Hank Johnson: “Thank you, Congressman Towns. Just listening to the comments of my colleagues, I am intrigued with so many things. My…”

“Thank you, Congressman Towns. Just listening to the comments of my colleagues, I am intrigued with so many things. My colleague from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) is pretty much saying we have to have dialogue with our partners around the world, be they friends or foe. Because the bottom line, people talk about the global economy. It is true, we have a global economy. It doesn't always work as fairly as it should, but the bottom line is that we have a global economy. And some folks are making out like bandits, and others are sinking. And so it is time that we have equity in this world. I know Congresswoman Lee, you have been a woman who has throughout your career insisted on taking care of the have-nots while the haves can continue to be prosperous as well. And so dialogue with our oil-producing nations is so important. Because by the way, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee, drilling is one of the tools that we need in our tool basket to address this issue. We must take advantage of the leases that have already been granted by this government to the oil companies, that they have been sitting on for years waiting for the price to go up so they can start drilling. And Congresswoman Barbara Lee, you talked about the children, and the children are so important. I am looking at an article in today's Washington Post. It says 'Fuel Costs May Force Some Kids to Walk.' It means that our local boards of education have to pay for the price of diesel fuel which is going through the roof.”