Text from the Congressional Record
US Representative Dan Lungren
July 9, 2008 

Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California... I rise in opposition to this bill for the reasons stated by the gentleman from Virginia. We could have had a bill here with bipartisan support dealing with the problems as they truly exist, but instead, we have this bill on the floor.

The gentleman that just spoke on the other side of the aisle talked about the fact that we had unprecedented action by this administration and therefore we need to act. The fact of the matter is that what is unprecedented, what is unprecedented is the tremendous increase that we have had in the cost of gasoline to average Americans back home.

I just got back from my district. I had two town hall meetings. I met with people at a local gas station. I talked with many, many other people. They didn't want to know about what we were going to do about electronic record keeping, and I do disappoint the gentleman. That was not on the tip of their tongues. That was not in the back of their brain. They never even thought about it. Frankly, they think we could do that some time else. As a matter of fact, since this bill doesn't take place until another year, we could do it another time.

What we should be doing here is responding to the American people who are saying, When are you people going to get your act together?

So I came back hoping that I could find the electronic communications, the secret e-mails of the Democratic leadership as to what we're going to do about energy. And what I found was the statement by one of the aides to one of the top Democrat leaders, and this is their energy plan: Right now, our strategy is drive small cars and wait for the wind. Drive small cars and wait for the wind.

I hope everybody across this land understands what the Democratic plan for energy appears to be. It basically means, listen, to those of you back home, sit down and shut up; you don't know what you're talking about. We've got more important things to do. We have to rush back and deal with the electronic record keeping bill because that is what is going to be most important to the American people.

Now, I don't know about you, but I haven't found a single person in my district who drives with a wind-driven car. And I'm all for wind energy, and I'm all for solar energy. They want to know when we're going to do something about bringing the cost down.

Now soon, we might hear from the Democratic side they're going to bring a bill to suspend the laws of economics, and they're going to tell us that supply and demand no longer prevail. Maybe that's the new magic we're waiting for. But that won't satisfy the people in my district. I'm in a small community in the foothills. The people I met in the Delta, in Rio Vista, the folks I met in Citrus Heights, the folks I was talking to in the Sacramento area, they demand that we do something now. And what we ought to be doing is drill here. That's in America. Drill now. Not 10 years from now. And pay less.

Now you can hear all the arguments that it's not going to make any difference. If it's not going to make any difference, why do we hear from the Speaker of the House that their first step with dealing with this is to empty the Strategic Petroleum Reserve claiming that that's going to make a big impact on the world market? At least they're saying that supply does matter. If supply really matters, then let's not tell the American people, as we hear now from the Democrats, drive small cars and wait for the wind, or as we hear from the Senator from Illinois who said that he's not so upset about the price of gasoline going up, it's that it went up so fast. It would have been better for us if the price of gasoline had gone up more slowly and continued on. That's not an energy policy.

So while I respect the work of the chairman of the subcommittee and the committee on this issue, and as important as electronic message preservation is, it pales, it pales compares to the energy needs of the American people. And certainly we can do better. We ought to demand we do better. We ought to do better or not go home at all.

Thank you for visiting my website!

I am running for re-election for Congress in California's 3rd District and would like to take this opportunity to ask for your support.  For over 3 years, it has been my privilege to represent you in "The Peoples House."

As your representative, one of my major priorities has been to improve communications with the residents of our Congressional District.  Listening to you better enables me to work on your behalf.  Even though it is not possible for us to agree on every matter than comes before the Congress, it is important for me to communicate to you that your views matter to me.   

If I am once again, privileged to continue to represent people of the 3rd District for another two years, I will continue to seek ways to give real meaning to the concept of representative democracy.  Working together, we can achieve safe and vibrant communities for the families of the 3rd Congressional District.

Sincerely,