Feb 1, 2006, The Need for Energy Independence
HON. MARCY KAPTUR
 OF OHIO
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARYÂ 1, 2006
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Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, last night we heard thePresident say something that has been repeated on news broadcast after newsbroadcast across our country: Americais addicted to imported oil. This chart shows that over 30 percent, one-thirdof what we consume, comes just from the Middle East.Mr. President, thank you for finally saying what many of us have been trying totell you and your administration and your father's administration for the pastdecade-and-a-half. Your own Secretary of Defense told me on the record in theDefense Appropriations Committee that energy independence for America wasn'this job, and yet he runs the largest department in your cabinet.
My constituents complain to us daily about the cost ofhome heating, the cost of gasoline. Small business people can't afford to paytheir bills. But they don't want to have to wait until 2025 for a solutionafter you have been out of office for nearly two decades.
The UnitedStates consumes over $7 billion worth ofimported petroleum, most of it from very undemocratic places. You called them``unstable'' last night. They are more than unstable. They are undemocratic, Saudi Arabiabeing the premier country.
Now, Mr. President, you are in the sixth year of yourPresidency. Four years ago you claimed to offer an energy plan in this bookthat had 103 recommendations. I said then and I say now, not a single one ofthese recommendations were directed at new fuels like ethanol and biodiesel,which you referenced last night. It is interesting that you waited until thesixth year, the middle of your second term, to even offer any kind of newenergy program for our country. It kind of makes you wonder whether the Bushadministration is really serious.
We must do something now about America's chief strategicvulnerability. We don't need to wait 20 years; we don't need to wait anotherdecade for cellulosic research. In fact, Minnesotamoved to a 10 percent ethanol blend, and we ought to do the very same thingnationally.
We can provide funds for infrastructure; just put thepumps in the ground. I can buy the vehicles in Detroit today. I can't get the fuel in my owndistrict.
We landed a man on the Moon in 10years. A man on the Moon. And yet we cannot get pumps in the ground across America. We laytar and concrete all over the country. Let us get serious.
The 2002 farm bill contained the first-ever energy title.I know, we wrote it. Have we had any support from the administration? So small,it is almost embarrassing. In 2004 the administration recommended cutting theminuscule biofuels program operated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture by$70 million. In 2005 by $2 million more.
They have cut the money for the National Renewable EnergyLabs by over $46 million in Golden, Colorado.All of the pieces of the puzzle that could give us the answer and wean us offthis foreign dependence are not part of the President's budget proposal.
What are you going to do, Mr. President, to recapture lostmarkets? Think about this: Exxon yesterday reported extraordinary profits ofover $36 billion, the largest corporate profit in U.S. history. $36 billion. Yet theentire budget of the Department of Energy is $23 billion.
Exxon's profits are almost double the entire budget of theDepartment of Energy. How many jobs we could create if that windfall could beput to making Americaenergy independent here at home.
So, Mr. President, we welcome your interest at long last.We hope it continues. Though you are late to the table, do not shortchange theAmerican people. Our national security depends on it.