Walberg Weekly Wrap-Up

Press Release

Gas prices are above three dollars a gallon across south-central Michigan and have risen by about 20 cents in the last two weeks. Some experts are predicting a gallon of gas could cost $4 dollars this summer. I am continuously receiving emails, letters and phone calls from families on tight budgets expressing their frustration every time they travel to the pump to fill up.

The answer to our current energy situation is simple: we need to break our dependence on foreign oil. America needs to become energy independent and turn to alternative energy sources like solar, wind, cellulosic ethanol, bio-diesel and other clean alternatives, and in the short term, increase carbon-free nuclear power and clean-coal technology rather than increase our reliance on Middle East energy. We also need to encourage conservation and allow exploration in Alaska, the Outer Continental Shelf and the Gulf of Mexico.

Instead of working towards this goal, Democratic leadership forced a vote on legislation (H.R. 5351) that would actually increase our dependence on foreign oil. This energy tax increase legislation would raise taxes on American energy producers and send American jobs overseas by removing incentives for American manufacturers to invest and grow, while failing to produce any more energy. Estimates suggest this bill would slap an additional $16 to $21 billion in new taxes on American firms that produce American energy and raise heating and gas prices for working Americans.

My colleague Gene Green, a Democrat from Texas, had this to say about the bill: "It's a political exercise."

We need to move past political games and work on an energy policy that will result in more American energy production and reduced energy costs for American families, farmers and small businesses. I have co-sponsored legislation that would increase our use of alternative energy such as ethanol (H.R. 635), bio-diesel (H.R. 3781 and H.R. 2178), solar (H.R. 550) and wind (H.R. 197), and supported hydro-electricity (Roll Call No. 829) and incentives for green building construction (H.R. 539).

Let's Protect America, Not Trial Lawyers
Though updates to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) expired February 17, House leadership is still preventing a vote on a FISA bill that would allow our intelligence agencies to track terrorist phone calls.

Congress originally passed FISA during the Cold War era, and the legislation enabled our intelligence community, with appropriate congressional and judicial oversight, to perform surveillance and protect our national security. However, this was before e-mail, Internet phone calls and satellite phones.

A six-month update of the legislation, modified to address today's world of instantaneous communication, passed Congress in 2007. This update expired Feb. 17, and our intelligence community is back to using pre-9/11 gathering tools.

A permanent modernization of this legislation would give the American intelligence community tools and flexibility to respond quickly to terrorist threats. A bipartisan version of the legislation passed the Senate in a 68-29 vote. Instead of passing this legislation, Democratic leadership in the House let the FISA updates expire.

House leadership will not support a FISA update because the bill would prevent trial lawyers from suing American telecommunications companies who cooperate with American intelligence agencies' monitoring of foreign terrorist communications. It is shameful that some in Washington place the ability of trial lawyers to sue over national security. When American companies assist American intelligence agencies with monitoring foreign terrorist threats, they should be thanked, not sued.

Source