mr. speaker , i thank the gentlewoman from michigan ( ms. kilpatrick ) xz4002170 for yielding 3 minutes to me and wish to rise in support of the resolution , but also to compliment the gentlewoman from michigan for successfully passing an amendment this afternoon that stopped this merger by claim with unocal from going through . 
that is in the base bill that we were debating for the entire day . 
this resolution is helpful . 
it gives us a sense of the congress that the u.s. does not want to lose her strategic energy edge . 
but this july 4th weekend , it is important for america to think about our independence , indeed , our diminishing independence due to imported petroleum . 
it is the largest share of our trade deficit with the world ; 63 percent of what fuels this economy has to be imported . 
yes , america has lost her independence , and under this president , it is 7 percent worse than it was before he took office now , with the cost of a barrel of oil over $ 60 and gas at the pump $ 2.50 and rising all over this nation . 
so what are the chinese trying to do ? 
they are trying to trump our strategic edge over in afghanistan now , because the unocal pipeline running through afghanistan has all that natural gas just ready to flow , but it is right on the border of china . 
so china has been very smart with the money she has earned off this market . 
she is buying pieces of us or what some claim to be `` u.s. companies , '' but in actuality they have their assets spread all over the world . 
it 's no secret we have pumped ourselves dry except for what is left up in alaska . 
and so we ask ourselves what is going on here ? 
what is going on here is america is losing her independence , starting with petroleum . 
the chinese need petroleum too . 
what america needs is energy independence here at home and the sooner we realize that , the fewer resolutions we would need to try to interfere with the free market . 
but you know what ? 
we do not have any more choice , because we expect we will be 75 percent dependent on petroleum if this congress does not trump this president of the united states and produce a real energy bill that will put us on the road to true energy independence . 
we need new biofuels , new energy from fuel cells , from hydrogen , from solar , from renewables , from all kinds of new energy sources that should be tapped and built in this country . 
meanwhile , we sort of have to limp our way across the finish line on this july 4th celebration and admit america is losing her energy edge around the world . 
we should not be dependent . 
we should not have to kneel down in front of the chinese , the communist chinese , vegetarians as mr. watt xz4004240 referenced , or anyone else . 
we should become energy independent here at home . 
this resolution points us in the only direction open to us now . 
the gentlewoman from michigan 's amendment earlier in the day hit a real home run in blocking the merger . 
we compliment her for her excellent work . 
