Energy Solutions

Mr. WALBERG. I thank the gentlelady from Minnesota for hosting this hour and leading us in it. And you're absolutely right. Michigan is hurting. People are angry. They are fearful. They're worried about things that they seem to feel they have no control over. And this is an issue that is number one on their mind. The bottom line is, they do not agree with the Democratic majority that says that their strategy right now on lowering gas prices is ``to drive small cars and wait for the wind.''

That very week that that statement was made, I was spending some time back in the district, and I had the opportunity to pump gas. I would walk up to a car in a gas station and say, hi, I'm Congressman Tim Walberg, and if you'll allow me to pump your gas for you, I would like to hear what you have to say about energy, your ideas, your comments, your concerns.

And the talking points came right from my playbook without even indicating to them where I was standing on the issue. The people of Michigan in my district that I talked to, one after another, these were just general random picks at the gas station, said, we need to drill now. We need to drill the Outer Continental Shelf. We need to drill ANWR. We need to use nuclear power. We need to conserve. We need to use biofuels. We need to use wind, solar energy. Across the board, they get it.

And so our agenda as Republicans has been, and I think it needs to continue to be until we get relief and get the answer, agree to, that is to hold a vote to increase the production of American-made energy before we go home for our break. It's the only thing that we ought to do. The people are asking for it. And the leadership, Mr. Speaker, needs, needs to let us have these votes that will allow it.

I talked to a lady at the gas station that I was pumping. And she first said, do you really want to hear my concern? I said absolutely. And she said, I work at the University of Michigan Hospital. I drive from Adrian, Michigan, to Ann Arbor. And I have had to choose now, and it has worked out with the hospital that I go only 2 days a week. I work two 8-hour shifts back to back each of those days so I don't have to drive as much and I can spend the time at home with my family. Then she turned and she said, my daughter here is 13 years old. She was in the car with her. She said, when I was 16 years of age and got my driver's license, on Friday nights generally I had a battle royal with my father arguing why I should be allowed to have the keys to the car to go out with my friends. And then her face saddened as she said to me, my daughter won't have that opportunity to argue with me, because when she asks for those keys, the only answer is, we don't have the fuel to do that. And she said that is a part of childhood, that is a part of the teenage years. That is just traditional. And we are giving that away, along with many other things we have talked about tonight.

So what are we going to do about it? Well, we don't just talk about it. There are at present bills in committee that would do all of the above that we have talked about. There are five discharge petitions on the floor of the House at this point in time, one that I have offered that would bring out of committee for a vote the No More Excuses Energy Act that simply says get it done, use anything that we can here in this country to be totally independent. That has not been agreed to yet. We have another discharge on expanding American refinery capacity using closed military installations. It makes all good sense to get on with refinery. The third one that is on the floor is to repeal the ban on acquiring alternative fuels like shale oil, tar sands and coal-to-liquid technology. It's amazing we won't bring that bill to the floor to vote on. The people want it.

A fourth that is on the floor is the Coal-to-Liquid Fuel Act which makes all good sense because that also can be used in our fighter planes.

And a final one that came on this week was the Fuel Mandate Reduction Act of 2007 which says let's suspend the boutique fuels, the special blends that add additional costs when they come to the pump.

People in my district, which is the largest ag district in the State of Michigan, are frustrated with the costs that go into food and its production, and all of the above, and they are saying the time is now, not drive small cars and wait for the wind.

I know my good friend, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. McCotter) has a different district than I have, but I bet that your people are saying basically the same thing.

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