The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“AMERICAN LIBERATION FROM FOREIGN OIL DEPENDENCE” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Commerce was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H3174-H3175 on March 29, 1996.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
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AMERICAN LIBERATION FROM FOREIGN OIL DEPENDENCE
(Mr. PETE GEREN of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. PETE GEREN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join many of my colleagues in a month-long effort to bring attention to our growing dependence on foreign all. On the fifth anniversary of the end of the Persian Gulf war and the liberation of Kuwait, it is the logical time to reflect on our domestic oil production, which is at a 40-year low.
Today there are 85,000 fewer people working in the oil and gas industry in the United States than there were at the beginning of the gulf war. Everything that the United States had at stake at the beginning of the gulf war is still on the line, even more so. Americans consume 17 million barrels of oil a day, and today over 50 percent of that consumption is imported from foreign sources.
Last year, a Department of Commerce study revealed that the Nation's reliance on foreign oil was a threat to our national security, because it increases our vulnerability to oil supply interruptions.
Mr. Speaker, foreign oil dependency can be alleviated. One way would be to allow our Nation's industry more access to promising areas offshore. Our Government also must lift unnecessary and burdensome regulations that provide no environmental benefits but cost American jobs and drive our oil and gas industry overseas.
Congress must take the lead in developing a Federal energy policy that encourages rather than punishes domestic oil and gas production. As the world's leader, America must learn from history's mistakes rather than repeat them. This is a job's issue, it is a national security issue, and time is not on our side.
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