Captive Primate Safety Act

CAPTIVE PRIMATE SAFETY ACT -- (House of Representatives - June 17, 2008)

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Ms. FOXX. I want to thank my colleague from Utah for yielding.

I agree with my colleague from Utah that we ought to be dealing with things that are important to the American people, and it seems to me that this bill is not something that is high on the agenda of most Americans. What is high on the agenda of most Americans is the cost of gas and oil in this country. The Democratic leadership simply is refusing to deal with it and deal with it in a realistic manner.

I think it's very important that we point out the history of our having dealt with these issues over the years and what Republicans have tried to do. Let me talk about the issues of supply and demand. We have tried and tried to increase the supply of fuel oil and gasoline in this country for many years. Let me tell you how we have voted on this issue:

On ANWR exploration, House Republicans, 91 percent of us, have supported that. Eighty-six percent of House Democrats have opposed it. Consistently Democrats have voted against creating more supply by drilling in ANWR, a place about the size of a postage stamp on a football field as the size of ANWR is to the State of Alaska.

How about coal-to-liquid. There are many ways that we can help our energy situation in this country. The Democrats say we can't drill our way out of it. Well, there are lots of ways that we could get the resources we need. We have supported the issue of turning coal into liquid fuel for a long, long time. Ninety-seven percent of Republicans have supported it. Seventy-eight percent of Democrats have opposed it.

How about exploring oil shale. Ninety percent of Republicans have supported that issue. Eighty-six percent of Democrats have opposed it. It is no wonder that we are having problems with supply of energy resources in this country when we have had almost all Democrats opposing it over the years.

How about drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf. Eighty-one percent of House Republicans have supported it. Eighty-three percent of House Democrats have opposed it.

How about increasing refinery capacity in this country, which is an issue in terms of providing the supply we need. Ninety-seven percent of House Republicans have supported increasing refinery capacity. Ninety-six percent of House Democrats have opposed it.

Just so people know, we have validated these statistics by going back and counting the actual votes on these issues over the years.

So here is the summary: Ninety-one percent on average of House Republicans have historically voted to increase the production of American-made oil and gas. We do have the capability in this country to become energy independent. But 86 percent of House Democrats have historically voted against increasing the production of American-made oil and gas. They obviously want us to remain dependent on foreign oil. It is something I simply cannot understand. They seem to want the American people to suffer. They and their radical environmentalist friends don't want us to do anything to increase the supply of oil and gas. Republicans do want to increase the supply of oil and gas, and the facts prove it out.

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