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“ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE REPUBLICAN HOUSE” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Commerce was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H4269-H4272 on June 16, 2004.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE REPUBLICAN HOUSE
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 7, 2003, the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Tiahrt) is recognized for half of the time until midnight as the designee of the majority leader.
Mr. TIAHRT. Mr. Speaker, tonight we are going to talk a little bit about the accomplishments of the Republicans in the House of Representatives, accomplishments that are going to help us bring jobs back into America.
Over the last generation, our government has consistently created policies that have prevented us from keeping jobs in America. The Republicans in the House have come up with a plan to change that environment so that we can quit the outsourcing of jobs and start the insourcing of jobs. We have divided the issues that have been created by the Federal government into 8 categories. Each one of those categories or issues is going to get a week of our time, a week of dedication to deal with this issue, bring important votes to the floor, and change the environment and bring more jobs into America.
We started out with health care the week of May 11, health care security. We then went to bureaucratic red tape termination, life long learning. This week was energy self-sufficiency and security. We have 4 more topics that deal with ending lawsuit abuse.
Now, under health care security we passed flexible spending accounts to allow employees more choices in their health care. We passed medical malpractice liability limitations to lower the cost of health care by lowering the liability insurance. And we also passed the Small Business Health Fairness Act which allowed small businesses and other associations to bond together to go out and purchase from health care providers and thereby lowering the cost of health care in the United States.
We went on to bureaucratic red tape termination, and we dealt with 4 bills with Occupational Safety and Health or OSHA. We had small business day in court for OSHA. We had OSHA Review Commission Efficiency Act. We had the Independent Review of OSHA Citations act. We had the OSHA Small Employer Access to Justice Act. And then we completed that week with the Paperwork and Regulatory Improvement Act.
We went on to lifelong learning the next week. We talked about the Teacher Training Enhancement Act, the Priorities for Graduates Studies Act, Back to Work Incentives Act, and we completed that week with workforce Reinvestment and Adult Education Act and having the conferees appointed as well.
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This week we passed three pieces of additional legislation: the Energy Policy Act of 2004, the Renewable Energy Project Siting Improvement Act, and the U.S. Refinery Revitalization Act. Fifteen pieces of legislation have been passed. It is part of the plan that we have that is part of the aggressive nature that the House has taken on to bring jobs back to America.
Next week, we are going to be dealing with research and development.
Our opponents on the other side of the aisle, the House Democrats, have come up with an answer to our agenda. They have an alternate agenda, and that agenda is very interesting. It is on their Web site. It consists of 28 proposals compared to our 8. Thirteen of those proposals call for more government spending. Seven of those proposals call for more government regulation. Eight call for some outlandish schemes such as textile summits, other conferences, more lawsuits and targeted tax credits.
The business environment today has been forced to outsource jobs because of government regulations, because of government red tape, because of government policies, and the Democrats think the solution is more government. I think that that is wrong.
I have a quote here, Mr. Speaker. It starts out by saying, America must get to work producing more energy. The Republican program for solving economic problems is based on growth and productivity. A large amount of oil and natural gas lay beneath our land and off our shores untouched because the Democrats seem to believe the American people would rather see more regulation, taxes and control than more energy. That quote was made by Ronald Reagan, July 17, 1980.
The problem is pretty much the same because we have not gotten any bipartisan support on trying to create jobs and improve energy sufficiency in America.
I have a chart here, Mr. Speaker, that talks about America's energy security, a lesson of supply and demand. We can see clearly on this first part of the chart that supply, which is the manufacturing of petroleum and coal product jobs, have gone down since 1995, and we are here at 2003. The consumer price index of energy prices has continued to go up.
You can see there was a dip that came down some in the recession, but our demand has continued to grow, and the reason it has is because our economy is growing. The reason our economy is growing is because of the tax relief that has been passed by House Republicans and signed by the President into law. So we have been fighting this battle for some time, and let me just show one other chart here before we go on to another speaker.
This is what the House Republicans have done to provide America with a comprehensive energy plan. It starts out on January 1, 2001, and indicates on January 3, George Bush takes office. Then we can see that we have made several efforts. President Bush released his energy plan, delivered it to Congress. We responded by passing a House energy bill for the first time. We set up another second passage over on April 11, 2003, almost a year and a half later. We passed it a third time on November 18, 2003, and yesterday we passed it for a fourth time. Each time it has been stopped by the Democrats. We have not had the ability to get it to the President's desk, but the result of not having a comprehensive energy plan is it has driven gasoline prices at the pump from below $1.50 up to in excess of $2.
It is time for us, Mr. Speaker, to move on with the energy policy and get a plan passed and to the President so that we can lower energy costs and create jobs.
I have with me a gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Chocola) who is going to address some additional issues about bringing jobs back to America as related to energy policy, and I yield to him at this time.
Mr. CHOCOLA. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to me, and I thank him for his leadership on this very important issue that I think is crucial to our economic security and job creation in our country.
As we focus this week on energy and its role in ensuring our economic security, I remind my colleagues, as my friend from Kansas just did, that the House of Representatives has passed three energy bills before this week, since 2001, all with the aim of exploring and increasing domestic energy production in hopes of staving off the type of energy crisis we face today.
Even though the employment rate has gone down significantly, and the economy as a whole is showing clear signs of improvement, the greatest impediment and risk to sustaining our growing economy is the rising cost of energy. Energy is the lifeblood of the American economy, and we can ill-afford to ignore the pressing need to pass comprehensive energy legislation. We cannot wait for another blackout of the kind that we saw last August or for another spike in gasoline prices that we see today.
Mr. Speaker, it is imperative that we act now. The energy conference report the House has passed is a jobs bill. We call a lot of things here in the House of Representatives job bills, but this bill clearly fits the description. It is estimated that 838,500 jobs will be created if this energy policy is actually enacted. From natural gas and coal, to nuclear and renewable energy exploration and expansion, our domestic energy reserves will be a dramatic boost to the American workforce.
The rising cost of gas prices is just one of the most visible consequences of lacking a national energy policy, and it is a stark reminder of our need to utilize and explore our domestic energy supply. By hindering exploration and utilization of our country's energy potential, we continue our reliance on foreign energy sources. Since 2001, the United States has sent over $300 billion and countless American jobs to OPEC and other foreign Nations to meet our energy needs here at home. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, America loses 12,389 jobs for every $1 billion we spend on imports. This translates to 1.7 million jobs America has sent overseas for oil every single year.
This legislation will help ease our dependence on foreign oil by requiring 5 billion gallons of renewable fuel to be included in all gasoline sold in the United States by 2015. This increase in the use of ethanol will save 1.3 billion barrels of oil by 2016, and improve the trade deficit by $28.5 billion over the next 15 years, and adds $135 billion to the American economy by 2016 through increased agricultural demand and new capital spending, and generate $32 billion in income for American consumers over the next 15 years.
Along with oil, natural gas has been an indispensable energy source in this country. Natural gas is responsible for 20 percent of our Nation's energy production and is expected to play an increasingly important role in addressing our Nation's future energy needs. Yet the volatile price of natural gas over the past new years is constricting our economic growth. For example, an estimated 85,000 jobs have been lost by the U.S. chemical makers since U.S. natural gas prices began to rise in mid-2000. Over the past few years, our reliance on natural gas has left our small business community susceptible to the fluctuations of the natural gas market, and it is hurting our economy and our workforce.
Mr. Speaker, I find it ironic that last August, on the same day that we saw a blackout in parts of the Midwest and the northeast, I chaired a hearing in my District, in the 2nd District of Indiana, on natural gas prices. At that hearing, we heard from school districts, we heard from businesses, we heard from social service organizations about the devastating effect that the rising cost of natural gas has had on their endeavors. Probably one of the most interesting things I learned during that hearing is that here in the United States, in our non-park, non-
wilderness lands, we have enough natural gas to supply 100 million households for 157 years.
I would like to share just one quick story about a company in my District called Koontz-Wagner Electric that testified at that hearing and talked about the impact that the rising cost of natural gas has. They utilize natural gas to run the energy needs of their plant and much of their equipment, and this year, they saw an increase of $60 to
$90,000 above their expected levels in natural gas costs. That is money that could have been invested in their business, could have helped create jobs, but instead went to pay for the energy costs that made them less competitive in the global economy.
Just last week, I spoke with a fertilizer company, one of the largest employers in one of the counties in my District, and they have seen their main input cost, $90 percent of their cost is nitrogen, and over the last 2 weeks they have seen their nitrogen costs increase by 15 percent, putting their company and their employees at risk. They have seen that not only in the last 2 weeks, but week after week they have seen double digit increases in their most important costs, again, putting their company at risk.
But there is a solution, and it is enacting a comprehensive energy policy in this country. A comprehensive energy bill includes such provision as the creation of a natural gas pipeline from the Alaska North Slope to the lower 48 States. This pipeline will improve access to natural gas and promote competition in the exploration, development and production of natural gas to help secure our Nation's energy future. This legislation also provides for more natural gas exploration and development by providing royalty relief for deep and ultra deep gas wells in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Improved access to North America's abundant natural gas resources will help to reduce high utility bills, create jobs and provide more than $500 million of increased revenues for the U.S. economy.
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Mr. Speaker, as I said, energy is the lifeblood of our economy. We can no longer afford to ignore this pressing need. We must remain committed to pursuing a comprehensive energy policy in order to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, lessen the cost of gasoline and home utility bills, and help create more jobs right here in America.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Tiahrt) for bringing this Special Order to the floor to talk about this very important issue. I urge my colleagues to support enactment of this energy policy.
Mr. TIAHRT. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Terry).
Mr. TERRY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak tonight on energy week in the House of Representatives. Frankly, it feels a little bit like the movie ``Groundhog Day.'' I think we have been through this at least once before. Each time we go through it we have an opportunity to improve it, and each time we also feel a little bit frustrated that others in this Capitol do not share the same passion for a comprehensive energy policy.
Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Tiahrt) opened up with a discussion about the impact of higher gasoline prices on a timetable starting when President Bush was sworn in and gas was about $1.35 a gallon. I think it is $1.32 on the chart here. Because of the inaction of being unable to produce a comprehensive energy policy, what American citizens have seen is continuous rise and spikes in gasoline prices, and this has certainly captured the headlines and the lead-off stories on national news as we pay record prices across the Nation, seeing a little bit of relief.
But as we focus on gasoline prices, probably the more devastating aspects to our family budget and our economy is frankly the increase in price of natural gas. Alan Greenspan has spoken several times that the increase in natural gas prices has become a drag on our economy. So let us work through that a little bit. H.R. 6 that we have passed in the House of Representatives four times provides incentives for additional exploration within the continental United States. There is a lot of discussion about drilling in Alaska, but ANWR is not part of H.R. 6, but we provide incentives for exploration in the continental United States, as well as a new pipeline to run from Alaska to the continental United States, and that is one of the issues being stalled here.
What we need to realize is natural gas provides America about 25 percent of its current energy needs and is used by almost two-thirds of American households. That is right. That is for cooking, appliances, that is for heating our homes. But what many do not realize, as this chart shows, not only for electrical generation and residential use, but industrial use, as the gentleman from Indiana mentioned. Natural gas is used in the production of food to fertilizers, from cars to clothes, from aluminum to electronics. Natural gas is so essential a raw material that it is a basic element in many common products such as paints, fertilizers, propane, film, medicines, and almost all power plants which have been built in the last 15 to 20 years use natural gas to generate electricity.
What is great about it is it is low emission. It is a clean fuel to use. Here in D.C. when we walk around downtown, there are bright buses which pass through which say ``Using Clean Natural Gas.'' Yes, we use it in transportation as well.
The issue with the price of natural gas is just basic high school economics: It is supply and demand. Over the last, and here is a chart, it talks about just a few years ago natural gas prices were pretty stable around $1.50 CFM.
This chart here actually is wrong, and I need to take a second to correct it because it shows that it tops off at about $5, but just 2 weeks ago it was trading at $6.70 and it is now trading above $6. In other words, Mr. Speaker, the price of natural gas is off the charts, and we are not doing a darn thing about it.
Now the soaring natural gas prices, let us talk about the ripple effects that it has through our economy. It is putting a pinch on our families. As I understand from our local gas utilities, it is costing the average family in my district several hundred dollars a year just in additional heating and utility costs. But let us talk about what it is doing to our economy and jobs.
The U.S. chemical industry has cut at least 90,000 jobs because of the high price of natural gas. Several plants have closed and moved their doors overseas. Yes, overseas. Now let us talk about why they are moving overseas. Why do our farmers now have to import fertilizer and pay twice as much as they did 3 years ago? Let us look at this. In the United States because of our demand and lack of supply, we are paying about $6.50 CFM. We can go down to Mexico and Central America and pay less than one-sixth. What is a business to do? When we criticize businesses for moving offshore or out of America, yes, it frustrates every one of us that those jobs are moving out, but let us look at some of the causes and deal with that. What is a manufacturer going to do when the basic input, as the gentleman from Indiana said, when it is about 90 percent of the input costs for fertilizer, what is that fertilizer plant going to do? They are going to go where it is a cheaper price and reduce their costs dramatically and sell it back.
I believe these natural gas prices really provide an unfair disadvantage to our American manufacturers, and we need to do something about it.
The Energy Policy Act which the House passed once again yesterday would boost natural gas production by removing barriers and creating sensible incentives. It would increase the depreciation period of natural gas pipelines from 20 to 15 years. It would increase energy conservation and efficiency by 50 percent over 5 years, and it would relieve pressure on natural gas markets, diversifying our energy portfolio by increasing power generation from clean coal, fuel cells, microturbines, emission-free nuclear power, and renewable energy sources. By adopting this balanced plan, we would increase natural gas supplies and save U.S. customers approximately $1 trillion in natural gas costs over the next 20 years. Yes, Mr. Speaker, I said $1 trillion.
Now, it is time that we stop holding Americans hostage, our economy hostage. Let us fight some of the root causes of our loss of manufacturing jobs and pass a comprehensive energy bill.
Mr. TIAHRT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Terry) for that very important information about how we are going to bring jobs back to America by passing comprehensive energy policies that will lower costs for natural gas and make it more economical to do business in the United States.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Pearce) to talk about bringing jobs back to America with a comprehensive energy policy.
Mr. PEARCE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Tiahrt) for bringing this issue in front of the body.
Mr. Speaker, there are two things that our standard of living in America is based upon.
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Our standard of living is very high in this country because of two basic, essential facts. First, we have affordable food and, second, we have affordable energy. Both of those things determine how we live our everyday lives, how much we have got to spend on our kids' school clothes, how far we have got to spend on the schools that our kids go to, those things are determined by the basics that we do not have to spend more than a small amount of our income on either food or energy.
Mr. Speaker, House bill 6, the energy bill, really begins to address the fact that jobs are being sent overseas because of high energy costs but it also addresses the more relevant fact of the cost of energy in our homes. I had some high school students in my office today. They asked, what is your position on drilling in ANWR? I said absolutely, that I supported it in my campaign, and that I have supported it since I got here. They asked, why would you do that? And they seemed to be asking it in good faith. You could tell that they had had discussions in their school and they were asking for my opinion because they had received the other side. I said, it is very simple. You hear your parents talking about how much it costs to fill up their car with gasoline, about $40 to $50 to $60 now depending on what size tank you have. I said, you have heard your parents talk about it. Yes, yes, it is very much higher. The fact is that we are talking about supply and demand and they were a little curious about that. They did not really understand it fully. I said, it is simply like cell phones. When cell phones first came out, the supply was very limited so you might pay
$450 or $500 for a cell phone but today they will give them to you just to get the business. That is because as the supply of cell phones has increased, the price has gone down. Petroleum is exactly the same way.
If in 1995 President Clinton would have signed the ANWR drilling bill that was put in front of him, both House and Senate in 1995 passed that bill, if he had signed that, today we would have 1.5 million new barrels of oil coming down the Alaska pipeline and into our shores. What our attempt is today to lower the price of gasoline in our cars is we have gone to the Saudi Arabians and we are asking them on bended knee, we the United States is asking Saudi Arabia on bended knee to increase production by somewhere between 1 and 2 million barrels per day. We know that at that figure, the price would come back down to what Americans are used to paying for a gallon of gasoline. But instead, President Clinton vetoed the bill that was passed by the House and by the Senate, he vetoed the bill, so today instead of having the 1.5 million barrels that we are asking the Saudi Arabians for, that 1.5 million barrels would have been produced on American soil and with American jobs, instead it is being produced somewhere else and then we have the higher energy costs and we are more dependent on foreign oil.
My friend from Nebraska talked about the high price of natural gas. There are some very compelling things in the price of natural gas. It is being pushed up because the Federal Government is requiring that many of our electrical generating plants convert from coal into the clean-burning natural gas. The Federal Government demands that we convert electric plants over to natural gas, therefore, pushing the demand up while at the same time the Federal Government at the insistence of some of the extreme environmentalists is beginning to limit access to the natural gas drilling that is available. The drilling that they are stopping, the drilling that the extreme environmentalists are stopping is not in pristine areas. They are exactly in areas on Federal land that have been drilled before. There is no reason to say that we cannot drill there except the extremists believe in their heart that America has too much.
Mr. TIAHRT. Mr. Speaker, to wrap up as our time expires, we call our plan to bring jobs back to America ``Careers for the 21st Century.'' This week we have been talking about tonight is the energy self-
sufficiency and security. Next week we are going to talk about research and development.
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