Reliable Home Heating Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. DUFFY. I appreciate the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Petri) yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I don't want to engage in a debate on global warming, especially after the winter we had in Wisconsin last winter. The bottom line is last winter it was incredibly cold in Wisconsin, and we saw home heating fuel prices for some of my constituents go up by four times, and that was if they were able to get home heating fuels.

I don't think this is the end of it because there has been a war on energy, and that war on energy makes it more difficult for my constituents to access energy. I think we have to leave those debates aside right now and look at, in the current structure, can we have some reform that actually helps people across the country when these crises amount.

What this does is doesn't make us look to the Department of Transportation--which, by the way, last winter they were quick to act. We don't have to look for Congress to have some quick legislation to minimize the trucking hours of service so we can get fuel into places like northern Wisconsin.

What we are going to do is we are going to empower Governors. Let Governors notice when there is a crisis and let them move quickly so we can have one piece of the burden alleviated--the hours of service requirement--so our trucks can go to the places where we have home heating fuel and bring it to northern Wisconsin, we can bring in more supply.

This was such a crisis, we have people in Wisconsin who have a hard time paying their energy bills when we have normal prices. But when prices go up by four times, or when it is 40 below and they can't get home heating fuel, this is a crisis. Any day we have to wait for the Department of Transportation or for Congress to act is a day that we have prices continuing to go up or we don't have access to our consumers, to our constituents, to our people.

So I think this is a commonsense approach that leaves the global warming debate aside, the war on energy aside, and looks to our Governors, gives them authority to make decisions in this one small piece, to allow the hours of service waived in these emergencies so we can get fuel to places where they have a shortage.

I think this makes sense. There will be plenty of time to debate the greater energy issues that we have in the country, and I think that is a debate that we have to have, but that is not the place here. The debate on global warming, we can have that, too, especially after the winter we had in Wisconsin last winter.

This makes sense. Let's empower Governors. Let's make sure we protect those Americans who live in the northern region of the country that rely on home heating fuel to heat their homes. Let's make sure we are going to allow them access, by way of their Governor, and the Governor's quick action.

So I appreciate the House bringing up this action from Senator Thune, and I would urge its adoption.

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