Michele Bachmann

Mrs. BACHMANN

Mrs. BACHMANN. If the gentleman would yield?

Mrs. BACHMANN. And if the gentleman would yield on that point, I just wanted to mention regarding jobs once more. Both yourself and I, together with eight of our colleagues, went up to Alaska 2 months ago. And while we were up in Alaska looking at the ANWR region, which, by the way is the most perfect place on the planet to drill for oil, absolutely perfect place. It's perfectly sited. Without any environmental degradation, we could increase American energy supplies by over 50 percent if we would bring on line just oil production in ANWR alone. But one thing we heard when we were up there from the people who were giving us tours, the Mineral Management Service, the Bureau of Land Management told us that just bringing on line oil production in Colorado and Alaska would add over 750,000 jobs. Over 750,000, three-quarters of a million American jobs, and the jobs in Alaska, we were told, start out with an astounding starting-level salary of $100,000 a year. Now, imagine that. How many Americans wouldn't be willing to go and work where they could be making $100,000 a year? Rather than being one of the largest importers of energy, America could turn around our economy by being one of the largest exporters of energy and one of the largest job creators of energy. One thing I wanted to add, if I could just take a moment to a talk a little bit about the current economy and the current meltdown in the financial markets. I have the privilege of sitting on the Financial Services Committee. And one thing that's important to remember, just as this energy crisis was created by the United States Congress because Congress made it illegal to access American energy and has put into law a Prohibition- era mentality on American-made energy production, so, too, Congress created this financial services mess. You ask how. Let me just briefly explain and just in a nutshell how this occurred. Back in the 1930s, Congress created private companies to back mortgages. So when you go to buy a house from your bank, the bank doesn't keep that mortgage. The bank sells it to an organization called Freddie or Fannie. They're private companies. But the problem is, government implied, with a wink and a nod, that government would back up those mortgages from Freddie and Fannie. So these are private companies, but they can take any bloomin' risk they want because Uncle Sam said you're going to foot the bill in case those mortgages went sour. Well, fast forward to the late 1970s. In 1977, the Credit Reinvestment Act was passed, and in the early 1990s, there were amendments made to the Credit Reinvestment Act. What did that do? It suspended, for the first time in American history, 200 years' worth of sound financial loan making. So before when you and your wife, Congressman Latta, if you went to get a loan to buy a house or my husband and I got a loan to buy a house, we had to show that we were credit-worthy risks. Under the Community Reinvestment Act, the banks were ordered under penalty of fine and lawsuit, ``You don't make loans anymore to people who are creditworthy. Now you're forced to make loans to people who are not creditworthy.'' It turned the world upside down. So the world of banking became like ``Alice in Wonderland'' where banking rules were turned topsy-turvy on their heads and banks were fined or threatened with lawsuits if they did not make loans, a certain quota of loans to people who weren't creditworthy. Guess what? That's when a new product called subprime loans started to be made. And unfortunately, now we all know what subprime loans are. They were made to people who weren't creditworthy, who, in other words, had no means to pay those loans back. So what is happening today? Today the markets have melted down, and now the American taxpayer is being told, you, Mr. Speaker, and the American people, are being told that they have to pay for what private companies agreed to in contracts. So the beleaguered taxpayer is the forgotten man in this equation. The American taxpayer didn't ask to be a part of these subprime contracts. They didn't receive any of the benefits. They didn't receive any of the profits when profits were being made. But now that losses are on the horizon, now the American taxpayer is being asked--not asked, forced to pony up at minimum $700 billion of new taxes; which, ironically, $700 billion is the exact amount of money that you, in essence, Mr. Speaker, the American people, have been taxed by these artificially high prices of gasoline. There is no reason why gas prices would be $4 right now, no reason, if we would legalize American energy production. So had we been legalizing American energy production and we had prices low for the American people to pay, whether it's through heating oil or whether it's through natural gas that they pay or through electricity or at the pump, we wouldn't have been enriching all of these foreign countries. We would have had that much more money in our economy, and we may not have seen the meltdown because people would have had the wherewithal to pay their mortgages, to have high-paying jobs, and we may not have seen the subprime mess.

Mrs. BACHMANN

Mrs. BACHMANN. Madam Speaker, I am pleased that the House is considering two important bills today--H.R. 5840, the Insurance Information Act of 2008, and H.R. 5611, the National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers Reform Act of 2008. Both these bills will streamline aspects of the insurance industry to help ensure more consistency for agents, brokers, and consumers alike. H.R. 5840, the Insurance Information Act of 2008, creates a new Office of Insurance Information (OII) under the U.S. Treasury to advise the President and Congress on insurance issues. Currently, all 50 states regulate insurance in their own unique manner. The OII will serve as a hub for data collection and will help guide policymakers working to alleviate undue burdens throughout the insurance regulatory regime. As the new agency responsible for investigating and reporting on insurance issues, the OII will also coordinate Federal policy on international insurance matters. In today's global marketplace, this will help American insurance companies obtain better access to foreign markets and strengthen their positions as leaders in offering insurance products both here and overseas. Additionally, H.R. 5611, the National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers Reform Act of 2008, creates the National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers, NARAB. Established as a nonprofit corporation to facilitate the nationwide licensing of insurance agents and brokers, NARAB will supervise and discipline individuals who wish to practice in multiple states. This new, voluntary tool, which gives agents and brokers the opportunity to be licensed by individual states under the current system, injects much-needed uniformity for those agents and brokers whose businesses stretch from state to state. Consumers will obtain better services and financial products for lower costs while agents and brokers will avoid many of the headaches they currently face due to the myriad of state licensing standards with which they must currently comply. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support these measures.

Mrs. BACHMANN

Mrs. BACHMANN. Mr. Chairman, today, the House will consider H.R. 3036, the No Child Left Inside Act. I rise in strong opposition to this legislation. First of all, H.R. 3036 continues our Nation down the ill-fated road of shifting control of school curricula away from the parents and teachers and local school boards who best know what their children need into the hands of Federal Government and its one-size-fits-all approach. To best serve our children's educational needs, local school boards need flexibility to target resources where they are needed most--from school construction and class size reduction efforts to higher teacher salaries and technology in the classroom. The needs of individual school districts are dynamic and complex. They are not homogenous and are most certainly not best understood by bureaucrats in Washington. I fervently believe that parents and teachers and local school boards know best how to educate our children, and it is time for Congress to stop removing them further and further from the equation. Congress must move back down the path to control, accountability, and authority at a local level for education. H.R. 3036 leads us away from this crucial goal. Furthermore, while I agree it is important to promote conservation and environmental literacy, especially as America faces a crippling energy crisis, I do not agree that public school is the place to do it. H.R. 3036 would simply add another layer of bureaucracy and Federal mandates to our Nation's already overburdened schools, displacing important educational building blocks with questionable environmental education programs. At a time when American test scores continue to lag behind our global counterparts, can we honestly say that we need less time for the fundamentals of reading, writing, arithmetic? Church groups, scouting, extracurricular organizations, and the family promote conservation, love of and respect for the outdoors, and environmental messages daily. Let the teachers teach; let parents instill values. Finally, let us not forget that Congress has already allotted funds for environmental literacy through an Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, grant program. Since 1992, that program has allocated over $40 million, or roughly $2.5 million per year. H.R. 3036 would spend an additional $14 million to create an additional grant program administered by a whole new executive branch agency, the Department of Education. Can there be any question that this represents an expansion of the Federal bureaucracy, a duplication of efforts, and a wholly irresponsible distribution of taxpayer dollars? The No Child Left Inside Act represents a step in the wrong direction, adding the weight of increased Federal bureaucracy to an already sinking educational outlook. Forcing local school districts to direct scarce resources away from core curricula to serve a political agenda will only further suppress the academic performance of America's next generation. I urge my colleagues to oppose this legislation.

Mrs. BACHMANN

Mrs. BACHMANN. Mr. Chairman, today I was unexpectedly detained and unable to vote on the Childers Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute to H.R. 6842, the National Capital Security and Safety Act (Roll No. 600.) Had I been present I would have voted ``aye.''

Mrs. BACHMANN

Mrs. BACHMANN. Mr. Speaker, the American people are not only frustrated; they are absolutely outraged this morning when they wake up to discover that not only has the Speaker of the House decided there won't be any new energy production this year, in 2008, no relief is on the way, she has also decided political speech is not going to be allowed on the floor of this House. This morning, Republicans were so outraged when they heard what the Democrat Congress had done, that 150 of our Members planned to be on the floor to talk about the outrage of this bill. When the Speaker heard that, she decided to limit us to 30 people being able to speak this morning. Well, Mr. Speaker, one thing that will not be put under a bushel will be the outrage of the American people over this perceived and actual hoax of a bill, this charade we are going to vote on today. I have in my hand amendments that I had hoped to offer to give Americans some real energy production. Not only will they not be allowed, but the voices of the American people will not be heard on this floor this morning, because the Speaker of the House has decided it will not be. I am afraid, Mr. Speaker, that Speaker Pelosi has vastly underrated the American people. They will not be squelched. They will be heard. Our voices will be heard on this issue. We will not be silenced.

Mrs. BACHMANN

Mrs. BACHMANN. For 21 months the Democrat-controlled Congress watched as gas prices increased over 76 percent on the American people. For 21 months they sat in idleness as the American people became 70 percent dependent on foreign oil. They knew the American people paid an effective tax of $700 billion to foreign countries. For 21 months the Democrats presided while watching one-sixth of our economy, money and jobs going overseas. For 21 months the solution was obvious to anyone who was looking to win the energy battle for the American people, and it was this: Legalize American energy production, all of it, legalize it and have Congress get out of the way. Whether it's clean coal, natural gas, oil production, nuclear, alternative, conservation, the Democrats could have done every bit of this 21 months ago and been the heroes of the American people. They could have because they have been in charge. But they willingly, intentionally, with eyes wide open, chose not to. The Democrats defied the will of the American people, and now as the clock strikes midnight on the 110th Congress, with this sad chameleon they call an energy bill, the Democrats continue to defy the American people. But the truth is clear, this bill won't reduce the price of gasoline at the pump. The American people will suffer, as they have suffered under Democrat inaction. But let's throw the American people a lifeline. We can, because in November Americans can have their say, finally, and under Republicans and John McCain, they will be able to choose $2 a gallon or less for gasoline, or they can choose Senator Obama and the no-drill Democrats, and they can see gas climb to the heights of 5 or $6 gallon or more. The choice couldn't be more clear. Announcement By the Speaker Pro Tempore

Mrs. BACHMANN

Mrs. BACHMANN. I thank the gentleman from Indiana for yielding, and I hear the frustration that is in your voice, because you are echoing the frustration that the American people are feeling all over this country. Right now, they are taking their pencils and breaking them, they are taking their shoe and throwing it across the room, because they can't believe that for the 21 months that the Democrats have held the gavel in this Chamber, they have only now tonight, for the first time in 21 months, had the guts to put on this floor their ``commonsense energy plan.'' From what we know of this bill so far, this ``commonsense energy plan'' doesn't have a lot of energy in it. If you take about 80 percent of the Outer Continental Shelf and make it illegal, permanently off limits to energy production, how can you with a straight face before the American people say that you want to get serious about solving this problem? This isn't a bill. As our colleague Representative Shadegg said, this is a charade purported upon the American people. So what we are saying is, whose side are you on? Whose side are you on? Do you want a pro- American energy bill? That is what we want. We want to be truly energy independent. I want to piggyback back on what Representative Shadegg said. He talked about the lawsuits that have been filed. Every single lease that has come up for sale has had a lawsuit filed. I just want you to know, in my district we have the longest-running unfinished bridge project in the history of the United States of America. Why? Because we have lawsuits filed by the Sierra Club. We still don't have a bridge coming on line, because the Sierra Club now has run up the tab so that people in my district will be paying over $400 million to build a bridge because we have lawsuits filed against this bridge. Why do we even allow lawsuits at all? If the United States Government certifies that land is available for leasing, shouldn't the United States Government certify that this land should be truly available for leasing? We don't need these outside groups to come in and file these lawsuits, because, after all, if there is a problem with the environment, if there is a problem with laws being violated, don't we have the Minerals Management Service that could issue a fine, that could issue a temporary restraining order, that could prohibit that company from drilling at all and pull that lease back? Certainly they could. Why do we allow these leases at all? We are in a serious situation in this country. We just saw financial firms, Bear Stearns has had a problem. They have needed a government bailout. We have seen Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac. They needed the Federal government to come in and take them over. Just this week, Lehman Brothers is filing bankruptcy. We are seeing Morgan Stanley being bought out by Bank of America. What are the American people worried about tonight, Mr. Speaker? They are worried about if they are going to have a job tomorrow morning. They are worried if they will have enough money in their bank account to put gas in the tank so they can go to their job. This is serious, Mr. Speaker. This is no joke. That is why I think this is an insult to the American people. This is 290-some pages, as the gentleman from Indiana said. But this is a joke on the American people. If this won't produce one drop of oil, then why are we wasting our time? Let's face it: We have got now nine days before adjournment, nine days before the end of the year. Nine days. So we are going to, what, dance around a little bit and have a charade a little bit? We don't even know if we can file an amendment on this bill. We don't even know what we will be allowed to do. But the one thing I guarantee, Mr. Speaker, is we will not remain silent. For the next nine days, the Republicans in the House on this floor will not remain silent before the American people, because we are going to tell the truth. We are going to tell the truth that under the last 21 months of Democrat-controlled Congress, we have seen post offices renamed. We have seen Federal buildings renamed. In fact, we have seen monkeys saved from being transported across State lines. We have even seen $25 million of American taxpayer money go to foreign countries in the form of foreign aid to pay for foreign cats and foreign dogs. We have seen this come off of the floor of this body. But only tonight, at a quarter to 10, did we see an energy bill come before this body, which we believe will not produce one drop of energy, while the American people tonight are paying $4 a gallon for gasoline. If we don't get serious and really produce energy, come this November, the American people are going to have a choice: Do they want to pay $2 a gallon for gasoline under a commonsense Republican plan, or do they want to pay $6 or $8 or $10 a gallon for gasoline? That will be the reality, because under a President Obama, we won't have drilling, and under a Democrat-controlled Congress, we know we won't have drilling. That is the choice before the American people, Mr. Speaker: $2 a gallon for gasoline, or $6 or $8 or $10. That is why I am so grateful to the gentleman from Indiana tonight, because he has pegged it. He has pegged it. He has said that this bill is nothing more than an insult to the American people. And that is why we are here tonight, as the precursor for the debate that will occur tomorrow.

Mrs. BACHMANN

Mrs. BACHMANN. Thank you, Ms. Foxx. I appreciate that. Minneapolis/St. Paul is a very nice area. Minnesota is the ``Land of Minnesota Nice,'' and we really do love people. So y'all come back, if we can borrow that from you. Y'all come back. My name is Michelle Bachmann. I do represent Minnesota's Sixth Congressional District, and I tell you what I am so pleased about is the fact that the United States, we have the answer to our energy problem. We have, as Representative Dent of Pennsylvania said, we have an abundance of coal. We're the leader in the world. Twenty-seven percent of the world's supply of coal lies here in the United States of America. We're the Saudi Arabia of oil in three States alone: Utah, Colorado, Wisconsin. We have more oil than all of Saudi Arabia contained in shale oil. We have an abundance of natural gas. We have over 420 trillion cubic square feet of natural gas, and that's just in the Gulf of Mexico. We have so much oil and we haven't even begun to tap what we have in terms of nuclear power, what we can do with wind, what we can do with solar, with all of the inventions that are yet to come out of brilliant young entrepreneurs. All we need to do is unleash it. But right now, you're looking, Mr. Speaker, at the problem for this, for the energy crisis. It isn't lack of resources. It certainly isn't lack of technology. What it is is lack of will on the part of the United States Congress. Mr. Speaker, the Democrat-controlled United States Congress is the problem for America's energy crisis. Look no further. The Democrat-controlled Congress, under their leadership, their auspicious leadership, has led to an increase of 76 percent in the price of gasoline at the pump. Seventy-six percent increase. I've only been here 20 months, and we've seen gas prices go up 76 percent under Democrat-controlled leadership. Minority leader John Boehner made a decision late in the month of July. He decided to lead 10 Republicans to go up to Alaska to visit the ANWR region that has been so vilified, that we've been told that we absolutely cannot drill up in ANWR, that somehow the world will come to an end if we drill in ANWR. Well, John Boehner, with his leadership, took 10 Republicans--and I was blessed enough to be one of those Republicans to go not only to Colorado to visit the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, but also up to Alaska to ANWR. And there is one little story that I want to tell the American people before I hand this over to my colleagues to continue, and it's this: While we were up in Alaska visiting our oil-rich region where we were able to go to the North Slope--here is the North Slope of Alaska. Thirty-one years ago, the North Slope of Alaska was the largest producing oil field in the United States. Sadly, 31 years later, this is still the largest producing oil region. Why? Because we have a Prohibition-era mentality when it comes to production of American energy legislation. Because this Congress has made a decision: No more energy production here; if we're going to have energy, we've got to buy it offshore. Well, that is ridiculous; it's why we're in the situation we're in. But here in the North Slope 31 years ago, when we began building this energy lifeline which is our North Slope Trans-Alaska Pipeline which extends 800 miles from Prudhoe Bay down to Valdez, when we built that 31 years ago we were producing 2.1 million barrels of oil a day. Do you know where we're at now? Seven hundred thousand barrels a day. Within 10 years we will be down to $300,000 barrels a day. You know what happens, Mr. Speaker, when we get down to 300,000 barrels a day? When we get to that point, this energy lifeline that feeds the lower 48, it's going to shut down. And, I mean, when it shuts down, you can't add another oil field and bring it back up into production. And do you know, Mr. Speaker, what it costs us to replace this energy lifeline? Fifteen billion dollars. And it isn't just the $15 billion, it would take several years to rebuild this because this pipeline is made out of stainless steel, and stainless steel doesn't come cheap anymore. We are in trouble. Because if, as the Democrat nominee, Barack Obama, has said, he doesn't plan to do any more drilling, and Speaker Pelosi, Nancy Pelosi, the Democrat-controlled House, has said she really doesn't plan any more drilling, or as Harry Reid has told us, he really doesn't believe in more drilling, if the Democrats have their way, there won't be more drilling. And so we will have this energy pipeline that has served our interests for over 31 years, it's going to shut down within 10 years time. Shut down. So if we thought $4 a gallon was a lot to pay for energy, we're going to think that's a cheap date because it's going to be $6, $8, $10 a gallon because the Democrat- controlled Congress has said, no how, no way, not on their watch are we ever going to start drilling. It's not going to happen. And it's not going to happen under Barack Obama. There is a very real choice that the voters have to make come this November, and it's this: Do you want to pay $2 a gallon for gas under a President McCain and a Vice President Palin--who will drill, by the way, for new energy--or do you want to pay $6, $8 or $10 a gallon for gasoline very soon under a Barack Obama and a Democrat-controlled Congress who said no way, no how, never under their watch will they begin the drilling process? It's that simple: $2 a gallon, or $6, $8 or $10 a gallon? That's what the American people will be asking themselves. And I'll tell you one thing, under a Republican-controlled Congress, if we can get there this fall, this November, there will be a change. There will be drilling in ANWR. There will be drilling in the oil shale region. There will be drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf. There will be expansion of clean coal technology. There will be building of 45 new nuclear power plants. Instead of being the world's greatest dependent on foreign energy importation, we will become the world's leading exporter of energy. Can you imagine? Millions of jobs, high-paying jobs. And I will end with this. As a matter of fact, up in Alaska, what I was told is that entry-level jobs on the North Slope pay over $100,000 a year plus benefits. There's a lot of people from the great State of Minnesota that would go up to take those jobs. We have the answer. We have got the ticket. We don't have to be mired under $4 a gallon gas or $6 or $8 or $10. Under a Republican-controlled Congress, Mr. Speaker, the American people will get back to paying $2 a gallon or less. This is real, and it can happen very quickly. And that's why I'm so grateful to the gentlelady from North Carolina for bringing this important discussion and reminding the American people that under a Democrat-controlled Congress we've seen gasoline prices increase 76 percent. And that can take a nosedive if we see real change at the ballot box this November.

Mrs. BACHMANN

Mrs. BACHMANN. Mr. Speaker, as part of our action plan for energy, Republicans in the United States House of Representatives are asking that we push forward with an all-of-the-above energy plan to utilize every source of American energy to release us from our dependence on foreign oil. That's why today I'm introducing, Mr. Speaker, the Promoting New American Energy Act which accelerates tax depreciation to 3 years for investments in newer, cleaner, more efficient technologies, including wind, solar, and geothermal, as well as others. According to the nonprofit American Council for Capital Formation, American energy investments have less favorable tax depreciation rules in the United States compared to many other countries. This does not put America in a good position for alternatives. My bill will bring America's tax depreciation schedule in line with those of our major trading partners overseas, which will put America on a better foot globally, and that means more jobs in the United States. This will take us one step closer, Mr. Speaker, to increasing domestic energy production and making it more efficient. As a member of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus, I ask my colleagues to promote newer, cleaner, more efficient energy solutions.

Mrs. BACHMANN

Mrs. BACHMANN. We have colleges in my State now that are revamping their schedules to cut off one more day of class time for kids. And we have local public schools, K through 12, that have decided they are going to cut off a school day because they need to reduce the energy consumption for school districts. Can you imagine that? The parents that have enough of a burden with their own energy prices that are going up, now they may have little children that will be sitting at home all day. Mom has to go to work, Dad has to go to work. These kids are going to be sitting home all day. Think of that. Think of the implication when this is a problem that has been created by Congress. And it is all inertia here. Again, lack of energy in the United States Congress because unfortunately, the Democratic-controlled Congress has decided we are all supposed to put wind sails on top of our small cars and somehow that is going to get us to where we need to go for American energy independence. Not the people of the Sixth District of Minnesota, no way, no how. Because they are smarter than that there. The people in the Sixth District of Minnesota are pretty bright people, and they realize that we are a ``can do'' country, and it is time we do some ``can doing'' around in place and increase American energy reserves.

Mrs. BACHMANN. Thank you for standing up for the little guy, Congressman Latta. That is what your voice has been tonight, that of the little guy who wonders: Does anybody hear me? Does anyone see I'm suffering? Congressman Latta, you've done that tonight. Thank you for your leadership.

Mrs. BACHMANN. I didn't hear about that. Somebody should have told me about that.

Mrs. BACHMANN. The polar bear. We were told polar bears like to be around the buildings. For one thing they like to eat people. They are very aggressive creatures. We were told they had spotted a polar bear that had gone underneath the buildings, because the buildings don't have a regular foundation the way that houses do in the lower 48, because, again, it's all permafrost. It is consistently frozen land up there. As a matter of fact, I am a hardy Minnesotan girl. Even as a hardy Minnesotan, this is the warmest time of the year. I took my down parka with me with Gore-Tex, and I was grateful that I had forgotten my mittens that I stuffed in my parka last winter. I put my mittens on, I had my woolly parka on. I had my socks on, and I was happy to have it. This was the warmest time of the year. You couldn't find a more perfect piece of territory to drill upon. To think that we have this gift in a very compact area next to the pipeline that's already built, and we can so quickly, if we would fast track all the permitting process, we could literally, within 3 years, have the oil pumping and in the pipeline down here in the lower 48, and we would increase American energy reserves by 50 percent. That's a deal that I don't know why we would turn it down.

Mrs. BACHMANN. Also the native Alaskans as well, the native Alaskans that live up in the little villages. There is one little village up in ANWR that has less than 300 people. The native Alaskans that live in that village that are subsistence people. They live off of whale, they eat the caribou that they hunt, they want the drilling to start as well. Why? Because they want to become greedy and wealthy? No, because they have seen, to their neighbors just to the immediate west of them in the Prudhoe Bay region, that this drilling that has occurred has been done in an environmentally safe and sensitive way. In fact, so much so, remember when we were going along up in Prudhoe Bay, we saw trucks, and we asked, what is that little plastic, it looks like a little plastic Barbie doll swimming pool that's underneath the trucks. And we were told so strict are the environmental regulations in Alaska, the strictest environmental regulations in the entire country, they are so strict, that if a truck travels from point A to point B, as soon as the truck stops, the driver has to get out and take what's called a duck pond or a diaper. He slips this underneath the truck so in case even 1 drop of oil comes out of a crank case, they are so careful, that they don't want even one drop of oil to touch the tundra. That's how careful they are. You don't see industrial waste. You don't see pools of oil. You don't see refuse lying about. You don't see excessive humans walking around with the pipelines. You see a very tiny footprint, and that's in the old area of oil drilling. With a new area of oil drilling, it is very difficult to even spot from the air a new pipeline, because a rig comes up out of the ground and a green house is literally, a little tiny casing, is put over that pipeline. There is very, very little impact on that region. As Congressman Latta stated accurately, we did not see wildlife. We were 2 hours in the air flying over the National Petroleum Reserve, flying over Prudhoe Bay and then flying over the ANWR region. In that 2-hour time span, we did not see wildlife over in the ANWR area. We were straining to find Dall sheep, straining to see musk ox, straining to see caribou, looking for wildlife. Where did we see the wildlife? Just as Congressman Latta said, we saw it at mile marker zero, where the most activity was. You know, it's interesting, caribou must be a lot like people. They like to be where the action is. We like to be where the action is. The caribou wanted to be where the action was. It was a great story.

Mrs. BACHMANN. That's right.

Mrs. BACHMANN. Well, Congressman Latta, thank you for being the leader here. Thank you for your leadership.

Mrs. BACHMANN. Thank you, Congressman Latta. I appreciate your yielding to me for some comments. We had a thrill to go on this trip this past weekend. It was the American energy tour. Leader John Boehner led that tour. We were so grateful that we were extended an invitation to join him. Representative Latta was there, and I was there representing the people from the Sixth District. So here we are, knowing we have very little time left before Congress takes a break in August when we are back in our districts, and we will be there for 5 weeks through Labor Day, we are here right now with a chance to talk to the American people. But more importantly, we have a chance to be here on the floor tonight and solve this energy issue. One thing that we learned on this energy tour is that the problem is not a lack of natural resources that are available here in the United States, it isn't a lack of energy in the United States. The lack of energy is the inertia in the United States Congress, the Democrat- controlled United States Congress. That's where we lack energy. The one thing that we found on this tour is that the problem is Congress. The problem isn't lack of resources. The problem isn't degradation to our environment. The problem is the fact that Congress has literally locked up and made illegal access to American energy. Congressman Latta referenced the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge area up in Alaska. I would like to speak about that, but before that, I would like to talk about the areas that are off-limits. I mentioned that Congress is the problem, and Congress can be the answer. Congress has made it virtually illegal to access American energy. Where? Well, the first place is up in Alaska where Congressman Latta and I were, with fellow freshmen, and that is where there are over 10 billion barrels of oil. I spoke with somebody who just read the recently released geological study which stated that there are over 90 billion barrels of oil in the Arctic region, and over 10 billion of which are in ANWR. This is a big story. Let me go back now to the ANWR map. As Congressman Latta said, ANWR is all of 19 million acres and is the size of South Carolina. The size of the area that would be drilled upon is 2,000 acres of that 19 million acres. In other words, if you think of a football field, think of putting a little postage stamp on a football field. That is the size of the area that would be drilled upon. Here is the Brooks Range up in northern Alaska. Here is the Arctic Ocean. You can't get any farther north than this. The area that we were in, the 1002 area where we are looking at drilling, and also President Carter set aside this area specifically for the purpose of drilling, this area is in direct proximity to the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline System. This is one of the modern marvels of human engineering. It really should be one of the seven wonders of the world. It is over 800 miles of pipeline. This is America's energy lifeline. Do you know that the largest energy field in the United States is the Prudhoe Bay oil field that was discovered? We have had a living laboratory over the last 31 years. We have had a demonstration project for 31 years in Prudhoe Bay showing you in an environmentally safe and clean way, you can not only drill for oil but also transport oil and get it down to the lower 48. One thing that Congressman Latta and I learned when we were there is that 31 years ago when drilling began, the flow was 2.1 million barrels a day that traveled through this pipeline. Today that oil flow is down to 700,000 barrels a day. And the reason for that is because no more oil fields have been opened for exploration. Well, what happens when we get down to 300,000 barrels a day flowing through this pipeline? The pipeline stops. It doesn't work any more, and we are not able to get it back up online. It hurts that pipeline and we can't use it. This wonderful gift of a pipeline will be actually gone. You want to talk about use it or lose it, that's the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. We have to use it. Here is the great story, and here is the great answer, Mr. Speaker. The fact is in the 1002 area, the 2,000 acres in ANWR where we believe there is over 10 billion barrels of oil, this is just 74 miles away from the pipeline. It's the exact same terrain, completely frozen ground. Nine months of the year it is under snow and ice, 3 months of the year complete darkness. All we do is we build 74 miles of pipeline, and we have access to over 10 billion barrels of oil. Overnight we increase American reserves by over 50 percent. That's an answer, Congressman Latta.

Mrs. BACHMANN. What good is it going to do, Congressman Latta, if people don't have jobs? Because company after company, this is no joke. Companies are facing very severe complications on their bottom line because they can't afford the energy. They can't do it. And buying a carbon credit isn't going to solve this. We have got to have more real energy to power the real needs America needs to have. We never would have had the American prosperity that we enjoy today without affordable, accessible, reliable energy. Energy is a good thing. Oil, gas, coal, these aren't evils. These have been building blocks that have given us this greater country that the world has ever known. To take away these energy building blocks is to take away freedom and to take away prosperity, to take away the greatness of our Nation. We need this not just for our generation. We need this for the next generation--for my five kids, for your kids. This is very important. What kind of a country are we going to hand off to our kids? Sorry. We're turning the lights off. You're on your own.

Mrs. BACHMANN. Well, you can't live on it. That is one thing that was clear to us. You can't have a lot of human habitation.

Mrs. BACHMANN. Congressman Latta, what was gas when you and I took office? For me it was $2 and change. What has happened? Seventy-six percent increase just in the last year and a half. What happened? The signal was sent to the American people that absolutely nothing will be done. In fact, unfortunately, Speaker Pelosi said herself she has no intention to allow a vote to drill, no intention. Their intention is pretty clear. They are not going to drill. That is not what I heard from the Republican conference. I heard the Republican conference say all of the above. Not only do we want to drill, we want wind, we want solar, we want bio fuels, we want renewables, we want to have a conservation. We want it all because America needs it all.

Mrs. BACHMANN. Young people are scared. Old people are scared. Young married people are scared. Everybody knows.

Mrs. BACHMANN. Can you imagine a hospital, for instance? People that are in hospitals who require that 24-hour round the clock care, hospitals routinely have generators as back ups. But you know, generators have to run on something too. They need usually oil or they need some sort of a product that they run on. If we can't produce more energy and also, if the electric grid, this is another very serious issue that we have seen brownouts and blackouts that have occurred across the United States. We are not increasing transmission lines. We have taken--it is almost hard for me to believe how the United States Congress has taken a none of the above strategy. And the one thing that I saw on our American energy tour last weekend, Congressman Latta, is that the House Republicans had embraced an all of the above. We want all energy from wherever it comes from, we want to site new transmission lines, new pipelines, open up American energy production. We want all of the above. And all we have seen out of Congress is none of the above.

Mrs. BACHMANN. Pretty soon, Mr. Latta, Members of Congress won't be able to come to Washington, D.C. Maybe that is the only relief the American people are going to get.

Mrs. BACHMANN. You're right.