Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2007

Floor Speech

RENEWABLE ENERGY AND ENERGY CONSERVATION TAX ACT OF 2007 -- (House of Representatives - August 04, 2007)

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Mr. BLUNT. I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I think you will be able to characterize our remarks in one of two ways: One is that we are continuing to encourage domestic exploration; the other is we are trying to do things that reach energy independence.

Following up on the bill that moved us toward energy independence that was passed in 2005 would have been a good idea. The efforts to have an energy bill this year are a good idea. But this bill imposes taxes double that already passed in H.R. 6. This would hurt our investment in energy independence and domestic supply. I don't have very many people in my district at all or in our State that are in gas and oil production. Almost everybody in our State that buys anything is in gas and oil purchasing.

Things that raise gas prices, things that don't allow us to fully utilize our resources, things that continue to make us more and more dependent on parts of the world that don't like us can't be a good idea. There is nothing wrong with buying things from people who don't like you, but there is something really dumb about having to buy things from people who don't like you. We are still in that mode today. This bill heads us more in that direction.

The incentives for many conservation measures are allowed to expire in this bill. I see my good friend with a bicycle on his lapel. I note that there is a tax benefit to pay people to bicycle to work. He would argue, I suppose, that we don't have enough people in southwest Missouri that bicycle to work, because we have almost no people that bicycle to work. We have lots of people that drive 50 and 60 miles to get to good manufacturing jobs, and they are not going to ride a bicycle there. They don't need more expensive gasoline to get there.

Mr. Speaker, we need to move toward energy independence. This bill, regretfully, moves us toward energy dependence.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no.''

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