[Page H1858]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       COMMONSENSE ENERGY POLICY

  (Mr. PENCE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PENCE. As I travel across Indiana, it's clear that Hoosier 
families are hurting: 8.4 percent unemployment and nearly $4 per gallon 
gasoline at the pump when they go to fill up their cars and trucks. 
It's time for this Congress to come together in a bipartisan way and 
adopt an all-of-the-above energy policy that will include more access 
to America's energy reserves, more alternative energy sources, and 
greater conservation.
  The encouraging news is that this House has passed bipartisan 
legislation to do just that. We voted to streamline the energy 
permitting process; lift the administration's ban on new offshore 
drilling in the gulf and the east coast; rein in the EPA's attempt to 
impose a national energy tax; and even require the administration to 
approve and complete the entire Keystone XL natural gas pipeline. 
Unfortunately, the Senate and the administration have not embraced 
these bipartisan, commonsense measures to advance our energy 
independence.
  The reality is the price at the pump has more than doubled from the 
$1.79 a gallon when the President took office to the price it is today. 
Hoosiers know what all Americans know: we can do better than $4 a 
gallon, but we must embrace a commonsense, bipartisan, all-of-the-above 
energy policy to do it.

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