and crude oil prices recently reached a seven-month high. the american people have a right to ask, why is this happening in contradiction to the basic economic process of supply and demand. we have a right and we have the obligation to act to protect those consumers. madam president, the increased prices that millions of motorists are currently seeing have caused severe financial hardship for american families, truckers, small businesses, airlines and farmers and it is putting enormous strain on an economy already in the throes of a deep recession. we passed the stimulus package in order to create millions of jobs, in order to put money into the happens of working people, many of whom had lost their jobs. and now what we're seeing as a result of this artificial increase in the price of gas and oil is those tax breaks that we gave to working families are going not into the local economy, they're going right back into wall street and speculation and they're going to the oil companies. madam president, all of us have a responsibility to do ever

a good job of running oil rigs. you need the technology and no- hassle of the private sector. but thank you for your comment. host: hurricane season has started. are you ready? guest: we are more ready than we were. i think everyone along the coast is more ready than they were before hurricane katrina, but we have a long way to go. here are a couple of examples. you can look at a map of all the shelters -- the majority are red cross shelters and they are school. if you have a catastrophic flood and people have to flee to shelters, let's say schools better on this map, what happens two or three weeks down the line when you want to open the schools for the children who should be going to those schools? there is no backup plan. number two, unfortunately, the bush administration was stuck on trailers. why? i do not know. if they just could not come up with something else. the obama administration has inherited this plan with trailers. if a hurricane five hits manhattan as it did in 1938 on long island, i don't know how

indigenous oil, either. like us they have a lot of coal and not oil and here you have the u.s., china, and india, the three largest transportation oil consumer, us, and the two growing oil consumers, china and india and they have some oil but don't they have oil that is going to really fuel the fleets they are imagining they'll have and will create either tremendous political turmoil on the downside, or on the upside, tremendous innovation and them hope is america will be this innovator and will sell the world cars but, that will be left to be seen and might be china and india tell sell us their cars. >> everybody watching this is wondering, do you have a car. >> i do have a car. and i have a car that i am breathing life into. it is 11 years old, it is hobbling along and i desperately wanted a very fuel efficient hybrid station wagon gone and they don't make one. >> you lived in southern california, lived in northern california and now live in charlottesville, virginia. are you able to get around on public t

an enormous appetite for oil. so here's the deal, one-fourth of all the oil that's produced every day comes here because we need it, and nearly 70% of the oil that we use comes from outside of our country and much of the oil that's produced comes from very troubled parts of the world -- saudi arabia, kuwait, iraq, venezuela, and more -- so 70% of the oil that we need comes from outside of our country and nearly 70% of the oil that we use is used in transportation. so you see the dilemma here. the dilemma is that we are unbelievably dependent and vulnerable on something over which we have very little control and that is if, god forbid, tonight terrorists interrupted the supply of oil coming into this country from other countries, this economy of ours would be flat on our back. we are unbelievably dependent on oil from other countries, and we have to begin backing away from that dependence. so how do we do that? and by the way, as dependent as we are, visit last year once again and remember what happen happened. spe

oil was really high.nd then we had just bought last summer and people realize it might not be as stable. many of us have been saying for a long time that oil could beat any price. it's a global market. it in a rational market. caught up in wars and skirmishes. so the price could be anything looking ahead, and that's what gives the way for change. >> some of the energy crisis that we faced in this country in the 1970s, 2008, have they improved our efficiency? has the marketplace responded? >> it interesting to see, at the moment of crises back in 1973 and 1974 and 1978, 1979 and then last summer how quickly people respond to price. i think that's heartening, actually, to say that there are price point where people will actually change their behavior, companies will actually change their product and the government will stand up and say this is actually a good thing. but what happens in between has been in the valley of death. so in between these crises we have plummeted in the last 15 years of very long flo

, but gold map sacks is the leading trader of oil and gas derivatives. so here we are, goldman sachs, among others, now paying out huge bonuses after having been bailed out by the taxpayers of this country and they're back at their same old tricks engaging in excessive speculation which is what my amendment begins to address. address. so madam president, i am amazed our republican friends would refuse to allow an amendment to come to the floor of the senate that was passed overwhelmingly in the house with very, very strong republican support in that body. and with that, madam president, i would yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota. mr. dorgan: madam president, as i have indicated previously, the underlying bill on which we're going to have a cloture vote is bipartisan with over 50 cosponsors here in the united states senate? the last congress. republicans and democrats alike have supported it. we're apparently going to have a cloture vote that some, scwumming by what one of my colleagues said earlier, some feel they have

we are importing most of the oil we consume, better than 70%, in fact. that price is driven by opec and what is the world wide price. the more we can do for all of the above to develop domestic sources of energy -- whether it is oil shale out west, tar sands, and obviously electric cars, anything we can do to reduce the dependence on foreign oil, we are better off. electricity is just one of the options we ought to be able to pursue. one of the reasons why electricity generation in this country is going to go up by 30% to 20% by 2013, we have to be prepared for that, which is why the nuclear option is a good one, as well as clean coal. the last caller, from current -- host: the last call is from kentucky. bruce, you are on the line. caller: i'm wondering why you are not talking about mass transit. everybody is talking about cars and saving gas and all of these countries in europe have mass transit -- trains, buses. you cannot even find a bus or train in louisville, ky. guest: i have long been a supporter of amtrak and i at least hope we would see high- s

those investment banks that have actually bout oil storage for the first time in history to take oil out of the supply and store it and make money? is that whose interests are at stake here? well, let me come back to the point that i was making. we tried very hard thursday and friday to reach an agreement on amendments on both sides. we were -- we said, absolutely. you want -- you want all five amendments on tarp programs? it has nothing to do with the bill, by all means, feel free. start offering. we're ready. and the other side said, well, yeah, you give us all that we want, but we don't intend to agree to much of anything that you want. and so a one-way agreement that was destined to fail. again, i do not understand how we have gotten to a point on a piece of legislation that should be so noncontroversial, sufficient so with a 90-3 vote on a motion to proceed, it is stopped by the united states senate. a bill that had over 50 cosponsors in the united states senate, a bill that deals with travel and promotion of travel an tourism. that we now have this unbelievable impasse. we had

oil is very important to the budget and to exports. iran has the more diversified energy in the gulf. energy is about a quarter of gdp, but it is inefficient in its manufacturing and automotive sectors. they produce cars for domestic consumption. we see a fairly vibrant transport and retail sales sector. 70 million people rely on oil for budget revenues and at the same time, look for job growth and economic activity from other sectors. i think another issue to put iran in context is that iran is not the iran of the 1980's. during the war with iraq, iran, to to a situation where they were a low work middle and come -- a lower middle income. their government had social policies and policies with a number of economic relations. there was the unification of the exchange rate, but what it said was that prior to this, if you had contacts with the regime, you got to buy dollars or euros at much lower exchange rates than someone would on the local market. by unifying the exchange rate, they eliminated the extraordinary opportunity for corrupti

host: what is your reaction concern in the comment about oil? guest: this was not all about oil. the invasion in iraq caused great turmoil to the world's oil markets. it is finally beginning to stabilize. the apartment cause for the invasion in 2003 was the concern that saddam hussein had active weapons of mass destruction and fear that he might use them in a pre-emptive commit terrorist manner affiliated with al qaeda. we did not know and he refused to reveal exactly what the status of that program was. we found later he had stopped the program not long after desert storm, the first war in iraq. the intelligence failures -- and there were intelligence failures leading up to the decision, some policy mistakes -- i think some policy mistakes were made. but it had nothing to do with the soldiers who fought on the front. what everyone thinks of the decision to invade, the responsibility to maintain security and stability continues it and will continue for some time. we cannot play history back. we have to move forward from where we are. host: here are some photographs from the assoc

host: more about oil at in russia. guest: 40,000 feet, i am not aware it is the source of much oil in the world. we do not drill in it for it -- 40,000 feet anywhere in a world that i think russia. we still believe that it is biogenic for the most part. you may be right, but there are plenty of sources of energy that we have proven in very remote areas. it just takes a lot of money to get it out and we have to realize that as well. host: explain to the viewers, you are president and ceo of anadarko. what is an adorable and where are your interests? guest: you probably never heard of us because we do not have reached out stations, we do not refine. we explore -- there are not many countries doing that anymore because we have not incentivize them. we spend about $1 billion a year to find new resources. we have the deepest performing platform in gulf of mexico, cleaner-burning natural gas and a footprint about the size of this building environmentally. to create that kind of supply, 1.5 percent of all natural gas demand i

oil is awash in boats sitting around the world, it's, you know, the demand for oil has dropped, and what's going on? you know, our governments, you know, our governments of oil-producing companies buying positions on wall street to try to create a fall market? you know, it certainly needs investigating. anyway, that's the short term. longer term i think oil will go back, will go up, and it's likely to, you know, it's likely in a normal marketplace it should sort of steady, you know, $70, something like that. and i think the world needs to realize that we are running out of oil and that, you know, come 2016, 2017 demand for oil will exceed supply. and, therefore, those people pushing for alternative fuels need to move, move as quickly as possible to get those alternative fuels. governments need to realize that the cleanest fuel, the safest fuel if you look at statistically is nuclear energy. and i think try to emulate what's happened in practice. we -- france. we need to try to produce as many nuclear power stations as possible. particularly if we're going to try to combat global warming as

obviously oil has gone from $30 a barrel to 70. i was just wondering following on his question do you see a repeat of the same political fight that we saw last year with republicans calling for more anwr drilling, and the democrats on the other hand looking to rein in what they called speculation, especially when it comes to money markets, hedging against inflation by putting their money in oil? >> i wouldn't be a bit surprised to see a repeat. and i'll do, i think from a republican perspective, we would be okay with that kind of a repeat because that message, you know, we need to be producing more ourselves with resonating a heck of a lot louder with the american consumer and some amorphous, well, its market speculation and we're not quite sure how that works. maybe you're being gouged, maybe you're not. so i don't think that republicans would be adverse to having that kind of a challenge again. for the consumers benefit, though, i hope that we don't see a repeat of that. people in alaska are still just bleeding from what they end

we are going to continue to use oil and gas and continue to use coal. we should use those nonrenewable resources as conservatively as we possibly can. tonchingtonching i would -- mr. tonko: i would go back to an earlier statement. at the same time, we need to bear in mind, this is the way we draw attention to this nation and her intellectual capacity, where we become the exporter of energy thinking, ideas, innovation. this is the strengthening of the economy, as women invest in this economy in the american know-how, we become stronger as we develop the solutions for the air we breathe, water we drink and the solar that we utilize for our own opportunities and routine opportunities throughout life. we can then become this go-to nation which is more critical in the space-race wars in the 1960's because we committed in thinking in bolder terms. change is not easy to get our arms around, but change is what we ought to be about as leaders of legislative policy that can take orders into jop development. mr. polis: it will make sure that a lot of this technolo

>> oil prices should not be at $60. personally i believe the market is being manipulated, obviously we know that opec has a cartel that quite openly minupulates the market and it's incredible the western governments don't have a body to stand up against opec. it's one of the biggest cartels in the world and it's there to drive up prices for all of us consumers in the west, yet there's very little done about it. but i also think oil prices are being manipulated in the market and that i would say that governments need to investigate why are oil prices at $60 today when they should logically be at 25 or 30 dollars maximum. oil is a wash in boats that are sitting around the world, it is -- demand has dropped. what is going on? are governments -- are governments of oil-producing countries buying positions from wall street to try to create a false market? i mean, it's just -- it certainly needs investigating. anyway, that's the short term. longer term, i think oil will go back, will go up, it's likely to in a normal marketpla

we're close to 70% reliant on foreign sources for oil. we've got the ability in this country with alaska's natural gas to be able to meet our needs. but we got to get our gas online. so the news last week about exxon stepping up and partnering in with the trans-canada project is good. we've always known that in order to get alaska's gas to the lower 48 market is it will take all the guys who have the gas that is exxon, bp and conoco sitting down with the state working a deal and figuring out how we move that down a pipe. and now we have the three who hold the gas at least in the same room. now, they're not all sitting at the same table but they are in the same room. you've got bp and conoco that have formed up their partnership which is denali. they're advancing field work and now you have exxon/trans-canada. i believe that you will see and i can't predict but there will come a time in the not too distant future where everyone comes together to make this project a reality. contained in our energy bill are a couple of provisions that help

-- we are close to 70% reliant on foreign sources for oil. we have got the ability here in this country, with alaska and natural gas, to be able to meet our needs, but we have got to get our gas online, so the news last week about exxon stepping up at partnering with the transcanada project is good. we have always known that in order to get the alaskan gas to the lower 48 market, it was going to take all of the guys that have the gas, and that is exon, b.p., and condit go -- conoco sitting down and figuring out how we move that down the pipe, and now we have the three that hold the gas, at least in the same room. now, there are now sitting in the same place. now you have exxon transcanada. i cannot predict, but there will be a time in the not too distant future where everyone comes together to make this project a reality. contained in our energy bill are a couple of provisions that help to facilitate that. you will recall that the 2004 in the energy act, and the natural pipeline, there was a loan guarantee provision, $18 billion of a loan gua

it will end our dependence on foreign oil and keep us more secure. this bill will drive to a new area of sustainable growth and innovation, and i urge all members to support it. and, madam speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california reserves his time. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. barton: thank you, madam speaker. i ask unanimous consent that the ranking member of the agriculture committee, mr. lucas of oklahoma, control the first 15 minutes of the debate on the minority side. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized. mr. lucas: thank you, madam speaker. i thank the gentleman from texas. thank you, madam speaker. and i thank the gentleman and i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. lucas: thank you, madam speaker. the waxman-markey bill promises to destroy our standard of living and quality of life with higher energy costs, higher food prices and loss of jobs. the bil

hunt, the bigamist and oil autocrat has begun production in mosul. the third thing, now we have gotten our government in iraq to open outside contracts outside of the country at extremely favorable rates for u.s. firms and others. this was for oil. that makes it a criminal offense in my view and in view of many, many others. this is no more than theft and murder. it is about time that we leave. host: here is a related peace and side "the new york times," -- s iraq symbolizes china's eyes its oilfields. the chinese of companies are expected to bid for the rights to develop their oil fields and options that are set to start on tuesday. iraq has the world's third largest proven reserves after saudi arabia and iran. many geologists said the troop resources of iraq for even greater because the oil industry has suffered from decades of destruction and under- investment. many fields have not been fully explored as a result. john is on the phone from seattle. good morning. caller: good morning, a want to comment on the fact that i am an active duty military

the invasion actually increase the global price of oil and decreased world oil supplies and the united states, of course, did not claim any oil for itself and pays a fair market prices. we saw that in the auction yesterday of oil rights in the united states and international oil companies now negotiating with iraq for rights to buy more iraqi oil. the long-term answer is i think increasingly going to be finding other ways to drive our global economy. but for a while, at least, petrochemicals, hydrocarbons will be an important engine of the world economy and we are going to need iraqi oil. our friends around the world will meet iraqi oil appeared but we buy it at a fair market price. we did not fight for it. host: our guest, president of the center for international security. here is a new report out about the situation of u.s. prisons. national prison rape elimination commission report. reggie walton, on the commission, will share his perspective about what he learned about this edition inside america's jails. and a situation in honduras, the weekend coup and u.s. policy. we will talk

the bottom line is, this will make america less dependent on foreign oil. despite protestations to the contrary from the other side, there's an element on the other side that rejects to this day the concept of climate change and global warming. it's difficult to find middle ground if there's a side that simply rejects the science of our times. part of our job in leadership and governing is to make some difficult decisions and indeed some very tough choices this climate change bill we have before us today makes those tough choices for our future and our children's future. it's in the interest of america , but just as importantly, it's in the interest of the world. america leads the way, and this is an opportunity for us to reclaim that leadership. this legislation will lead our consumers, our businesses, and our communities toward smarter, cleaner, and more efficient energy use. it will not be alone. strong trade enforcement mechanisms mean the american business community will in the be disadvantaged by importers who skirt the rules. this legislation is a vo

of oil after we invaded iraq, take the oil reserves -- war reserves, put it out on the open market and sell it. host: next from arkansas. caller: i am very wary about inflation. of all of the bank bail outs and auto bailouts. this president has created the hugest deficit in history, that our children and grandchildren will never be able to pay for. he should return to the bush tax cuts that created jobs, and put money in many american pockets. host: the bush tax cuts are still active. they have not been repealed. caller: great. this president needs to continue them. host: virginia on the independent line. caller: this is worse than inflation. if they don't extend the bills again, they are worried about obama putting debt on their children, but they do it themselves. with their credit card, if you over extend yourself, and you are worried about 5%, maybe you should cut back on your spending. host: do you have credit card debt? caller: i have one credit card. i am paying it down, and i will have it done before the end of the year. people want to put things on cards, and they look at obam

no more investment, they will shut -- they would rather buy the oil, produce the oil overseas, refine it overseas and import refined products to this country to sell as opposed to buying -- what we prefer to do is produce the crude oil from the u.s. and refine it in u.s. refineries. those are all u.s. jobs. but companies will adapt to this. they'll figure out how to make this deal work and it will be at the expense of the american economy and american jobs and american families who will be punished with this legislation. so, i appreciate my colleague leading the fight tonight, giving us this opportunity to talk to each other, the speaker, about what's going on, because this is, as i told everyier -- earlier this afternoon, there's an old movie that was entitled "bad day at black rock." this was a bad day at black rock for this country. i yield back. mr. gohmert: i yield to my friend, mr. souder. mr. souder: you've made a number of parliamentary points today during the debate and on the floor, you're an experienced judge as well as a congressman. is he allowed to use factual science on

it will end our dependence on foreign oil and keep us more secure. this bill will drive to a new area of sustainable growth and innovation. i urge all members to support it. i reserve the balance of my time. >> the gentleman from texas is recognized. >> i ask unanimous consent that the ranking member of the agricultural committee controlled the first 15 minutes of the debate on the minority side. >> determine from oklahoma is recognized. >> thank you. i yield myself as much time as eye can consume. the bill promises to destroy our standard of living in the quality of life with higher energy costs, food prices, and lost jobs. it is the single largest economic threat to our farmers and ranchers in decades. we have more than 115 agricultural and food groups that will oppose this bill as of today. i would ask the list be entered into record at the appropriate place. >> that is ordered. >> do know why the greatest threat to agricultural producers is ignored? costs will escalate as a direct result of the energy tax. meanwhile, the market will shrink. the f

oil, for instance, is a world price. that means we pay $69 a barrel, today's price, so does germany, japan, and canada. however natural gas is not a world price. meaning that the price of natural gas varies from country to country. it is simply supply and demand. when we produce more natural gas, its cost also come down. having said that i believe that we should expand upon our natural gas production which could act as a bridge to get us into the future where renewables really will be the major energy source. we nubles such as wind, solar, and the like are all energy sources we would like to utilize, it's also important to bear in mind these sources make up only about 1% of what we consume. and the major reason for that is because they are not as inexpensive as coal, oil, and natural gas. however the majority party in washington would like to make renewables more viable by increasing the cost of fossil fuels through the proposed cap and trade bill. last fall the house republicans had an important and major victory in con

. >> byron dorgan of north dakota, they are doing a terrific job and they are advancing the oil and gas reserves, i think that sen. dorgan and conrad appreciate that as a resource to their state, even though they are democrats who you may ordinarily put on the other side of the column when it comes to oil and gas production issues, this will come down to, who they represent and the industry that provides for jobs and resources. this is making certain that the amendments are balanced, you may be able to claim their support if this is balanced. >> are there any other changes to the energy bill? >> i do not know if there is anything -- the amendment list is -- everything that we had out there was clear for withdrawn. >> to clarify something do you think that for the colleagues that this is a package deal, or is this enough to bring more votes? >> this i do not know. you are never quite certain how deep the line is that has been drawn in the sand. i feel so strongly that in order to get meaningful production, the revenue sharing has to be part of the deal. but sometimes, sometimes you have

that's oil we don't have to import from the middle east. and this bill is going to help consumers because the energy efficiency provisions alone will save consumers $750 per year by 2020. this bill before us makes a landmark investment in the future of the country by providing $190 billion through 2025 to increase our efficiency and deploy cutting edge energy technologies. we provide for renewable energy, coal with carbon capture and storm, nuclear power and advanced technologies, electric vehicles, smart grid transmission, energy efficiency, i could go on. this substitute amends a grant program and a competition with prizes for good ideas. there's no comparison between the two. the bill before us is a real solution to our very real energy challenges. the republican amendment simply fails to rise to the challenge. i urge its dee feet and reserve the balance of my time -- defeat and reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman from california reserves his time. the gentleman from virginia. >> that's why these similar concepts wer

, we are reliant on them for sources of oil. we have the ability to meet the needs, but we have to get this online. the news from last week about exxon, partner in with the trans canada project is good. we have always known that in order to get gasoline to the lower 48 states, -- natural gas to the lower 48 states, it would take british petroleum and, coke, figuring out how we move this farther down the pike. and we have the people with a gasoline in the same room, you have british petroleum and, co --, co -- conoco. and you have exxon trans-canada. there will be a time in the not too distant future when everyone is coming together to make this project a reality. containing this in the energy bill, there are a couple of provisions to facilitate this. in 2004, we had inserted a loan guarantee provision, and $18 billion guarantee and we are increasing this to $30 billion. this will be from 26 to around $30 billion, there will be more than this. we have increased this and added to the financing bank, and this is an effort to reduce

former president bush claimed our addiction to oil. everybody put their head in the sand and did nothing. we continue to send an export american dollars overseas. we send american taxpayer dollars overseas to russia, saudi arabia, libya, venezuela, all of the people that have chimed in about today. that is the real tax that we are paying, because of our increasing addiction in our need to stand up and rid ourselves of dependency on foreign oil. the challenge faces us once again. it was here 30 years ago. we did not have the courage to make the stand for the patriotic fiber to stand up and do the right thing. to stop this addiction. if t-bill pickens can talk about this awful addiction -- t. boone pickens can talk about this awful addiction, as well as others, going to fund our enemies efforts against our own troops in our efforts against terrorism, that is what is going on in the final analysis. we need to make a stand for what we believe in. standing up for american dominance and superiority. the china and india nations are out there

read that, oil, gas and coal. this theory gives them the ability to stampede politicians and even stampede scientists with a certain amount of prodding and promises of being excluded from grants or promises to receive grants, but that theory gives them the ability to get these people, whether they're scientists or politicians, to support draconian policies and mandates, changes in our economy and lifestyle, that they otherwise would never dream of considering supporting. all of this is in the name of protecting us from a climate calamity, manmade global warming. well the good book says the truth shall make you free. well, a lie can destroy your freedom. manmade global warming has given respectable cover to advocates of a tax and regulatory policy that no one would even consider, except, of course, unless it's to take care of an emergency. in reality the effort behind the manmade global warming juggernaut is the biggest power grab in history. it gives politicos who always wanted to control the behavior of normal pe

for our country, creating millions of nuclear energy jobs while reducing our dependence on imported oil. and when it becomes law, and it will, for the first time in our history of the united states congress, for the first time in the history of our country, we will put enforceable limits on global warming pollution. at its core, however, this is a jobs bill. it will create millions of new clean energy jobs in a whole new industries with incentives to drive competition in the energy marketplace. it sets ambitious and achievable standards for energy efficiency and renewable energy from solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, so that by 2020, 20% of our energy will be clean. it saved consumers money by updating efficiency standards for new buildings, appliances, and lighting systems. it will invest $10 billion a year in energy efficiency programs in states across this country. >> i yield vegetal and one additional minute. -- i yield the gentleman one additional minute. >> it starts the process of making our electric grid a smart grid so we can plug in a hybrid it into an advance, efficient energ

we don't want to use any more of that nasty old crude oil even though crude oil and its byproducts is in everything americans use from plastics to our radios to our cell phones. it's in everything. it's a derivative of some product of crude oil. we are going to always need crude oil to build the products we have in this country. you can't build them all from biodiesels. the bill does not do what it's supposed to do. it doesn't create jobs. it doesn't help the climate. it doesn't give us a new alternative for energy until we get to this supposed clean energy. and of course i think the worst thing, it takes control of americans and their independence. it makes us slaves to the federal government and the federal bureaucrats to run our lives every day. i will yield back to judge gohmert. mr. gohmert: i appreciate so much those sterling observation abouts what this bill does and the effect it's going to have. i know last summer i was approached by so many different people about the high price of of gasoline. and i know those same people are going to get hammered again as time marches on. t

what is being done to decrease our dependence on oil such as wind, solar and other clean energies? well, that's what the bill is supposed to do. decrease our dependence on oil and allow us to generate energy from wind, solar and other clean energies. that's really the point of the bill through the renewable energy standard, by capping carbon sources, by promoting efficiency and also conservation. that's what we're actually trying to do here. the fact is, there are a number of critiques of the existing bill and i just want to address a few of them before i go on to some more questions. one of the critiques that we've heard particularly from folks on the other side of the aisle is that a cap and trade bill is just an energy tax. first the plan is to repower america with clean energy jobs and efficient savings, not just drop a tax. as for capping global warming pollution, this plan is simple, it makes polluters pay and helps clean companies prosper so they can hire more workers. when the folks on the other side of the aisle say that this bill will be a job killer my only question to t

guest: the issue of oil is obviously very important. it is very important -- is a very important factor behind the involvement of the united states and other western powers in that part of the world. there is one phrase that the color used. that is tribal. the arabs have always been at the crossroads of human civilization. this is a major civilization. it has failed in modern times to produce the kind of results that would make of it a self sustaining, flourishing civilization. the president mentioned this in his speech yesterday. this is a very important part of human civilization. with oil or without ol, people have always been interested in that part of the world, the middle east. there is one thing that i agree with the caller on. that is, why think it is a wonderful thing that the president of the united states has decided to actually go to cairo and deliver his speech to the muslim world from there and to the rest of the world. i think the policy part that he talked about. it is a little weird that 1 billion muslims, as he said in

so i talked about opening up fields of oil and gas production. substantial investment in the subcommittee i chair will exist with respect to decarbonizing coal. i'm convinced we can build a zero-emission cool-fired generated plant. i know one of america's most prominent scientists who right now is working on something i find fascinating. he's working on developing synthetic microbes to consume coal from which would then exist a gas, methane gas. that would be interesting. if you create a synthetic microbe to consume the coal and after consumption the microbe turns coal into methane gas. i mean, that's the kind of -- for example, a scientist in california who testified at a hearing i chaired recently talked about capturing carbon from a coal plant by chemically or mineral iegz, singly, the gas and not just separating co2, but turning the gas interest a product that is a value-added product that is harder than and better than concrete which has a value, then, in the marketplace that would bring the cost of decarbonizing nearly down to zero. look, w

we all know that that war in iraq was for oil. think that's part of the reason they continue to be a more closed nation. host: next north carolina on our independent line. go ahead. we'll go next to new york city then. tony on the democrat line. caller: good morning everybody out there listening to c-span. i was glad to see iran have an election and have it exposed to the news media. my second point is, how do we know any election is really real until you stay involved. my other question is -- i notice your hand goes to the button to cut people off when people go to israel. you should ease up on that a little bit. we need to give the same emphasis to any other country when it comes to anything that has to do with anything else. peace to the world. let the country be who they are. america, be who you are. live together. host: on the republican line. go ahead. caller: if you check on heartland .org. , you will find some results on a study of the climate change from a non-governmental entity. it is a 700-page report. the first eight

but overall exploitation of oil. i know the government in baghdad has had renewed and i think positive discussions with the kurdish regional authority on this matter. i think you saw some fruits of this just a few weeks ago when oil from kurdish areas was exported out through the main palestine -- pipeline and whether the revenue sharing went according to the u.n. formula of 17%. i know that the iraqi government is working very hard to see what can be done to boost oil production and they are in touch directly with international oil companies on this. there has been a lot of discussion about where the so-called hydrocarbons law is, and if you ask various political leaders in iraq, you get different answers as to the potential for getting this law through the parliament. right now i must say the discussion in the parliament is very much geared to getting an election law through, so that parliamentary elections can take place as scheduled on january 16. >> how many u.s. troops are left in the cities, specifically, how

the oil companies -- congress had the five top oil company executives come in and they said they did not want to build any new refineries. in india or some other country, they are building some type of super-super refinery that would provide gas to many different countries. maybe some of your people know about that. remember, on the prescription drug benefit bill, congress was forbidden to get the best prices for air medicare para thank you very much. host: drilling and refining domestically? guest: they want to produce more energy within our borders. i do not think drilling for more oil is the key component in that energy legislation. republicans want to explore that as well as offshore drilling. that is because of what she said -- they are worried about other countries doing just that. host: governor mark sanford last week it was the revelation of the affair of his woman -- of a woman from south america. they called his wife the hero of this story. they say this is evidence that there needs to be -- they need to be electing more women. what are some of the political fallout for the

in looking at what we have outstanding, there are a couple of provisions in the oil and gas provision that i will tell you now cause me great trouble. these are amendments from democratic colleagues that would put limitations, further limitations, on oil production. i am very concerned about them. i am very hopeful that either they will not be brought up or that they will fail. i have said repeatedly that in order for me towei weigh this out, the domestic production peace has got to be meaningful, and as it is now -- the domestic production piece has got to be meaningful. it could be much stronger. i recognize that. my concern is that we may be in a position tomorrow where with a couple of amendments, for all intents and purposes, you could stop, say, for instance, alaska oil operation on shore and off -- onshore and off, and if that happens, that to me is a poison pill. >> if those amendments were not to be offered or past, -- or passed -- >> i am much more inclined to support its, yes. -- to support it, yes. the energy bill. speaking about that, is the health care process really so

caller: my question is, if the middle east did not have any oil, if there was no oil in the middle east, do you think the united states would be so invasive in a worrying about what we call human rights in another country? mai basic, it is that we have not addressed " we have seen. e united states. some people in the united states, we say that the muslims are terrorists. is in one man's terrorist another man's freedom fighter? when you allow israel to be able to do whatever they choose to do and to allow the palestinians not to have their own sovereignty, if it was reversed the other way, we would be, it is terrible. i feel that the united states should come clean and say that the arabs have basically been a tribal people. they have had battles with the jews since the beginning of time. they will continue to have battles. why don't we be honest and say that the only reason we're there is because of fuel? the united states, if it does not need any fuel any more, we will see the truth of it. it is a shame. we should mind our business. when we say we really care about human rights, why do

products within our oil shale. unfortunately, this administration put oil shale development on hold almost as soon as it took office. this is unfortunate because we should not be importing oil products from the middle east if we have it here at home. on top of that the cap and tax policy that this administration is pushing will also drive up the cost of energy. mr. speaker, let's have an energy plan that uses american energy without needless taxes and costs piled on. thank you, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentlewoman from florida, for what purpose do you rise? ms. wasserman schultz: unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. wasserman schultz: thank you, mr. speaker. 47 million, 47 million is an absolutely unacceptable number of americans who go every single day without health insurance. who when they're sick they can't afford to go to the doctor which means

i know we could look back on an america that is independent on foreign oil. there has been much talk about taxes. a traffic light, almost every debate that we have on this floor devolves into raising taxes. my fellow americans know about having their expenses raised. the foreign potentates hold us hostage because they provide us so much of our energy and they gave as a new tax at the gas pump and every american remembers it. why? because we have not taken the action necessary to become energy independent. our gasoline prices at the pump, for my computers that drive an hour or an hour and a half to get to work paid an additional $2.50 per gallon in tax imposed by those from abroad. this bill is about making sure that foreign interests cannot raise the expenses of our families. this bill is about making sure that we in america provide our energy. efficient energy, clean energy. energy that will not bring our global to a heating process that will drown out what the navy calls the liberals were most of our people live. my colleagues, this bill, the american clean

demonstrate oil spills. that is what they do it bone. they are still around but they moves now. i want to jump ahead. this photo is called something like the aftermath of a hide hunter's stan. it was taken in canada. hide hunters usually would try to kill maybe 48 day. you would have a high hunter who would work with to skinner said he would go up the morning at daybreak and should for a couple of hours. he was usually limited by how many scanners he had and also the weather. it was called the carcasses would freeze ended there would be hard to scan. easily killed about 40 but a guy named convicts smith was hunting outside of montana and he killed to london 101 day. other guys, i have never heard of anybody killing more than 210 and monday but other guys would claim 160, 170. buffalo bill cody got his name in a shooting contest where he got-- killed 108. that is what it would look like before you came and picked up bones. jump ahead. this is my favorite buffalo related place in the world. what it is coming t

oil production. and i want to point out to you, this is the crosshatched area is the so-called haynesville shale. as you can see it overlies several parishes in louisiana as well as several counties in texas. a very wide area. now, of course, for those listening shale is nothing more, nothing less than a rock formation deep down the earth somewhere around two miles in depth that acts like a sponge. it's full of either gas or oil d sometimes both. we have great methods today to extract fossil fuels from these. let me turn to some more statistics. regarding the haynesville shale. it's provided macik injections of capital into the fourth district of louisiana, my district. it's pumped $4.5 billion into the economy in f.y. 2008. it's created nearly $3.9 billion in household earnings in the same year. the greatest impact on indirect and household earnings was experienced by workers in the mining sector with new household earnings of $191.3 million in 2008. it's created over $30 million in new earnings in

yesterday we talked about opening offshore oil and gas drilling in america which to me makes perfect sense, because we have saudi arabia to increase their production to help us out when prices go too high. the lease we can do is produce more ourselves, so we had a pretty good vote yesterday opening up more for drilling, but it did not include revenue sharing which is very important for coastal states. >> host: but, are you satisfied with the fact that you had a vote on drilling and it opened it up more? >> guest: i am halfway satisfied. i think we are moving in the right direction, moving towards more domestic drilling again. it is kind of shameful that we sent letters asking people of around the world to increase oil and gas drilling and yet won't do it here at home so and that i am happy, but on the downside peter, interior states since 1920, have received a portion of the taxes that the industry pays to the government, the state keep 50%, and send 50% to the federal government which makes perfect sense to me. it is the partnership between the states and government to produce resou