Expressing the Sense of the House that a Chinese State-Owned Energy Company Could Take Action that Would Threaten the United States
EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE HOUSE THAT A CHINESE STATE-OWNED ENERGY COMPANY COULD TAKE ACTION THAT WOULD THREATEN THE UNITED STATES -- (House of Representatives - June 30, 2005)
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Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Michigan (Ms. Kilpatrick) for yielding 3 minutes to me and wish to rise in support of the resolution, but also to compliment the gentlewoman from Michigan for successfully passing an amendment this afternoon that stopped this merger by claim with Unocal from going through. That is in the base bill that we were debating for the entire day.
This resolution is helpful. It gives us a sense of the Congress that the U.S. does not want to lose her strategic energy edge. But this July 4th weekend, it is important for America to think about our independence, indeed, our diminishing independence due to imported petroleum. It is the largest share of our trade deficit with the world; 63 percent of what fuels this economy has to be imported.
Yes, America has lost her independence, and under this President, it is 7 percent worse than it was before he took office now, with the cost of a barrel of oil over $60 and gas at the pump $2.50 and rising all over this Nation.
So what are the Chinese trying to do? They are trying to trump our strategic edge over in Afghanistan now, because the Unocal pipeline running through Afghanistan has all that natural gas just ready to flow, but it is right on the border of China. So China has been very smart with the money she has earned off this market. She is buying pieces of us or what some claim to be "U.S. companies," but in actuality they have their assets spread all over the world. It's no secret we have pumped ourselves dry except for what is left up in Alaska.
And so we ask ourselves what is going on here? What is going on here is America is losing her independence, starting with petroleum. The Chinese need petroleum too. What America needs is energy independence here at home and the sooner we realize that, the fewer resolutions we would need to try to interfere with the free market. But you know what? We do not have any more choice, because we expect we will be 75 percent dependent on petroleum if this Congress does not trump this President of the United States and produce a real energy bill that will put us on the road to true energy independence. We need new biofuels, new energy from fuel cells, from hydrogen, from solar, from renewables, from all kinds of new energy sources that should be tapped and built in this country.
Meanwhile, we sort of have to limp our way across the finish line on this July 4th celebration and admit America is losing her energy edge around the world. We should not be dependent. We should not have to kneel down in front of the Chinese, the Communist Chinese, vegetarians as Mr. Watt referenced, or anyone else. We should become energy independent here at home. This resolution points us in the only direction open to us now. The gentlewoman from Michigan's amendment earlier in the day hit a real home run in blocking the merger. We compliment her for her excellent work.
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