JOSEPH A. HALL: “Mr. Speaker, 3 long years the American people have waited. In fact, some people have been working on a long-term energy…”

“Mr. Speaker, 3 long years the American people have waited. In fact, some people have been working on a long-term energy policy for 8 to 10 years. President Bush promised to establish a national energy policy to prepare America's producers and distributors of energy for the changing times of the 21st century before he was even elected. His energy task force was formed inside the White House within 10 days of his inauguration. The first comprehensive energy bill was introduced in the House in the summer of 2001. The House has passed it three times; and it has been stalled in the Senate all this time, even though a majority in the Senate supports the bill, but they will not let them vote on it. Three long years, Democrat obstruction in the Senate, obstruction, make no mistake, undertaken at the highest levels of Democrat leadership, at the beck and call of extreme special interests has kept the American people without a national energy policy. For most of those 3 years, the United States has been at war with an ideology that makes its home in the very region that produces most of the world's oil.”