Date: 2008-06-23
Speaker: DANIEL E. LUNGREN (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Cali

fornia. Madam Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Once again I would just repeat this is a bipartisan bill brought to this floor with strong bipartisan support. Hopefully we will get a unanimous vote in favor of it. This is something that recognizes the unique situation our reservists and guardsmen and women are placed in when they leave the jobs that they have. go back to the theater of war. serve us well and run into difficulties as a result of that service from a financial standpoint. We all agree that they should receive relief. I would hope that we can get people on the other side of the aisle to also agree that they ought to get relief from these extraordinary. outofcharacter. unprecedented high gas prices that we have. What a shock it must be for our reservists and guardsmen to leave this country and do service for this country in a foreign land and then H5804 CO return and find out that in the period of time they have been gone. all of a sudden gas prices have risen $1.50.-$1.70. before they were even able to return. So hopefully as we grant relief in this small particular area of bankruptcy law. we might also think about the relief not only for reservists and guardsmen but all Americans from the extraordinary costs that they are now being called upon to pay in the area of energy. It is not just at the gas tank. it is rippling through the economy because transportation costs are built into the cost of just about everything that we have. and our friends on the other side of the aisle say. well. we will bring a lawsuit. maybe that will do something. Wind. solar. I support those. but I have yet t.o find a windpowered car in my district. or a solarpowered car in my district. And creeping up on us. although we are now involved in the middle of summer. the beginning of summer. but it feels like the middle of summer with the heat that is out there. creeping up on us is the extraordinary increase that we are seeing in the cost of natural gas. Natural gas supplies a good bit of the heating for the winter that we will find come November and December. I have been informed that in California electricity is produced at least 60 percent by natural gas. We dont have to wait for our heating fuel. We can worry about the concerns that we have with airconditioning supplied by electricity. So all Im saying. Madam Speaker. is that as we work on worthy legislation like this. there is other worthy legislation out there. And all we ask is what the American people ask: Give us a vote. Give us a chance to prove that the reserves that are available in the United States. American reserves. American oil. American natural gas. be utilized for Americans. If our enemy was doing this to us. we would be in a fighting mood. but unfortunately through our Congress. were doing it to ourselves. So at some point in time. hopefully in the nottoodistant future. we might be able to prevail on the other side to understand that supply makes a difference and help us bring those costs down as a result of increasing the product that is available to Americans from American sources. Once again. Madam Speaker. I support H.R. 4044. the National Guard and Reservists Debt Relief Act of 2008.