Darrell Issa

Mr. ISSA

Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. ISSA

Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. No story of Tim Russert would be complete if we didn't talk about the loss we're going to have this political season. Clearly, as Barack Obama and John McCain compete for the hearts and minds of the American people, we're going to miss Tim Russert asking the tough questions. We're going to miss him undoubtedly at the debates. Somebody else is going to have to be there to be fair but tough. Madam Speaker, additionally, we're going to miss Tim Russert when it comes to the people on both sides of the issue of why we have $5 gasoline and $135 oil. I think Tim Russert would have been just the right guy to hold people accountable, who would talk about the 68 million acres that are ``inactive'' while, in fact, 41 million are under current lease and use and are producing millions of barrels of oil and natural gas a day, but more importantly, over 2 billion, 2 billion acres are not available for exploration and development, including the over 50 miles and less than 200 miles off the California coast. Those miles certainly could give us the natural gas we need to fire our electricity in California at a time when we are dangerously close to the lights going out once again. So, Madam Speaker, I'm going to miss Tim Russert because this debate is too important not to have, a fact-oriented, unbiased moderator who can, in fact, bring to bear the truth that we need to have. With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume. Tim Russert was a great man whose time came too early. He had much more to give to us, not just this past Sunday where he would have had Joe Biden in a one-on-one or a one-on-two and then brought him to task and brought his other guests to task. But in fact, his legacy will disappear unless we bring ourselves to realize that the truth should not be a casualty of politics. That's what Tim Russert really brought to bear on ``Meet the Press.'' He made the style about the truth. He invited Republicans, Democrats. I think he had Ralph Nader on more than a few times. He made it a point to bring in people who were interesting, and then he asked them interesting questions. And when they answered, he then brought out the interesting fact that they perhaps had not yet prepared for. He asked them to tell the truth, and then if that was not the truth or if there was more to be heard in the truth, he brought that out. His research was second-to-none. Now, he certainly seemed to say every single week, ``Go Bills.'' But as a Clevelander, I am going to take a little liberty today in his name because when it came time to go to a fine college, he went to John Carroll, a Jesuit college in the city in which my high school, Cleveland Heights University High School, was located. He went there because it was a fine education. I'm only surprised that he learned during those years that it was a little less expensive to go to John Marshall for his law school. So he trotted downtown to Cleveland's John Marshall, now Cleveland State's John Marshall Law School. So he was as much a Clevelander in his education, in his preparation, as he was from Buffalo. I think that, in fact, his Cleveland roots are something we need to understand because one of the most famous things he ever did was predict in 2004 that it would be ``Ohio, Ohio, Ohio,'' that would indicate the outcome of the 2004 election. I know, Madam Speaker, that you're well aware that Ohio was, in fact, critical, not Florida. Tim Russert was the kind of person who really enjoyed that kind of let's call the facts to bear, let's bring them in, let's force people to answer tough questions. He did so whether you were a Republican or a Democrat. He did so whether or not the outcome was one direction or the other. I believe that's part of his Cleveland upbringing. I believe it's what made him great. So he will always be remembered for talking about the Buffalo Bills, but for me, he will always be remembered as somebody who was the product of Jesuit education at John Carroll and Cleveland- John Marshall. With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ISSA

Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, only on this floor would we debate how the American eagle would feel. I'm astonished that the Democrats have the hubris to talk in terms of how the American eagle would feel. As a matter of fact, the American eagle and countless thousands of birds and other wildlife have been used as an excuse for a generation for 68 million acres--yes, they are leased, but a lease is in fact not a right to drill. Just because you have a lease doesn't waive any environmental consideration. So beyond the requirement to find out if in fact there is oil on a lease site, you have to go through a myriad of hoops before you can begin drilling. It's one of the reasons that, in fact, offshore drilling has become so popular. Not only are there vast resources out there, but in fact, the fish simply swim away; and in deep water, particularly over 400 meters, it is unlikely to find an environmentalist at the bottom claiming that there is some new form of life that is not only new but highly in danger. So with all fairness to the Nation's bird, I would say that what we need to do is stop talking about 68 million acres that are ``available for production'' when in fact, the vast majority of that has little or no usable oil. And I just want to give you a fairly short statement, Mr. Speaker. It is not a question of whether or not you have acreage, it's a question of whether the acreage is valid acreage for oil. I will give you the easiest example. West Virginia. It's a wonderful State. Beautiful State. They take a tremendous amount of coal out of there. They also take a quite a bit of oil. As a matter of fact, with 3,400 oil wells, they take a total of 5,000 barrels a day out of there. To the contrary, or to the other example, Alaska, with only 1,700, half as many wells, take 700,000 barrels a day. So it's not, Mr. Speaker, whether or not you have millions of acres, it's do you have the acreage that you are able to drill in, do you have the acreage that is, in fact, yielding oil. And I can assure you at $134 a barrel, if anyone was holding acreage that yielded barrels that in fact could deliver that kind of revenue, it would be drilled today. The truth is the vast majority of the acreage is either off limits for environmental reasons or, in fact, would be like West Virginia: 3,400 wells, 5,000 barrels a day.

Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. ISSA

Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I join with the gentlelady from Orange County in support of this resolution. But this resolution brings to mind one of the challenges we have in California. You see, in California, we don't allow coal to be used to make electricity. In California, we don't allow nuclear; we banned it for more than 30 years, no new nuclear. As a matter of fact, in California, with the exception of some geothermal that we can't seem to find a way to bring power lines from where it is to where we want it, all of our new power comes from natural gas. And in California, we are not looking for natural gas. As a matter of fact, we don't allow any leasing, Federally or State, off of our coastline. Literally a thousand miles of coastline out 200 miles is off limits to natural gas. We can't take clean natural gas from our own shores in California. As a result, water projects are in danger. The gentlelady from California rightfully so did speak about groundwater replenishment, which she has in her district and I have in my district. We also have desalinization in both of our districts. And guess what? Desalinization is another term for electricity-to-water. In order to meet our water needs, whether it's pumping from the north to the south, pumping for replenishment or, in fact, desalinization, we need energy. That energy is electricity. That electricity comes from natural gas. That natural gas comes from unstable parts of the world in which it must be hauled in by liquefication because we don't meet our own natural gas needs. Republicans here in the House support opening up the opportunity to get natural gas, at least allow some exploration for natural gas 50 miles off the California coast. That's not difficult. And the leaks, in fact, would be methane 50 miles offshore. You wouldn't see it, you wouldn't hear it, and it's nonpolluting. And yet, as of today, the Democrats continue to block that. We need to open up. We've been talking about oil, but we need to talk about natural gas. California needs clean natural gas. It's off our shoreline, it's close to us today. And I would absolutely urge my colleagues, when they're looking at water in California, look at water as electricity and electricity as natural gas, and natural gas is something we have off our shore that is presently unavailable; millions, countless millions of acres unavailable. And last, Mr. Speaker, I would hope that when people are talking about the acreage that isn't being used today, the 68 million acres that's not currently in use, and, you know, we can look at whether some of it just recently was granted and it's in exploration, whether it's in environmental, we can break it down. But the amazing thing is, out of only 41 million acres that is out on lease of any exploration or production, we're getting a huge amount of oil off Federal lands. Just think if we, in fact, used those 68 million acres over the next few years and opened up some major portion of 2.351 billion acres, that's 2,351 million acres that are not available today. So when people talk about the 68 million that are, they should also talk about the 41 million that are under use today that are generating oil and natural gas, the many millions that are coming in from leases that are out that are just now beginning to bear fruit, and of course the 2,351 million acres that are presently closed, a lot of which is off the California and the gulf coast 50 miles out that no one would see, that, in fact, could be drilled in deep water safely, but of course is not available today.

Mr. ISSA. If the gentlelady will yield.

Mr. ISSA. What I was talking about is a portion of the 2.351 billion acres. Obviously, all of us would want to make sure that certain areas were not drilled in, but of course most of this acreage we have no idea what is there. As you probably know, there are 3,400-plus oil wells throughout West Virginia. We have overdrilled West Virginia and Oklahoma. We haven't put a new drill even for exploration off the California coast in decades, not even to find out how much natural gas is out there. And that, in fact, from 50 to 200 miles, is an economic zone created by Ronald Reagan that belongs to the United States that could be explored.

Mr. ISSA. Well, Madam Chair, of course it excludes it. But when we look at only 3 percent and 6 percent that are under oil leases, we have to look at all the available BLM land. Just, for example, though, there are 700 million acres that are presently held by the BLM. By definition, the Bureau of Land Management holds that for productive use. So that would be an example where there are no parks on BLM land, there are no national monuments or military bases on those 700 million acres alone.

Mr. ISSA

Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, I would yield back.

Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers at this time, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Latta), the author of the bill.

Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I too rise in strong support of Flag Day. Since 1777, America has in fact invested a great deal of who we are, what we do, what is right and what we stand for in our Nation's flag. Whether it was the first Flag Day, which emerged in 1885 when a 19-year-old schoolteacher in Wisconsin declared the flag's birthday, or in 1889, when a kindergarten teacher in New York City held a patriotic ceremony to help educate his children, or throughout the years, year after year after year, in which America invested its patriotism in the flag, or, as the gentleman in the majority said, in fact on September 11, when here in Washington and around the world we invested in a patriotic showing after the terrible events in New York, here in Washington and Pennsylvania, we did so because in fact we are what America stands for. Our flag represents that. But, today, Madam Speaker, America stands for a country that imports half a trillion dollars worth of oil and vast amounts of natural gas. America is a country with crushing debt owed to other countries around the world. America today is a country proud of itself and proud of its flag, but mortgaging our children's future by investing in foreign oil and foreign natural gas and foreign minerals at a time in which the vast majority of our resources are not being used. Madam Speaker, I join with the majority in saying that in fact America has to make sure that our natural resources are used, whether it is the 68 million acres being called into question by the majority as to whether or not oil leases are being pursued, or the 41 million acres that do have oil under production, or in fact the 2 billion-plus acres, including the area over 50 miles off the California coast that has been permanently taken off limits to oil and clean natural gas so needed in our country. So, as we celebrate this Flag Day and our reinvestment in our flag and in who we are as a nation, let's remember who we are is a country of self-sufficiency, and self-sufficiency starts with the ability to produce our own products and certainly to heat our own homes. Madam Speaker, I have no more to say about our flag than what our flag says for itself, but I have a great deal to say about who we as Americans will be. We will be a country, God willing, that in fact is self-sufficient. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ISSA

Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, I too rise in support of the resolution. National Public Radio is important. KPBS in my hometown represents a voice that provides a plethora of information that would not otherwise be available. Some of the information that I hope they would provide would be to get to the true causes of our high oil prices. In San Diego, Public Broadcasting is playing a role in saying that $5 gas is unacceptable. Unfortunately, Madam Speaker, public radio is not yet making us aware of just why it is so high. The fact that over 2 billion acres are not available for exploration of oil and gas in California is part of the reason that last weekend I paid $5-plus for a gallon of gas in my home district. That, Madam Speaker, is in fact something that we need to take care of. We need to have public radio and all of our communications systems running on full bore. I do note, Madam Speaker, that this is an April resolution. This is a resolution that we are so far behind in the important business of the House, we are only getting to now celebrating April of 2008 for Public Broadcasting. I find it interesting that we were so busy, and yet we didn't have time to find out what were the real causes of high oil and gas prices, why America is importing half a trillion dollars a year of other people's oil and a similar growing amount of natural gas and other resources. So I would hope that when we get this April legislation off our plate, we would turn to the important issues of the day, certainly the incredibly high price of gas in my home district, caused by a lack of domestic exploration. And if we have just a little time, perhaps we could find out why in the midst of the sub-S meltdown, we discover that Members of this body and Members of the body on the other side of the dome were in fact getting special deals that saved themselves tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars on their home mortgages. These investigations need to happen, because we need to solve the problem of how America finds itself with financial meltdown. We need to find out what it is going to take to get American oil and high-paying American jobs flowing again. Madam Speaker, I would yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ISSA

Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I, too, rise in support of this resolution. Certainly history is replete with examples like this where well- intended, strong statements are made and then as much as 2 years passes before the event becomes complete. Juneteenth is no exception to that. More than 2 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, it took 2,000 Federal soldiers marching into Galveston Island in order to free slaves from servitude. So as we look at what we need to do here in Congress today, let us not be dissuaded from doing what is right because it may take time. Let us not be dissuaded from making sure that America has its freedom and independence assured by our own independence in all areas, including natural resources. I certainly think more than 100 years after the Civil War, we can celebrate the successes of the Civil War; but we also have an obligation to deal with problems that might take 4 or 5 years of domestic exploration and domestic investment in oil and natural gas in order to bear fruit. But I would ask today that we resolve to begin that process because certainly, as we look at President Abraham Lincoln who knew that the Emancipation Proclamation would not immediately free slaves but, in fact, would make a strong statement that we were resolved to do so. I would hope today as we pass this important piece of legislation, we would resolve to make sure that America is independent and free in the years to come. With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ISSA

Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I urge the passage of H.R. 6058 to designate the U.S. post office at 42222 Rancho Las Palmas Drive in Rancho Mirage, California, as the Gerald R. Ford Post Office Building. Throughout his life, Gerald Ford was a patriot and a civil servant. Throughout his life he had a ``can do'' attitude, whether it was attending the University of Michigan where he played ball and was quite an athlete, or upon graduation from the University of Michigan, when he had the opportunity to play for the NFL, he declined the offer and instead attended the Yale Law School where he gained a skill that he used the rest of his life. He then served 4 years in World War II, and, like many people, came home from World War II with a ``can do'' attitude, served his district of Michigan for 25 years, and as we all know, gave up the job of minority leader to become the Vice President and almost immediately became the President. Gerald Ford, as the 38th President of the United States, enjoyed the dubious honor of being the only President not to have run for President or Vice President. But he didn't let that stop him. He was not an unelected president but, rather, he was a President who had a mandate to heal the Nation. He was a President who had a mandate to deal with a post-Vietnam, post-Richard Nixon period. He did so not only by pardoning Richard Nixon, something that undoubtedly cost him his own election, but, in fact, he did so recognizing that America's healing was more important than politics. Today, as we recognize Gerald Ford, I would like to just briefly explain that I didn't know him as President. I didn't get to vote for him, of course, as President. I didn't meet him until 1996, when we were doing the Republican convention in San Diego, and his son, Jack, was the executive director for that. And a then aged Gerald Ford came out simply to support his son and to support what we were trying to do in San Diego. He came out repeatedly to help us, help us in the fund raising, but more importantly, help his son who he still, at that age, was trying to make sure that he went even further than his father. Gerald Ford was the kind a person who stayed focused on basics throughout his life. One of the basics here in America is our need for energy, our need for the natural resources to be domestic, not imported. Gerald Ford understood that. During Gerald Ford's time our debt was internally held. We had just come off of a balanced budget in 1969 and were near a balanced budget for his years. And more importantly, the vast majority of our oil was, in fact, domestic. As a matter of fact, although we did have Aramco operating in Saudi Arabia, it was an income stream to the United States and the oil, for the most part, did not come to America. Additionally, the Prudhoe Bay was coming on line at that time, and America's likelihood of getting its oil from its own country made more sense. Many people do not understand, as Gerald Ford certainly would have understood, that Alaska was larger than Saudi Arabia, and that oil reserves every bit as plentiful in some areas as Saudi Arabia should be gleaned from our 50th State. So as we honor and remember Gerald Ford and name this post office after him, let's also remember the time, not too long ago, when Gerald Ford was President, and America was self-sufficient. America had not yet fallen into the melees that it found itself in just a few years later when OPEC turned off the oil and America went cold.

Mr. ISSA

Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, I yield myself just 1 minute to thank the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kucinich). I think often the famous get post offices named after themselves; but I would like to comment that the gentleman has done a wonderful job, Madam Speaker, of making someone less famous, but equally deserving, the subject of today and the subject of this post office. And so once again I'd like to congratulate my colleague, not only on selecting somebody, but on doing a good job of making sure that we understood just who he was and what he contributed. Madam Speaker, I yield back all of my remaining time.

Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I join with my friend and colleague from Ohio in urging support for H.R. 6150 to name the post office in Cleveland, Ohio, in honor of John P. Gallagher. Like the gentleman, I am also a Clevelander born and raised. Like many of us in the room, I know what Mr. Gallagher came home to after World War II. He came home to a Cleveland that had helped win the war. He came home to a Cleveland in which women had come out of their homes to work in all of the major plants. They worked in auto plants that were now making tanks. They worked in the steel mills. In fact, Cleveland won the war both by the men it sent off to war, and by the men and women who stayed home and worked those heavy industries. So I very much believe it is appropriate and vital that we recognize the Cleveland workforce that made America great and won World War II. And, in fact, the common man, who did the uncommon thing, that was all too common in World War II, and that is going off and fighting for your country while others stayed home and made sure that the tanks, the steel, the tires all came to the battle. And as a Clevelander, I recognized that Cleveland ran on resources. Cleveland ran on coal and iron ore. And yes, Cleveland ran and used to run very well on oil and natural gas, in addition to coal, that made our steel mills work and that made our auto companies produce. Cleveland no longer runs that way. Cleveland is, in fact, a city that is now needing to turnaround yet again. Why, among other reasons, because of $5 gasoline, the cost of home heating oil, the cost of living that is spiraling up much faster than the men and women of Cleveland have the ability to pay. So as we honor Mr. Gallagher, I would hope that we also turn our focus to the need to deal with these natural resources that we now import, the copper we import, the coal that if we don't change we will soon be importing, certainly the steel mills that have gone to Korea; and yes, the half a trillion dollars a year of oil that we are importing from countries often hostile to us simply because we are not willing to open up exploration on our 2 billion-plus acres of Federal land. So I join with my colleague in strong support of remembering what made America and Cleveland great, and I ask that we join together and do that again by passing comprehensive land opportunities for oil so that we too can be self-sufficient, as we were when Mr. Gallagher came home from World War II. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ISSA

Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, we have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.