The Hill’s Jackie Kucinich gives a preview of the week ahead on Capitol Hill.

This week, The General Accountability Office (GAO) issued the findings of its study on security at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).

I am pleased the study noted several security improvements that demonstrate the lab management’s commitment to maintaining LANL’s defenses, including:
Reduction of Classified Removable Electronic Media (CREM) from 87,000 in 2003 to 4,300 in 2008;  Read the rest of this entry »

Democratic Sens. Russ Feingold (Wis.), Chris Dodd (Conn.), and Bob Menendez (N.J.) told oil companies Wednesday that they wanted answers as to why oil companies are not drilling for oil on the 68 million acres of land they already lease from the federal government.

In my hometown of Lafayette, LA, the price of a gallon of gas topped $4.01 today according to AAA.

Families in Southwest Louisiana are struggling, and the President took one small step today toward increasing our energy supply and lowing prices at the pump by lifting the executive moratorium on Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) energy exploration.  The President demonstrated real leadership, and now Congress must follow to lift the Congressional moratorium.  Lifting the Executive ban puts even more pressure on Washington Democrats to follow his lead.

The OCS is one of the greatest potential sources of oil and gas yet to be explored because of the existing federal ban.  Both Congress and the President prohibited exploration off most of our nation’s coast in the 1980’s, but Louisiana allowed energy discovery.  Now, Louisiana ranks fourth in energy production, and money from the energy industry is rebuilding our coast to protect against another hurricane. Read the rest of this entry »

Today American consumers are bearing the heavy burden of ever escalating prices at the gas pump. Oil prices keep rising as nations like China and India have greater and greater demand for energy. I have seen this crisis coming, which is why I have consistently supported allowing additional drilling for oil here at home, not just since gas prices have reached record levels, but since my arrival in Congress.

Today the President acted to lift the executive ban on offshore drilling. I applaud this step as a move in the right direction toward lower prices in the future. But this action means nothing unless Congress takes similar action. The proposal that I support would not only allow this needed exploration for oil to go forward, but would use the revenue derived from selling these leases and royalties to be invested in research, development and incentives to advance alternatives to oil. It is long past time for the Congress to act and I call on Speaker Pelosi to allow the House to debate and vote on this critical issue for our nation’s energy security.

Sometimes it’s the little stories that tell us the most. Consider the news of a keel-crippling algal bloom covering a third of the Olympic sailing course in Qingdao, China. While a small army of workers, a large armada of boats, and a full battalion of dump trucks and bulldozers are desperately trying to clear up this embarrassing counterpoint to China’s claim of a “green games”, international competitors desperate for practice are forced to stew in dry dock. Read the rest of this entry »

I was outraged – and all Americans should be outraged - that this Administration engaged in a systematic effort to suppress scientific information and the professional judgment of staff at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Environmental Protection Agency on the issue of climate change. But yesterday’s revelation by a former EPA staff member only confirmed what we suspected when we conducted Senate hearings on this issue last year  –  that the Administration engaged in a deliberate effort to withhold scientific research and downplay the dangers of climate change by deleting entire portions of the testimony of CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding before our committee.

Climate change is one of the most pressing environmental challenges of our time. Dr. Gerberding’s original testimony established that climate change is having serious effects on public health, air quality, and natural disasters such as wildfires. Her testimony was completely consistent with findings of the respected Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – despite Administration assertions to the contrary. The Environment and Public Works Committee was working on practical, bipartisan legislation to measure and gradually reduce greenhouse gas emissions using efficient market forces. The Administration’s obstructionism could only have been meant to hinder this important work in Congress. Read the rest of this entry »

World leaders gathered this week at the G8 Summit in Japan to discuss, among other things, the world food crisis. Despite manufactured hysteria regarding biofuels and their role in the rising price of food, the leaders of these nations did not yield to those who would like to see ethanol’s demise. They clearly understood the need for the global economy to develop, produce and use renewable fuels like ethanol. Read the rest of this entry »

The G-8 agreement is laudable as part of a strategy to make America energy independent but it is only part of the picture. The liberal elite’s solution would mandate cuts and enforce costly cap and trade schemes, which stifle economic growth. Americans are looking for short, medium, and long term solutions that won’t place the burden on the American worker, American jobs, or the family bank account; while the world’s major polluters get to continue business as usual. Americans need an all-encompassing solution that includes American oil, renewable energy, and incentives for efficiency.

The Illinois coal basin contains as much energy in BTUs as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have in oil.  With oil, gasoline, and natural gas prices at record highs, we must start to use our nation’s natural resources.

Congressman Roskam initiated a discharge petition today on legislation I am cosponsoring called the Coal Liquid Fuel Act (HR 2208).  This would simply allow the Department of Energy to guarantee loans for billion dollar projects to develop coal to liquid refineries.

Discharge petitions are one of the few ways Republicans have to force votes on energy prices, which is the most important issue right now to the American public.