Developing a Comprehensive Energy Bill

Floor Speech

DEVELOPING A COMPREHENSIVE ENERGY BILL -- (House of Representatives - September 11, 2008)

(Mr. PENCE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. PENCE. Madam Speaker, almost 6 weeks ago this House adjourned for a 5-week paid vacation. A year and a half had passed, and the Democrat leadership remained, up to that moment, steadfast on one issue and one issue only--there would never be a vote on the House floor that gave the American people more access to American oil through domestic drilling.

House Republicans refused to go quietly. We held this floor for 5 weeks, demanding that, in the wake of this 21st-century energy crisis, Congress come together in a bipartisan way and develop a comprehensive energy bill that said yes to conservation, yes to alternative sources of energy, and yes to more domestic drilling. And now, although we don't have the language yet, there is word that there is a Democrat bill coming to the floor that includes more domestic drilling.

I rise to commend my Republican colleagues who fought for the right of the American people to debate, having access to their own resources, and I say to my colleagues, bring your bill to the floor. We'll bring our bill to the floor. Make it an open debate. Let us cast the votes, and let us lay forward a blueprint for energy independence in the 21st century as the bipartisan accomplishment of this Congress.

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