The Hill Report: Week of June 16 - 20, 2008

Op-Ed

The Hill Report: Week of June 16 - 20, 2008

This week as national average gas prices reached $4.08 a gallon, I joined several North Texas colleagues to highlight the critical need for an effective energy plan that lowers soaring gas and food prices.

On Tuesday, Congress Members Joe Barton (R-Arlington), Kay Granger (R-Ft. Worth), Michael Burgess (R-Lewisville) and I visited a Tom Thumb grocery store in Arlington, Texas to hear how North Texas families and businesses are being impacted by the rising cost of food and fuel.

Following our tour of the store with Tom Thumb employees, my colleagues and I held a press conference at the gas pumps outside, noting that high gas prices affect truckers transporting food and products, employees in daily work commutes, and families with summer activity plans.

We recognize that from rising food costs to soaring gas prices, North Texans are burdened with cost of living increases, limiting their ability to make ends meet and invest in the future. And with average gas prices over $4 a gallon, the American people are fed up with paying the price for Democrats' political games against American-made energy production, resulting in higher prices and a dangerous dependence on foreign oil.

Reality is that the American people want action, and my colleagues and I took the opportunity during our Tom Thumb visit to highlight Republican energy action plans for increasing supply and reducing demand to help bring down energy costs and achieve energy independence:

1. Increase production of American-made energy through responsible drilling in Alaska and the Outer Continental Shelf, which contain enough supply for America's energy needs for over two centuries.

2. Promote cleaner and reliable sources of energy like nuclear, geothermal, clean coal, wind power, and hydroelectric power.

3. Cut red tape and increase American-made energy supplies by removing bureaucratic barriers to oil recovery projects and responsible oil refinery construction.

4. Encourage greater energy efficiency through tax incentives for home and building energy efficiency upgrades, solar and fuel cell credits, and fiber-optic distributed sunlight investment credit.

For current gas price relief and long-term energy independence, Congress must increase supply by opening American resources to energy production and decrease demand by prioritizing energy efficiency and alternative, renewable energy development.

A number of Americans are already joining efforts to call on Congress to approve drilling on land and offshore. For example, Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich—through his American Solutions organization—has begun a congressional petition, urging Congress to act immediately to lower gasoline prices by authorizing the exploration of proven energy reserves to reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources from unstable countries. Now with well over 1 million signatures, the American Solutions petition highlights the grassroots efforts of Americans to increase American energy supplies.

Our nation's dependence on foreign oil and the resulting high gas prices affect every American family, business, and school. It is past time to champion American-made energy. The prosperity of our nation and our economy depends on it.

A Victory for our Troops
On Thursday, the House finally passed a bipartisan, clean troop funding bill that supports our Armed Forces and gives them resources to complete their missions and provide for their families.

Under the leadership of General David Petraeus, our men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan have achieved great progress, and while much work remains, Congress has the responsibility to provide for the safety and success of our troops. With this week's bipartisan agreement, our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are guaranteed funding through next spring and will have access to new G.I. education benefits upon their return.

Not only is this bill a victory for every service member and his or her family, but this agreement is also a success for the American taxpayers as it contains no job-killing tax increases and none of the $8 billion in wasteful Washington spending previously added by the Senate.

Importantly, this troop funding bill contains no irresponsible war restrictions aimed at undermining our military commanders on the ground. For far too long, this Congress has tried to usurp the powers of the Commander-in-Chief and micromanage the war for the sake of scoring political points.

Long mired in political games of arbitrary withdrawal deadlines and tax-and-spend policies, Congress' failure to pass the troop funding bill sooner required the Pentagon to cut services and shift money from various accounts to pay our soldiers.

Thankfully, this week House Democrats agreed to place policy over politics and uphold a bipartisan agreement, ensuring that our troops will have the tools they need to be successful in Iraq and Afghanistan. The men and women of our Armed Forces deserve the unwavering support of a grateful nation.

Final FISA Fix
In another victory for the American people and national security, today the House passed a bipartisan, permanent update to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

As you may remember, Congress passed FISA in 1978 to track our enemies while also protecting the civil liberties of American citizens. Now in the 21st Century, technology has changed and we face an enemy who stands ready to exploit any vulnerability—including our inability to consistently track foreign terrorists on foreign soil without a time-consuming court order.

These dangerous lapses in intelligence capabilities have in effect created a "terrorist loophole" for our enemies to exploit. In fact, the last temporary FISA update expired over four months ago, leaving our intelligence community with downgraded capabilities for much of this year.

For over a year, my Republican colleagues and I have firmly and consistently called for a permanent end to the terrorist loophole by updating FISA and ensuring that the United States government will no longer be required to obtain a warrant to listen to foreign terrorists who are not even located in the United States.

Gratefully, congressional Democrats finally yielded in their quest to protect the interest of trial lawyers and reached an agreement with Republicans that closes the terrorist loophole permanently, protects the constitutional rights of every American, and rightfully provides liability protection to American telecommunications companies that cooperated with the government in good faith after the attacks of 9/11.

This week's progress on FISA and troop funding highlights the great success that is possible when Congress chooses good public policy over personal political ambitions, embracing the value of compromise for the good of the nation. I am very pleased to support these victories for the American people, and I look forward to working to achieve similar bipartisan agreements that advance prosperity for our nation.

Have a good weekend.

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