Domestic Energy

Floor Speech

Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, each day, we hear about new opportunities as a result of developing our own domestic energy resources. What we hear less about is how many crises we have avoided as America has moved from energy scarcity to energy abundance.

Last week, on July 15, historian, Pulitzer Prize winner, and renowned energy expert Daniel Yergin stated that, without the recent domestic boom in oil production, the United States would be in deep economic trouble.

``I am convinced, were it not for what's happened these last few years, we'd be looking at an oil crisis,'' he said, according to the Pennsylvania energy news publication, StateImpact, covering Mr. Yergin's remarks.

``We'd have panic in the public. We'd have angry motorists. We'd have inflamed congressional hearings, and we'd have the U.S. economy falling back into a recession,'' he added.

Not only that, Mr. Speaker, we have jobs coming back to the United States that were previously headed overseas due to cheaper labor and other competitive advantages. Today, the U.S. is looking a bit more welcoming for businesses and job growth and for the American worker.

From The Wall Street Journal earlier this week, ``The competitive advantage that U.S. companies will receive from the lower cost provided by shale gas ..... is attracting investment from some of the industry's bigger names. Just last week, the International Energy Agency said some 30 million European jobs are at risk as manufacturers of petrochemicals, plastics, and fertilizers are relocating to the U.S.''

Additionally, as reported in Politico earlier this week, ``A strange thing happened in the past few months as Ukraine battled with Russian-backed separatists, rockets flew over Israel, and much of Iraq fell to Islamist insurgents: gasoline prices for U.S. motorists stayed pretty much flat. The price at the pump has even fallen in the past week, even after Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 exploded over Ukraine and Israel sent ground forces into Gaza ..... It's yet another sign of the unexpected changes wrought by the U.S. energy boom, which has turned the United States into one of the world's largest oil producers and the biggest producer of natural gas.''

Mr. Speaker, the opportunities of domestic energy production are apparent. As a result, we have new opportunities here at home and abroad. Americans are keeping more money in their pockets due to lower heating costs and prices at the pump.

U.S. businesses are bringing operations back to the U.S. to create jobs here at home. Companies from across the globe are bringing their operations to the United States, so that they can do business at a lower cost.

American families are able to find good-paying jobs. We are helping the U.S. remain competitive, and we are becoming more economically secure.

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