Federal Land Assistance, Management and Enhancement Act

FEDERAL LAND ASSISTANCE, MANAGEMENT AND ENHANCEMENT ACT -- (House of Representatives - July 09, 2008)

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Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, these fires are extremely dangerous, and our heart goes out to all those people in California who are suffering from these fires and all over the country.

In my area, we rely on volunteer firefighters who are dedicated and whose service I cherish. However, we're putting these dedicated servants who are volunteers all over this country at a terrible disadvantage with gas costs at $4.11 a gallon; 75 percent higher since the Democrats took control of Congress.

Now, let me say that again. Many Americans do not realize that the Democrats are in control of Congress. We are not being allowed to vote on increasing the supply of gasoline by the Democrats.

Now, what is the Democratic strategy for increasing supply of gasoline, which is what we have to do to bring down the price? Let me quote from an article in yesterday's Hill newspaper an aide to Speaker Pelosi.

``Right now our strategy on gas prices is `Drive small cars and wait for the wind.' '' Now, that reminds me of the episode which many people will remember from their history books, when the people of France were starving, people went to the Queen and said that the people need bread, they're begging for bread. She said, ``Let them eat cake.'' Again, the strategy of the Democrats is ``Right now our strategy on gas prices is `Drive small cars and wait for the wind.' ''

Folks, that's not what we want in terms of leadership. We need leadership on this issue. We need action to bring down the price of gasoline. And what will bring down the price of gasoline is American-made energy. We are not being allowed to produce American-made energy that we can produce to bring down the price of gasoline.

On the last bill, the Democrats talked about the fact that our unemployment rate is up. We had 54 straight months of job growth in this country until January of this year when gas prices really started to go up. The price of gas is affecting everything in this country. Again, it's Democratic leadership that has put us in this position, not Republican leadership.

I met today with people from the Turkey Federation. They're concerned about the price of feed. It's driving up the cost of food. Why? Because we're giving such great subsidies to ethanol; so corn is being used to produce ethanol, not going into feed for our animals. We know that's happening all over the place.

Why is it that Congress has a 9 percent approval rating right now? It's because, as the Wall Street Journal said, this is the most do-nothing Congress in 20 years.

We have to respond to the American people. The American people have to know that the Democrats are in charge and they are not responding. We can bring down the price of oil, we can help volunteer firefighters, we can bring
down the cost of food by providing American-made energy, and it's time that we started doing that.

Democrats think you can defy the law of supply and demand. We cannot do that. If we increase supply, we will be able to bring down the price of gasoline, and that's what we have to do.

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