Etheridge Congressional Record Statement on Comprehensive American Energy Security and Consumer Protection Act

Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight in support of H.R. 6899, a comprehensive plan to use our Nation's resources and Americans' know-how to reduce prices and to free our Nation from the grips of foreign oil.

This legislation invests in renewable energy sources such as cellulosic ethanol, biomass and soybean diesel, creating good-paying jobs here at home and growing our rural economies. This legislation has opened up the Outer Continental Shelf. It has renewed drilling while demanding that oil companies use the leases they already have that have been issued or lose the leases to other oil companies that will actually produce oil and gas. It is time to end the giveaway to big oil companies that are reaping record profits while my folks in North Carolina and their families are struggling to afford to fill their own gas tanks. Today's bill does just that.

This legislation puts our Nation on a path toward a sustainable energy future through greater energy efficiency and conservation. This legislation is for the people of North Carolina and for America who would rather grow their own fuel instead of sending billions of dollars to the Middle East.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this progressive, futuristic piece of legislation to free America.

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