Congress Must Act: Embrace Offshore Drilling, Other Measures Now for Energy Security

Statement

CONGRESS MUST ACT: EMBRACE OFFSHORE DRILLING, OTHER MEASURES NOW FOR ENERGY SECURITY

Congress is set to adjourn for its extended annual August recess at the end of this week, and it will most likely do so without passing a needed energy plan for America. That's just plain wrong.

For months now, we've all personally experienced the pain of skyrocketing gas prices at the pump, and now we in the Northeast are turning to prepare for further hardship - the onslaught of enormous home heating costs this coming winter.

Instead of dealing with this crisis on its merits, Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats have blocked all meaningful debate and deliberation on possible reform legislation, instead offering a series of gimmicks and refusing to hold an up or down vote to expand offshore drilling.

Furthermore, they've allowed the annual Appropriations process - a generally bipartisan responsibility that provides the Federal government with needed funding for our troops abroad, for our seniors on Medicare and Social Security here at home, and for basic governmental operations like criminal justice systems and health and safety inspections - to come to a screeching halt, afraid that a "renegade" legislator will attach a pro-drilling amendment to one of its spending bills. Never in my twenty-year tenure in Congress have I returned home for August recess with so much Appropriations work before us being so far behind. It's shameful.

America needs a long-term solution, and not a short-term fix, to solve its energy woes - a long-term solution that requires decisions on hydrogen, wind, solar, biofuels, nuclear, electric hybrid, and next generation coal. And a long-term solution that addresses how America is to tap its hidden reserves to bolster its economy, protect its environmental assets, and advance its national security.

Each and every day, America's foreign oil dependence transfers our nation's wealth overseas, much of it to enemies who will someday use it against us. With the revenues of oil-producing countries now running at about $7 billion a day, it's the biggest global transfer of wealth in history.

Developing a comprehensive solution to this problem requires debate. It requires compromise. It requires action.

America has the greatest energy potential of any other nation in the world, but for years we've chosen not to harness it for both good and bad reasons. Whatever they were, that must change. And Congress must begin a fair and open debate right away if a comprehensive, sustainable, diversified, and reliable energy plan is to be enacted in time.

Last month I hosted a tele-town hall meeting on energy. An unprecedented number of households opted to participate, and the comments were overwhelming. Central New York households are bearing the burden for governmental inaction. And now we're hearing reports of local police departments cutting back on motorized patrols and school districts contemplating cancelling fall sporting or afterschool activities that require busing. What's next?

Over the past few months, I've outlined what I think this country ought to do, and it begins with a basic, straightforward premise: We need more American-made energy. We need a more balanced strategy that incorporates alternative and renewable sources. And we need a common sense approach that focuses on American self-sufficiency, environmental responsibility, and affordability.

I want to hear more from you. How is the high cost of gas affecting you? What should government be doing to fix it? Our energy situation right now makes our nation vulnerable in terms of our economic and national security, and it is killing family budgets. It's time this Congress leads, follows, or gets out of the way.

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