Energy
ENERGY -- (House of Representatives - September 17, 2008)
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Ms. FOXX. Well, I thank my colleagues tonight for being here on the floor, and especially, I thank my colleague from Georgia for leading this Special Order.
We've talked a little bit about the Constitution; we've touched on it. Our colleague from Tennessee is bringing wonderful energy to this issue of energy tonight, and I am so grateful for his being here because, as he said, he generally is not a very partisan person. He doesn't come here and talk very vociferously about issues that are before the House. He's doing it now, and you can tell he is really is passionate about this because this is a passionate issue for many of us.
Today is Constitution Day, and I think it's very important that we highlight some issues related to the Constitution as they relate to what happened on this floor last night and as to what has been pointed out tonight.
We have not followed the Constitution in the way that we should have followed it. We haven't followed the way the House has operated in the past. We haven't even followed the promises that were made by the Speaker in 2006 when she said this would be the most open Congress, that this would be the most fair Congress. Bills should go to committee. They should come to the floor and be amendable, but none of that has happened.
One of the things that bothers me the most about our not dealing with issues as they relate to the Constitution is how the Congress is trying to blame our President for everything bad that has happened in the last 2 years.
When I go out and talk to schoolchildren especially, I point out to them that the first article in the Constitution, article I, is about the Congress. That is not an accident. The founders wanted the Congress to be the strongest part of our government. We have three branches of government--the legislative, the executive and the judicial branches. They intended the Congress to be the most important. We're the ones who pass the laws. We're the ones who can make things happen in this country and who can make things happen in a hurry, but what the Democrats, who are in charge of the Congress and have been for the past 20 months, want to keep doing is saying, ``It's not our fault that these things are happening. It's not our fault.''
Ladies and gentlemen, it is their fault, and the blame has to be laid solely at their feet. Not only are they not taking on the responsibility to create more American-made energy, which will help every American in this country, but they seem to be almost anti American energy. We have been proposing that we be pro American energy. They are not.
Mr. McCOTTER. Will the gentlelady yield for a question?
Ms. FOXX. I will yield for a question from my colleague from Michigan.
Mr. McCOTTER. You've brought up the Constitution. Previously, we had heard throughout the energy debate that there is about $10 billion a month being spent in Iraq.
Will the gentlelady please tell the Democratic Congress who controls the power of the purse to appropriate those billions of dollars to Iraq?
Ms. FOXX. As, I think, most people in this country know, it is the House of Representatives. The founders specifically gave the power to the House of Representatives to start revenue bills. It is, of course, the House and the Senate which must vote on all bills, but it is the House of Representatives that must begin revenue bills.
Mr. McCOTTER. Will the gentlelady please yield for one more impertinent question?
Ms. FOXX. I'd be happy to.
Mr. McCOTTER. If the Democratic House and the Democratic Senate chose not to appropriate money to Iraq to the tune of $10 billion a month, could that money be spent there?
Ms. FOXX. No, it could not.
Mr. McCOTTER. I thank the gentlelady.
Ms. FOXX. The President does not have the power to wage war without the consent of the Congress, and he could not fund any effort. He couldn't fund any department in the Federal Government without the consent of the Congress.
So, again, the founders set it up that way. They wanted the Congress to be the most powerful branch of the government, and the Congress is the most powerful branch.
What has happened in the last 20 months since the Democrats have been in charge of the Congress? Let's look at the unemployment rate. It has gone up. It was very, very low in January of '07. It has gone up over a percentage point, in fact, about a percentage point and a half since the Democrats have been in control. Look at the price of gasoline and how it has gone up since they have been in charge.
What were they doing as these gas prices were going up? Voting on bills like declaring National Passport Month, National Train Day, Great Cats and Rare Canids Act where we appropriated either $20 million or $50 million to other countries to help them identify rare cats in their countries. Then the favorite of most people is the Monkey Safety Act, which also appropriated, I think, about $50 million to teach people how to handle monkeys safely in this country.
The Congress, the Democrat-controlled Congress, has abrogated its responsibility for taking care of this situation. It has turned its back on the average American, and that is a shame.
Last night, what happened was that a sham bill passed in this House with very little support from our side and with many Democrats voting against it. That was nothing but cover for Democrats. Even the media here in Washington, D.C., the liberal media, has said that. It is only so that Democrats can go home and say, ``I voted for more drilling.'' That's what the Republicans have been asking for, and I voted for more drilling.
What's even worse is that 24 of the Democrats who had signed onto this bipartisan bill, introduced by Representative John Peterson, who is a Republican from Pennsylvania, and Representative Neil Abercrombie, who is a Democrat from Hawaii--the bill is called the Peterson-Abercrombie bill. We offered that as an alternative. It's not a perfect bill. There are a lot of problems with it, but we thought surely the 39 Democrats who were cosponsors of that bill would have voted for it. No. Only 15 of them voted for that bill, and 24 of them voted against it, but they tell their constituents that they are working hard to bring an alternative to the situation. I just want to quote a couple of them on what they said.
Representative Nancy Boyda, Democrat of Kansas, a freshman here, was a cosponsor of the Peterson-Abercrombie bill, but she voted against it when given the opportunity last night. She said in a press release, though, on the 4th of September:
``I've been working with a large bipartisan group of representatives to develop a comprehensive, commonsense energy bill. Our Peterson-Abercrombie bill will provide sorely needed relief for Kansas families. It will help create energy independence for America and millions of jobs to help stabilize our struggling economy,'' press release, Representative Nancy Boyda, Democrat of Kansas.
Now, what our Democratic colleagues think they can do is to tell their constituents one thing and do another on the floor of the House. We are not going to let that happen. We are going to tell the American people what is going on here. Speaker Pelosi has said it will be okay if these people campaign against her and blame her for not having energy legislation. They can go out and promise it, but they don't have to do anything.
We have Representative Baron Hill, Democrat of Indiana. This is in a press release from his office on the 14th of August 2008 while we were in the midst of being up here every day, telling the American people what the Democrats were doing. This is what his press release said:
`` `I hope this bipartisan Peterson-Abercrombie bill will, indeed, be brought to the floor for a vote when we return to Washington in September,' Hill said. `It would provide immediate relief while also bolstering the development of new energy sources in order to move this country closer to energy independence,' '' Representative Baron Hill.
You know, folks, they were right about the Peterson-Abercrombie bill. It would have helped, but that's not what they voted for last night. They voted for a bill that creates an illusion of doing something and does absolutely nothing.
The last one I'm going to quote is a newspaper article that talks about Representative Steve Kagen, also a freshman, who is a Democrat from Wisconsin. This is a newspaper article from the Herald Times in Wisconsin on 9/13/08:
``Kagen, who signed onto the bill Tuesday, said the Abercrombie-Peterson bill `really is a comprehensive energy policy and a roadmap forward. That bill has the balance in investing in renewable sources. It raises royalty fees from those who are drilling, and it doesn't limit drilling to four or five States.' '' The title of that article was ``Congress Sitting on Energy Hot Seat.''
Ladies and gentlemen, we have to hold people accountable for doing what they promise to do in this country.
Republicans were held accountable in 2006, not just for not doing what they had promised. What we were held responsible for was being part of a party that has a philosophy that we stand for some things. We need to hold these people responsible.
The other thing that I think needs to be pointed out, and this was pointed out during the month of August several times, but not in exactly this way; but the Democrats, while letting average working Americans, all Americans, actually, suffer from the high price of gasoline, but particularly our working friends who are paying high prices and struggling, struggling every day to make ends meet and make it in this country, obey the law and do what is right, the Democrats came to the Congress saying we are going to work every day. We think the Republicans haven't done all they should do. We are going to work every day. But from the first of August until the end of December they plan to work 14 days. Fourteen days, ladies and gentlemen.
While you are suffering, wondering how you are going to pay your bills, they are going to go home the end of next week after having worked this week, 4 days last week, maybe only 4 days this week. It may end up being only 13 days. It may end up being only 12 days. They are going to go home and leave you wondering how are you going to pay the bills, pay for the gasoline and deal with the challenges that face you and your family.
That is unacceptable to us as Republicans. That should be unacceptable to every American. We must hold them accountable, and we must make them stay here until we have an energy policy that will bring relief to the American people.
Now I want to yield back to my colleague from Georgia, Mr. Westmoreland.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source