Jerry Moran: “I rise tonight to call the House of Representatives, the Congress, the administration, this country, to action. Just…”

“I rise tonight to call the House of Representatives, the Congress, the administration, this country, to action. Just this month, the price of oil hit $75 per barrel, and it seems that the proverbial, ``While Nero fiddles, Rome burns,'' in this case it is, ``While Congress fiddles, prices at the pump continue to escalate,'' with a tremendous consequence to the consumers across America. Mr. Speaker, I ask that we address the energy policy, the energy needs of this country, in a comprehensive way. And although we have tried that on a number of occasions, it seems to me that our efforts have been less than what is required and need dramatic attention. In fact, Mr. Speaker, tonight I call for a broad approach for what we do to reduce the price at the pump, and clearly conservation is a component of that. We need as a country to make certain that we have policies in place that encourage conservation, that we do not waste energy. And in fact this week I will cosponsor legislation that establishes CAFE standards to try to improve the efficiency of our automobile fleet done in a way, Mr. Speaker, that is satisfactory, provides common sense and good scientific basis for the direction we need to go, something that is not unreasonable but is workable for the automobile industry and for the consumer. Clearly, renewable fuels is an important component.…”