Lynn Westmoreland

Mr. WESTMORELAND

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Madam Speaker, as a parliamentary inquiry, and I beg your pardon, but I don't believe this is a hard question to answer.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. The parliamentary inquiry, Madam Speaker, is this: Is the Speaker the deliberator and the decider if the rules of this House are being followed?

Mr. WESTMORELAND. The point of order is: Is it the Chair's responsibility to rule on a point of order?

Mr. WESTMORELAND. The point of order is: Is the Speaker of this House the deliberator and the decider if the rules of this House are being followed?

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Madam Speaker, I make a point of order that the electronic vote just completed violated clause 2(a) of rule XX which provides in part ``a recorded vote by electronic device shall not be held open for the sole purpose of reversing the outcome of such vote.''

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Madam Speaker, further parliamentary inquiry. Is it not the job of the Speaker to interpret the rules of this House?

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Madam Speaker, parliamentary inquiry.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Madam Speaker, is it not true that you are the deliberator and the decider of rules in this House?

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Madam, I am raising that point.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Madam Speaker, is it not true that under rule XX of this House, that it says that no votes will be kept open to change the outcome of that vote; is that true?

Mr. WESTMORELAND

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to read to you, Mr. Speaker, a memo from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee that was sent out in 2006. This was sent out to the Democratic candidates, and it was obtained by the Chicago Tribune. ``Demonstrate your dedication for fighting for middle-class families by clearly explaining how you will work to keep down the price of gas if elected to Congress. Hold an event at a gas station or other logical locations where you will call for real commitment to bringing down gas prices and pledge that, as a Member of Congress, you will fight for families in your district, not the oil and gas executives for which this Republican Congress has fought so hard.'' Now those are some pretty interesting comments coming from the DCCC. On May 10, 2006, Baron Hill said this: ``In Congress, I will support measures that will strengthen our economy and lower gas prices instead of rewarding big oil companies and special interest lobbies.'' Mr. Speaker, once Mr. Hill got elected to Congress and voted to raise taxes on the American energy producers, he was somehow shocked when higher taxes resulted in higher gas prices. March 12, 2007, in a press release Mr. Hill said, ``Gasoline prices have increased significantly over the past few weeks, with little explanation for higher prices.'' The explanation for higher prices is because of higher taxes. Mr. Joe Donnelly in a July 3, 2006, interview: ``I will be an independent voice who will represent the people of the second district. Not the wealthy oil and pharmaceutical companies that have bought our Congress and are running our country. We need leaders who will stand up for good jobs, a better prescription drug plan for our seniors, and a real energy plan that will work to drive down skyrocketing gas prices.'' Mr. Donnelly, I'm sure your constituents and the people of this country are waiting for that energy to go forth in some results. April 26, 2006, press release by Mr. Ed Markey: ``Congress once again has an opportunity to help the American people through this financial pinch.'' Keep in mind, the Republicans were in charge and the Democrats were trying to win votes, Mr. Speaker. ``But by ignoring legislation like the Windfall Profits and Consumer Assistance Act, Congress has shown, once again, that it would rather put the needs of the special interests ahead of the needs of the American people. There is a cost to this kind of corruption in Washington, and it's at $75 a barrel and climbing.'' Mr. Markey, the price today is $113 a barrel, and you have not reintroduced your Windfall Profits and Consumer Assistance Act to Congress. But what have we done? I tell you what we have done. The chairman of Energy and Commerce has got a solution: raise gasoline tax by 50 cents a gallon. I don't think that's what the American people had in mind. July 26, 2006, in a town hall meeting, Jim Clyburn, who is now the majority whip, says this: ``Thomas from Orangeburg asks: What are you doing about gas prices? They're ridiculously high.'' Mr. Clyburn answered, ``House Democrats have a plan to help curb rising gas prices. We have outlined our plan in a proposal called Energizing America. I join my fellow Democrats in believing that drilling for more oil is not a long-term solution to our Nation's energy crisis.'' What is it? Buying bicycles? The Pelosi plan? Thirty bicycles for $30,000? Raising taxes? Fifty cents a gallon by the chairman of Energy and Commerce proposal? Five cents a gallon by the chairman of Transportation? A dollar a barrel of oil from the chairman of Transportation? Those are some great ideas. April 27, 2006, when gas was $2.91 a gallon, and I will remind you that it's $3.44 today, a letter to Speaker Hastert signed by 88 Democratic Members of Congress, they said this: ``Just this week, the price for oil increased to over $70 a barrel.'' Don't we yearn for those days of $70 a barrel when it's $113 today? We believe Congress has an obligation to determine the underlying causes behind the skyrocketing prices. Congress has an obligation to take action on behalf of the consumer. Where is the action? All bark, no bite.

Mr. WESTMORELAND

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Madam Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Madam Chairman, you know, it's interesting that we came here to talk about a beach bill, and we're finally getting a chance to talk about some energy because most American families are not going to have the money to drive to the beach this year. We look at the price of gasoline right now. And I earlier quoted some of the quotes from the Democratic leadership about how they were going to get a grip and get ahold of the gas prices and bring them down. Well, since they've been in the majority, they have actually gone up $1 per gallon, oil has gone up about 100 percent. And what are we telling our people at home? I've got to go back and explain to the people of the Third District of Georgia that this week, rather than addressing the price of gas and our energy situation, that we did some beach restoration, which is a very worthy bill; we did some landscape conservation; we named some post offices; and we did some several other suspensions. But I've got to go back and tell them that, when they're standing there at the gas pump almost pumping $4 a gallon into their car, that they need to realize something, they need to realize what the majority plan for our future price of motor fuel is. The chairman, who I have a great deal of respect for, on the Transportation Committee, Mr. Oberstar, who's been here a long time and is very wise, but he projected or at least proposed a 5 cents a gallon hike for our infrastructure and $1 per barrel on oil. The Energy and Commerce chairman is talking about a carbon tax. He's also talking about a 50 cent per gallon tax on fuel. We're talking about taking away these tax breaks from Big Oil. You know, we can take away tax breaks from anybody, but I'm telling you, if you take a tax break away from a company that is manufacturing products in this country, they're not going to just absorb that loss, they're going to go up on the price of their product. So we're talking about maybe 55, 60 cents more a gallon. So I've got to go back and tell my constituents, look, here's their plan: Their plan is to go up another 55 cents or so a gallon on your gas, another dollar on a barrel of oil, take away any tax breaks that the big oil companies have that hopefully they're passing on to you, and your Congress just spent $30,000 to buy 30 bicycles. So they've got a great plan. And I guess this is the great plan that we've heard about in so many of these quotes about how they were going to fix the price of gas. We've bought 30 bicycles at a cost of $30,000; we're going to increase the price of gas 55 cents; we're going to take away the tax breaks for Big Oil so they can go up, increase the price on a barrel of oil. We're not going to do any domestic drilling. We're going to depend on changing light bulbs. We're going to depend on solar power. We're going to depend on windmills. Now, Madam Chairman, I just don't know how much comfort that's going to give the people of the Third Congressional District of Georgia. In fact, I don't know that if I tell them that, that they're even going to believe that, that this body, this House, that is their answer to them paying $4 a gallon for gas. It's just going to be hard for me to sell it. But if they will pay attention to what's going on up here, then I think they'll be convinced that these are the only things that the majority has brought forth. We need to concentrate on being less dependent on foreign oil. We need to look at our own future, our own lands, our own prospects of what we're doing. And as the gentleman from Alaska said, regardless of what you think about fossil fuels, we're going to be using it. And so we need to provide for ourselves. And I think it's a shame that each and every one of us, and I know we're going to be through by 4 o'clock because, you know, we do need to get home, but we're not doing our job. We're not doing the business of the people when we constantly go home and people ask us, help us, help me, help me be able to put gas in my car to take my children to soccer practice, or go to school, or go to the beach. So I'm going to go back and I'm going to say, I'll tell you what, we gave you some help. We're going to raise the price of gas and oil and we're buying bicycles.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Madam Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Madam Chairman, I want to thank the chairman for bringing that up because I think every bill needs to be brought to the floor like this, an open rule, so we can have debate. This is a breath of fresh air to have an open rule. I can't remember the last time we had one. So this is a great thing that we have this. This is our republican action in letting people, our constituents, hear our different views on these bills rather than just having it jammed down our throats. So I agree with the chairman on this, and I hope more of these can be brought under an open rule. Madam Chairman, I would like to yield to my good friend from Arizona (Mr. Flake).

Mr. WESTMORELAND. And I want to thank the gentleman for bringing this amendment because a little ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. And so I think what we are doing, like he said, is just making sure that we are perfectly clear to anybody on the conference committee, or any other process that this bill goes through, that we're not to air-drop these earmarks that we never get a chance to discuss. It is very seldom that we get to discuss anything on the floor in the manner that we are being able to talk about this beach restoration bill as we are today. And so I think it is a great thing that we are having this open discussion. Again, I want to comment that I hope that one day my constituents from Georgia's Third Congressional District, which is not that far away from the beach, will be able to have the money that won't pinch their budget to be able to drive to the beach. Right now in Georgia you're paying $3.29 per gallon, which is $1 more a gallon than we paid when the 110th Congress started. And we had all the empty promises and the smoke-and-mirror gadgets that came from the majority that they were going to somehow, that they had some kind of miraculous plan to lower gas prices. We have yet to see that plan. We've talked about raising the fuel tax. We've talked about raising the price of a barrel of oil. We've actually purchased bicycles. And we have done a lot of different things. But the price of gas and oil continues to go up. We had a bailout that caused our dollar to deflate. And that, itself, probably caused the price of a barrel of oil to go up. So I am waiting on that magic wand. I am waiting on that secret that Speaker Pelosi and Leader Hoyer and the whip, Mr. Clyburn, all talked about prior to getting in charge. It almost reminds me of a dog inside a fence that is really barking and yelping and wanting to get out and wanting to convince its master that it can go out and do the things that it wants to show that it can do. And then once it gets out of the gate, it just kind of lays down under a tree and scratches its ear or something. So I am ready for some action. I think the American people are ready for action. Bring out this magic plan. Unveil it. Let's see it.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Madam Chairman, I wanted to read some quotes. This is a quote from Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 4/24/06: ``Democrats have a commonsense plan to help bring down skyrocketing gas prices.'' Another quote from Majority Leader Hoyer: ``Democrats believe that we can do more for the American people who are struggling to deal with high gas prices.'' This was 10/4/05. On 7/26/06, Mr. Jim Clyburn, the Democratic Whip, said, ``House Democrats have a plan to help curb rising gas prices.'' We need to see those plans. We need to hear what those ideas are. April 16, 2006, press release, Speaker Pelosi: ``The Republican Rubber Stamp Congress has passed two energy bills, costing taxpayers $12 billion for giveaways to big oil companies. But the Republican bills clearly have done nothing to lower gas prices, as the price of a barrel of oil has sailed over $70 a barrel,'' and I believe it closed over $110 today, ``the highest price in our history.'' ``Democrats have a plan to lower gas prices, taking America in a new direction that works for everyone, not just a few. Our plan would empower the Federal Trade Commission to crack down on price gouging, to help bring down skyrocketing gas prices, increase production of alternative fuels, and rescind the billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies, tax breaks and royalty relief given to the big oil companies.'' Madam Chairman, I'll say that we have not had any relief from gas prices. Gas prices are a dollar a gallon more today than they were when the new majority took over. We have paid too much attention to windmills, bicycles and solar panels. We need to pay attention to domestic drilling. We need to pay attention to promoting alternative fuels. We have been going in the wrong direction. And if you ask the American people right now, 78 percent of the people say this country is headed in the wrong direction. And, Madam Chairman, I promise you, our gas prices are heading the wrong direction.

Mr. WESTMORELAND

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

Mr. WESTMORELAND

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Mr. Speaker, this morning the price of a barrel of oil fell to $105 after hitting an all-time high of nearly $112 in the middle of March. Less than 2 years ago, the Democrats promised Americans that they had a magic plan for lowering gas prices, but since they have been in control of Congress, prices have simply gone higher and higher. But at the time, those prices were enough to alarm Americans when Republicans were in the majority. On the floor of the House and on the campaign trail in districts throughout the Nation, the Democrats seized on those anxieties and pointedly blamed the Republican White House and Congress for rising gas prices. Time and time again, they said they had a magic formula for lowering the cost. On April 16, 2006, the then-minority leader Nancy Pelosi said in a press release, ``The Republican rubber stamp Congress has passed two energy bills, costing taxpayers $12 billion for giveaways to big oil companies. But the Republican bills clearly have done nothing to lower gas prices, as the price of a barrel of oil has settled above $70 a barrel, the highest price in our history.'' The release went on to say, ``Democrats have a plan to lower gas prices.'' Then the next week another Pelosi release said, ``Democrats have a commonsense plan to help bring down skyrocketing gas prices . . . '' When in 2006 the House considered the energy bill to increase domestic production, the Democrats took to this floor in outrage. A Democrat congressman from California said on the floor about the Republican energy bill of 2006, ``It is no wonder their initials are G- O-P: gas, oil, and petroleum . . . It is time House Republicans join us in providing some real relief to the American consumer.'' That same day a Democratic Member from Connecticut said, ``When it comes to solving the energy crisis, President Bush and his Republican Congress have no credibility. If they had only spent the last 5 years working to reduce demand,'' like the Democrats have proposed, ``by raising fuel standards, rolling back the billions of dollars in tax breaks and royalty relief to the big oil companies, and if they were about promoting alternative fuels, as the Democrats have proposed, we might today be on the road to energy independence instead of bracing ourselves for $4 gas prices. Let me put this rhetoric into context, Mr. Speaker. When the Democrats took over both Houses of Congress in January of 2007, gas prices that month ranged from $50 to $60 a barrel for oil. But at the end of 2007, the Democrats' magic plan for lowering gas prices apparently hasn't worked out because today oil is closing at over $100 a barrel. But wait, Mr. Speaker. It gets even crazier. A House Appropriations subcommittee this week will be looking at raising gas taxes 25 to 40 cents a gallon. Seems to me that that makes prices go up 25 to 40 cents a gallon. But what do I know? I've never professed to understand the Democrats' magic formula for lowering gas prices. On gas prices, as on earmarks, spending, and ethics, the Democrats ran as the Great Crusaders. But they've governed as the Great Pretenders. Democrats have proposed nothing that would do anything but raise gas prices at the pump. Just last month, the House Democrats passed another ``no-energy'' energy bill in the form of an $18 billion tax increase on American energy. This marks the fourth time the Democrats have held a vote to raise energy taxes. This sort of agenda will only slow the economy by discouraging domestic energy production and increasing our dependence on foreign nations for our energy. Our Nation needs energy production to keep our competitive edge in the global marketplace. We all want to achieve breakthroughs in alternative energies that will have a growing importance in the future. But we can't pretend that oil isn't by far the most important fuel in our economy. We have to increase domestic production. We need to give American companies incentive to produce, rather than demonizing them for providing a commodity that our livelihoods depend on. Let's put American ingenuity to work in the field. And let's put the Democrat's magic formula back on the shelf.

Mr. WESTMORELAND

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Mr. 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. WESTMORELAND. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 1, rule I, I demand a vote on agreeing to the Speaker's approval of the Journal.

Mr. WESTMORELAND

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Is it not true that the vote was closed at 11:22, which is approximately 30 minutes?

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Parliamentary inquiry, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Mr. Speaker, is it not true that the last vote was called at 10:52?

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Further parliamentary inquiry. According to the Democrats' election manifesto, floor votes should be completed within 15 minutes with a customary 2-minute extension to accommodate Members' ability to reach the House Chamber to cast a vote. No vote shall be held open in order to manipulate the outcome. Was that the rule that we passed on January 5, 2007?