it, because they can't afford the price of a gallon of gasoline.

One of the bills I've introduced recently is to say, let's take that 14 cents for the volunteers that drive that Meals on Wheels vehicle, or their own personal use, and get that up to the business expense.

That's the problem we have. It's not taking care of ourselves. It's only having a very small area that we're going to get our oil from in this country. It's having overreliance, like 70 percent, on other countries that bring us the oil and the resources that we need when we should be taking care of them ourselves.

Well, I want to thank the gentlelady for her time this evening and for her expertise and all of the work that she's done.

Madam Speaker, the time to act is now. After we've seen the devastation of the hurricanes in the Gulf Region, it's time for this Congress to act and to allow drilling and to permit drilling in

Well, I thank my friend from Georgia for hosting this tonight because, once again, energy is the number-one topic on everyone's mind in this country. It has been a number-one topic since I have gotten here, and I think it's going to be topic for years to come. It's really important for me.

My district, as a lot of you already know, I represent the number-one agriculture district in the State of Ohio, and I also represent one of the top 10 manufacturing districts in Congress. If we don't have energy in my district, we are not going to survive. If we don't have energy for those farmers, they can't get out there and plant those crops.

To tell you a couple of examples that have been going on, I have had meetings across my 16 counties, talking with farmers all over the entire district. Right now I have talked to many a farmer that when they go out with their tractor in the morning, and by the time they get back at night, they have put $800 to $1,000 of diesel fuel through their equipment in 1 day.

They talk about their fertilizer, they talk about the chemicals that they have to put on that land and make that land productive. They are coming back, and they are saying, you know, we are paying two and a half to three times more than we did 2 years ago for the same product.

The question is, well, these farmers are all getting rich right now. No, they are not, because they are out there having to pay all these high prices for diesel. They have to pay all these high prices when it comes to fertilizer. They have to pay all these high prices when it comes to chemicals, and they can't afford it.

What is happening, of course, is when people go to the store, and they buy that loaf of broad, when they buy that gallon of milk, they are saying, gee, why are prices going up? I can tell you why prices are going up, because these energy prices are out of control in this country. These energy prices are out of control because this Congress, this Democrat-controlled Congress, is not acting today to make sure that we can put food on the table and keep this price cheap for Americans.

We were able a few years ago, and up to this year, say that most people within 42 to 43 days were able to pay for all of their food in those first 42 to 43 days of the year. That's what we need to do in this country, because if we don't, it's the same thing that is going to happen on manufacturing side, we are in that same situation where right now the United States is the number one manufacturing country in the world.

Well, guess what, next year we drop to number two, and we all know who number one will be, and that will be China. They have been out there making sure they have that supply, but also they have that supply of energy that they have for the future.

So it's very, very important for not only the Fifth Congressional District of Ohio, but it's also important for this country of ours, this great country, to make sure that we can meet the energy needs of the future. I know that one of

our Members not too long ago told us a story about a trucker, a long- haul trucker in his district. He said he got a load to go from Texas to California and back.

He was paid $1,700 for the entire load. Well, it cost him $1,500 in fuel, so by the time you figure the cost of insurance, buying that truck and everything else, it would have been cheaper for him to let that truck stay at home and just leave the keys in it. Now, I have had truckers call me, independent truckers, saying you know what, Bob, we have got real problems out here. We are actually turning our keys back over to the finance company because we can't afford to even run our trucks anymore. We can't afford to do our job.

In Ohio, when we have 80 percent of all products being delivered by truck, how are we going to get things to the consumer, how are we going to get the product to market? So that's what we have got, massive problems right here, not only in Ohio, but across this country.

As has been mentioned a little bit by the gentleman before from Tennessee, we are talking about renewables. I am 100 percent behind renewables, because it is kind of interesting in my district, we already have one solar manufacturing plant in business right now. We have another one that's going to be online next year.

We also have a company working on a hydrogen engine, we have the only four wind turbines. I can see from them from the backyard of my house in Bowling Green. We also have two ethanol plants in my district.

The one thing is a lot of people like to think on the other side of the aisle, and some of the environmentalists, all this is going to happen overnight. It's not.

I was privileged to be one of the Members that went up to ANWR not too long ago, but we stopped in Colorado first at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. When we were there, it was interesting, because I was fascinated because everything I just mentioned from solar to wind to hydrogen to ethanol, that's what they are doing out there right now.

Every time that we talked about something, they showed us something, for instance, we were talking about on the hydrogen side. They said this is what we would like to do on the hydrogen. It was kind of fascinating, because, well, we could create the hydrogen, because we could take a wind turbine and break down that electricity, break them into hydrogen, and we could run it down to like a hydrogen filling station so you could fill your car up right there.

But the same question I always asked every time we got through a subject is how long and how far are we? They said, we are not there yet. We are not there yet. We are off for quite a ways. It's just like the electric cars, they showed us electric cars.

A lot of us in northwest Ohio, and I know across this great country of ours, a lot of people have to drive more than 50 miles one way to work. Well these cars, you can only go 60 miles before you have got to plug them back in. Well, that's a real problem.

You can't just go 60 miles in my district because you would never get home that night. If you are driving 100 miles one way, you have got a problem there. You know, but those are things we are working on for the future. As my friend from Tennessee mentioned earlier, these things are down the road, we are not there yet.

It's the same way when we talk about the wind side. You know, we have seen a lot of commercials on TV, from T. Boone Pickens and how much we would like to have, in the near future, by wind power. Well, the problem with that is it's going to take maybe 150,000 to 200,000 wind turbines to get us to that point. We are not there, next year or the year after, or the year after that. We are talking maybe 2020 or 2030.

We have got to have energy now. If we are not going to have energy now, we are not going to be able to manufacture. We are not going to have farmers in the field. This winter we have people telling me right now that we are not going to have the fuel to put in their tanks at home to make it through the entire winter when it comes to home heating oil.

We have a lot of work we have got to get done, and we have got to get it done now. When we went to ANWR, it was really fascinating in that when we were up there we flew up by Fairbanks into Prudhoe Bay. When Prudhoe Bay first came on line, they were talking about it might only produce around 9 to 10 billion barrels of oil. Now they have revised that, it could be up to 13 to 15 billion barrels.

The pipeline up there, you know, it's 800 miles long. That brings that lifeline down to the lower 48 to make sure that we have fuel. At its peak it was bringing down about 2.1 million barrels a day. Today it's only bringing down 700,000 barrels a day.

The thing that really concerns me when I hear that, when that number gets down to 300,000 barrels a day, and we are losing about 15 percent capacity every year up there, when it gets down to 300,000 barrels a day, that pipeline won't be able to flow any more. If there is oil in the pipeline, it will clog it up and they won't be able to go back in there and clean out the pipeline. That means that the pipeline is finished. When we are importing 70 percent of our oil every day into this country, we can't afford to shut that pipeline off.

It has also been demonstrated why we need diversification from where we get our oil in this country. When you have a hurricane and you have to shut down oil rigs in the gulf, and the refineries are out there, we have a problem. We have to diversify. We have to be up in Alaska. We know there is a known source of about 10.3 billion barrels.

So we have to drill and make sure that we have that oil for the future. Just real briefly in summation, when we are talking about what we want to do up there, we are talking about ANWR which is 19 million acres, the size of South Carolina. Section 10.02 land is about 1.5 million acres, and we need 2,000 acres to get this oil out. We have to make sure that we can get this done so we have a future for this country.

I applaud my friend for having this all-important special order tonight to bring up this subject about why we need energy for this country.

Mr. Speaker, the Democrat inaction on failing to adopt a comprehensive energy policy has come home to roost. We see this happened in the last hurricane. We have over 20 percent of our oil being produced in the gulf, and these oil rigs being shut down, and the refineries being shut down.

Americans are suffering. We have to diversify. Once again, when you look at the energy proposals here, we have to be up in ANWR. There's 10.3 billion barrels of oil up there that we need to be drilling. We have got to get that oil down here.

We have to make sure that there is natural gas, make sure that people can heat their homes this winter. We have to make sure that the folks that are out there driving trucks or tractors have diesel. We have to have that to make sure we keep our energy prices down and our food prices down.

But the time to act is now. We have to have a comprehensive energy plan. The Republicans have put forward all of the above. All of the above is to make sure that we have nuclear, clean coal technology, hydro. We have to make sure that we drill, that we make sure that we have all of the alternatives out there, but we have to do it now. If we don't get it done now, the rest the world will pass us by. Next year China is becoming the number one manufacturing country in the world.

It's time to act right now.

Mr. Speaker, I spent the month of August traveling throughout my district speaking with my constituents about what issues matter to them most. Hands down, energy prices are their number one concern.

As I toured factories, management explained how the rising cost of energy was forcing them to raise the cost of their products, oftentimes making foreign-made goods more appealing to consumers. When I met with farmers, they explained the high cost of fuel, fertilizer, and chemicals. Some farmers are spending over $900 a day to run their tractors.

At our county fairs and events throughout the district, families described the impact of high gas prices and how it is affecting their spending and savings plans, putting their financial future and stability into jeopardy.

During these discussions, I took pride in telling everyone that House Republicans were fighting during the entire August recess for lower energy costs with an ``all of the above'' plan that includes the responsible recovery of our natural resources in addition to further development of renewable and alternative energy.

Without comprehensive energy reform, our constituents and economy will continue to suffer. It's time for Congress to act now.