Army,
As I’ve said all along, reversing forty years of no energy plan in America takes bipartisan leadership and time – I’m confident we can do it together and put this country back on the right path.
There’s deep support on Capitol Hill for legislation that will jump-start the use of abundant, American natural gas to replace foreign oil in transportation. Fortunately, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), and others are working together to come up with ways to pass this important policy before the end of the year. I remain hopeful that Congress can get it done when it returns after Thanksgiving.
One thing is clear – legislators and decision-makers across both parties, representing a broad base of ideology, support policies to use American resources to get off foreign oil. I’m buoyed by the fact that promoting expanded use of American natural gas to replace foreign oil has nearly 150 bipartisan cosponsors in the House of Representatives, and has been included in several pieces of bipartisan legislation in the Senate.
I’m grateful that leaders and legislators on both sides of the political aisle are working hard on this issue – only with that kind of bipartisan cooperation can we fix this serious problem. We just need them to act. I hope it’s this year, but if the clock runs out, we’re well positioned to get it done in the next Congress. And I’ll keep pushing to get it done, because too much is at stake.
What we can’t let happen is taking our eye off the ball and letting forty years with no energy plan become fifty years and beyond. That’s how we got into this mess.
In October alone, we imported more than 58% of our oil, or 341 million barrels, taking more than $28 billion out of our economy and sending it to foreign countries. Without real action, we’ll keep spending $1 billion every day on imported oil – that’s money that should be invested in getting our economy working, not fueling the economies of others and bankrolling many of our nation’s enemies.
The strength of our nation’s economy and national security were among the issues of greatest importance to America’s voters according to exit polls earlier this month. That means our continued and growing dependence on foreign oil is at the top of the issues list, because that dependence overlaps these two, and many other, issues that Americans are concerned about.
We need tangible, long-term solutions to fix America’s energy crisis. I’m encouraged by the bipartisan support for this movement, and I’m confident Congress will act to secure America’s energy future.
We can get there together.
-Boone