Marcy Kaptur: “I rise on the eve of consideration of major energy legislation here in this House. And while the President seems willing…”

“I rise on the eve of consideration of major energy legislation here in this House. And while the President seems willing to admit that America is addicted to imported oil, which is step one, recognition, he can't seem to get much further than that. In fact, during his administration, America is now importing over a billion more barrels of imported oil every year. A billion more than when he began his administration. So admitting we have a problem is easy. You can do it at a distance. You can mention it in your State of the Union address. That doesn't solve the crisis. Every day that the President makes another empty veto threat against energy legislation is another day for growing our trade deficit by oil. In fact, if you look at what's happening today, nearly three quarters of what we use to drive this economy that is petroleum-based is imported. And that oil import constitutes about a third of our trillion dollar trade deficit. It's a disastrous policy. It takes away America's independence. And it keeps us addicted to a lot of places in the world that don't have democratic governments in place. Our addiction is obvious, and the solution seems just as clear. When our Nation launched its space program and we embarked upon a national effort, we developed our domestic resources and we began to move into outer space. We can do the same in energy if we were serious.”