María Elvira Salazar: “I rise today to discuss an urgent problem that continues to confront this great Nation. The problem is simply stated.…”

“I rise today to discuss an urgent problem that continues to confront this great Nation. The problem is simply stated. Today, America is held hostage to our overdependence on foreign oil. That dependency is continuing to grow at an ever-alarming rate. America deserves better. The problem is a result of the malignant neglect of the United States of a meaningful national energy policy for the last three decades. From the formation of OPEC and President Carter's national statement that we must embrace energy independence with ``the moral imperative of war,'' Washington has been stuck in the swamp of inaction. It is time to change this neglect and, for the sake of ourselves and for our children, find our way out of this swamp of inaction. Ever since 1970, America's domestic production of oil has been dropping. And ever since, many speeches have been given in Washington about the importance of achieving energy independence. Many of us remember the speeches of Richard Nixon and President Carter in the 1970s and the 1980s. In 1973, following the formation of OPEC, President Nixon gave a speech to the Nation where he said: our overall objective . . . can be summed up in one word that best characterizes this Nation and its essential character. The word is ``independence.'' Then again in 1980, President Carter spoke to the Congress at his State of the Union address.…”