On the recordJuly 20, 2010
Madam President, today I come to this Chamber to speak about oil independence for a stronger America. Many folks across America are continuously talking about the downside of our addiction to overseas oil. Today I am going to be presenting a plan embodying a bill with that name: Oil Independence for a Stronger America. One of the big issues of our dependence on foreign oil is national security. We send $1 billion a day overseas to governments that often don't share our core American values; governments in the Middle East, in Nigeria, in Venezuela. Sometimes those dollars end up directly in the hands of terrorists. As some national security analysts have noted, in our current wars we are sometimes funding both sides of the battle, and that is not a good place to be. In addition, to maintain our access to that overseas oil, we have to maintain a significant national security military force.