madam chairman , i rise today in support of the energy bill that we are discussing on the floor .  madam chairman , the absolute truth is that americans are paying more at the pump today than ever before .  home heating costs have escalated dramatically .  these things are both reflections of the lack of an energy policy .  all we are suggesting in this energy bill is that we need to recognize the dynamic forces that are at play in today 's economy , and that we need to take steps to correct it .  for instance , natural gas in this nation is hovering in the $ 7 range , but if we look over in the asian areas and in russia , it is 95 cents and 70 cents .  what is happening is that we are outsourcing jobs to those other nations because they are paying one-tenth the price for natural gas that we are paying here , and yet our friends on the other side of the aisle some days want to talk about outsourcing jobs and the horrific effect that it has on the economy ; and today we are doing something factual about it , and yet they want to turn an eye and say , that is okay , send those jobs ; we probably did not need them to start with .  they would have us believe that what we are facing and what we are giving is simply a handout to the oil companies , and what we are doing is simply trying to develop new sources of oil that is extremely expensive to reach .  we are drilling on some offshore platforms that cost billions of dollars to set in place .  we are drilling on those with great risk that we will lose money , and what we are simply saying is that deep well incentives should be in place .  now , the incentives that are in place for onshore production are either very difficult areas to drill in or the incentives only kick in after the price falls to a certain level .  madam chairman , it is time for us to pass an energy bill .  the consumers in this nation depend on it , and they are depending on republicans because our friends on the other side of the aisle refuse to help .  