Providing for Consideration of Senate Amendments to H.R. 6, Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF SENATE AMENDMENTS TO H.R. 6, ENERGY INDEPENDENCE AND SECURITY ACT OF 2007 -- (House of Representatives - December 06, 2007)
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Mr. MARKEY. I thank the gentleman.
This is a historic debate. This is a historic day in the history of the United States. Today, we debate energy independence and global warming for the first time in a serious way in our history. This legislation will accomplish things that will send a signal to the world.
In this bill, we will increase the fuel economy standards of the vehicles Americans drive from 25 miles per gallon to 35 miles per gallon. We will produce enough ethanol and cellulosic fuel that we can substitute for oil that by the year 2030, when both provisions are completely implemented, we will be backing out twice the oil that we import on a daily basis from OPEC, from the Persian Gulf. What a signal to OPEC, twice the oil from the Persian Gulf eliminated in one vote.
And, at the same time, because of the efficiencies in light bulbs, in heating, in cooling, in furnaces, in all appliances, in buildings, in homes, we will in this one vote meet 35 percent of our entire goal by the year 2030 in reducing greenhouse gases to protect the planet from global warming. We will meet in this one vote 35 percent of the entire goal between now and 2030. What a moment for this Congress.
It will unleash a technological revolution in new technology so that, rather than importing those technologies, we will be exporting those technologies. It will send a signal to our consumers that we are not going to stand by and allow them to be tipped upside down and have money shaken out of their pocket by OPEC as the price of oil has gone from $26 a barrel in President Bush's first year in office to over $90 a barrel today. Every week, the American consumers send $5 billion overseas to OPEC and other countries; $5 billion a week.
This bill today is really a signal to OPEC that we now mean business. And it is a signal to the rest of the world that we are serious about global warming, and it is a signal to our citizens that we are going to begin to create those new green jobs in our country so that we can produce the products that are going to revolutionize the energy sector.
So make no mistake about it as you cast this vote, my colleagues, you are casting the most important energy and environment vote of your career, and you will be remembered for this vote. So I ask you to give a signal to the American people that this Congress, when the Republicans took over in 1995, imported 43 percent of its oil; now we import 61 percent of our oil. It just keeps going up and up and up. So if we are to turn a corner historically and to engage these issues of energy efficiency, these issues of energy independence, these issues of global warming, this is the vote. One vote, later on today. I urge an ``aye'' vote by all of the Members of this body.
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