mr. chairman , i yield myself the balance of my time . 
mr. chairman , this is the key issue if we are going to get serious about the imports of oil into our country . 
we put 70 percent of all oil that we consume in america into gasoline tanks . 
in 1975 , we averaged 13 miles per gallon ; we averaged 13 miles per gallon in 1935 . 
but congress , because of the energy crisis , passed a law mandating a doubling of the standards in 10 years , and the auto industry responded ; and by 1986 , the average was 27 miles per gallon , and we had opec on its back . 
the price of oil fell to $ 12 a barrel . 
we , using our technological genius , had won . 
now , it is almost 20 years later and america is now averaging 23 miles per gallon . 
we have gone backwards 4 miles per gallon and played into opec 's hands as the price of oil goes up to $ 50 to $ 55 to $ 58 a barrel , as consumers are tipped upside down every time they go into a gas station in order to pay to fill up their car . 
the only answer is to call upon our country 's greatness to improve the fuel economy standards to 33 miles per gallon by 2015 . 
in other words , to add only 6 additional miles per gallon over what was accomplished in 1986 . 
the opponents of this amendment say that is impossible . 
well , we put a man on the moon in 9 years . 
we improved the fuel economy standards in 10 years by 13 miles per gallon in the 1970s and 1980s , but now we are being told that we do not have any longer the ability to do that . 
well , we are 60 percent dependent upon imported oil . 
we are heading towards 65 percent , towards 70 percent . 
that is increased national security problems for our country that we will look back at and regret that we missed this opportunity to make our country more secure . 
mr. chairman , i yield back the balance of my time . 
