National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006
NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2006 -- (House of Representatives - May 25, 2005)
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AMENDMENT NO. 3 OFFERED BY MS. KAPTUR
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Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton), ranking member, for yielding me this time.
I also want to thank the gentleman from California (Chairman Hunter) for including the amendment concerning America's energy independence in the en bloc amendments. I thank him for helping us move toward energy independence.
We all know that our Nation is petroleum addicted, that those supplies are being drawn down from the most undemocratic places in the world. America has to change and the world has to change in this century.
This amendment requires the Department of Defense and related agencies to conduct a study and report back to Congress on the use of new fuels, biodiesel and ethanol, that can be manufactured right here in the good old U.S.A. and used by the Armed Forces and the defense agencies, as compared to how the Department currently uses petroleum.
The study requires a review of requirements for increased use of biodiesel and ethanol by the U.S. Department of Defense. It requires a forecast of the requirements of the Armed Forces and the Department for the use of biodiesel and ethanol fuels for each of the years 2007 through 2012.
It requires a review of what actions the Department of Defense has taken to work in collaboration with State and local governments to support the expansion of alternative fuel refueling stations that are accessible to the public. Members might think about the one that is located right across the street, the Citgo station, from the Pentagon itself.
We know that the Department of Defense has the largest vehicle fleet in the United States Government. It should be a leader in the use of new fuels and power systems. It should be a leader also in alternative fuels research to help America transition to a new day. So we are really looking to this report to help us meet that growing need for energy independence.
I end with a story as a member of the Defense Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations. It was shocking to me to hear the Secretary of Defense, Mr. Rumsfeld, when he came before us and I asked him, "Mr. Secretary, what is your role and your department's role, in helping America to move toward energy independence?" Again, over two-thirds of the petroleum we use is imported and it puts America in a very vulnerable position strategically on the globe.
And his answer was, "I do not have anything to do with it. That is the job of another department."
No, Mr. Secretary. It is every department's job, and it is every household's job in this country to convert. You and your department-the largest in the government of the U.S.-are not exempt. In fact, you must be the leader.
I thank the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter) for including this amendment in the en bloc. amendments and the membership to ask support the measure.
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