mr. speaker , i thank the gentlewoman for yielding me this time . 
i do not have any objection to a review of this contract , and i certainly understand the domestic politics , but i think we need to be fully aware of two things about this : how china is able to purchase unocal , and why they need to . 
the how is all about what we have done to ourselves . 
with $ 9 trillion of public debt outstanding , somebody has to buy it , and 44 percent of our treasury debt , i say to my colleagues , is foreign-owned . 
the fastest-growing component of that foreign ownership is in china , and it is a darn good thing for us that they are buying it , because if they were not , our interest rates would be much higher than they are today . 
they are keeping our interest rates low , but it does not come for free . 
the fact is , if we say that they can not use that money legally to purchase assets , to give 16+ billion to american shareholders in return for a corporate asset , what are they likely to do ? 
they are going to say this currency is not as valuable to us as it is to other people in other countries , so we are going to have to dump this , and imagine what that would mean . 
they are holding a financial guillotine over the neck of our economy , and they will let it drop if we do things like this that are not well-considered . 
now , the why . 
they desperately need energy to keep their economy sustained , but if we do not let them invest in western firms , what are they going to do ? 
they are going to invest more capital in iran , in sudan ; they are going to make those governments even stronger than they are today and a much greater threat to us . 
so think seriously about this . 
now , the reality is that unocal only produces about 1 percent of our oil and gas production , and they intend to market that and continue providing that to the united states . 
also bear in mind , though , that american oil companies have a whole lot of drilling rights and oil reserves off the coast of china . 
we have an investment all over the world , and when we start with these kinds of resolutions , start deciding , well , we are not going to let the market work , we are not going to let free enterprise control this , this is not truly a globally free economy if it is not completely to out liking . 
we are going to treat china differently . 
i can not stand state-controlled economies . 
but when we start doing things like this , there are ramifications that we have not thoroughly thought out , and i think we need to be very careful about passing resolutions like this . 
again , i understand the domestic politics , i understand why we do not want state-owned companies controlling american oil companies , but i also understand why china is doing this . 
their ceo was educated in the united states . 
they will keep all of unocal 's employees . 
chevron plans to save millions by firing most of them . 
this is one of the better-run chinese companies . 
ultimately what they are proposing is much more in our interests than the alternatives also available to them . 
so let us fully consider this before we pass this resolution . 
i 'm voting no . 
