Date: 2009-09-16
Speaker: LINCOLN DIAZ-BALART (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Madam Speaker. I would like to thank my friend. the gentleman from Colorado . for the time. and I yield myself such time as I may consume. The transportation sector of our economy accounts for a considerable portion of U.S. energy use and oil consumption. Our economy is extremely dependent on foreign sources of oil. We are subject to the extreme volatility of the gasoline market. not to mention the whims of dictators like Ahmadinejad and Chavez. That is why last year Members on this side of the aisle pushed for greater energy independence by advocating for new domestic energy sources as well as investments in the clean technologies of the future. Unfortunately. our efforts were ignored or shut down by the majority. Although the majority decided to ignore and shut down our efforts to promote domestic energy sources. I believe we have to continue to work on this important issue. Congress must continue to make investments in alternative energy and promote its development and implementation. We need to have a diverse energy portfolio to sustain our economic growth. We must encourage the development of vehicles that run on electric. natural gas. and other alternative fuels. We can move away from our dependence on foreign oil as a primary source of energy. Doing this is in our national interest. in terms of security. as well as our environmental interests. For over two decades. the Department of Energy has funded various clean energy research activities on passenger vehicles and heavy duty trucks. While those programs have produced mixed results. I believe that Federal vehicle technology research and development programs will only be effective through robust partnerships with a wide variety of vehicle technology developers and manufacturers. Madam Speaker. I have met with various experts in the energy field to discuss the development of sustainable transportation in the United States. In my conversations with those experts. including this last weekend with Michael Granoff with Better Place. I was educated regarding the efforts by our friends. the Israelis. to completely replace oil as an energy source in their economy. Israels efforts to replace oil are serious and extraordinary. We have to listen to experts like Mr. Granoff. We have to implement policies immediately that will lead to the development of electric automobiles. Massively throughout our economy. it needs to be done and it needs to be done now. Unfortunately. Communist China is well advanced in the practical application and development of electric automobile technology. We are about to be overtaken by a dangerous competitor in a major technology of the future. which may very well decide if we are able to remain an economic superpower. This is not something that we can take lightly. Its serious. and it deserves our urgent attention. The underlying legislation being brought to the floor today. H.R. 3246. the Advanced Vehicle Technology Act. takes a small step in the right direction. It reiterates the importance of the Federal Governments role in funding and in coordinating research activities and in disseminating research findings in order to bring clean technology to passenger vehicles and to heavy trucks to reduce our Nations dependence on petroleum. thus reducing emissions. The legislation authorizes approximately $3 billion over the next 5 years for the Department of Energy to create a research program to help develop technologies that will substantially reduce or eliminate petroleum use in the Nations vehicles. As part of this new program. the Department of Energy is required to collaborate with numerous sectors of the automotive industry. Now. during yesterdays hearing in the Rules Committee. we heard testimony from both sides of the aisle on the underlying legislation. It was clear from the testimony that this legislation has great bipartisan support. Yet the majority in the Rules Committee felt it was necessary to offer a restrictive rule. I really dont know why. I know that the rule allows both of the minority amendments that were submitted to the Rules Committee. but. unfortunately. it forbids the consideration of three amendments submitted by Members of the majority party. I believe we should have allowed those amendments. We should have considered. in effect. this legislation under an open rule. a rule that allows for a truly free and full debate. The majority blocked our attempts to have such an open debate. Really. I think its a shame that the majority has. once again. blocked an open debate. Since this majority took over. Madam Speaker. in 2007. they have had one open rule on a nonappropriations bill. Unfortunately. it is standard operating procedure for this majority to block open debate on the House floor. I reserve the balance of my time.