mr. speaker , i rise today in opposition to h.r. 3893 .  our country is facing a painful energy crisis under the policies of this administration and congressional leadership .  just last week , i received a letter from a constituent of mine , paul perry of dunn , north carolina , a small businessman struggling to make ends meet .  he wrote : `` we just broke ground on a new brick plant and should be in operation by august of 2006 .  i just hope gas prices do n't break us before we get the new plant in production. '' the american people desperately need effective new energy policies , but h.r. 3893 is simply more of the same failed giveaways to big oil .  the bill on the floor today is nothing more than a giveaway to big oil companies ; and on top of this , it contains environmental rollbacks that the administration has been unsuccessfully pursuing for years for gas and coal fired power plants .  these provisions would relax existing pollution controls on thousands of industrial facilities across the country in what one energy industry official even called the most blatant attack on state and local environmental authority that he 's ever seen .  this legislation would throw out provisions my state of north carolina implemented when we passed our own clean smokestacks legislation .  this legislation would cap penalties levied against big oil companies and refineries caught price gouging to meager amounts at a time when they are recording record profits .  finally , this bill would give tax breaks to those same oil companies at a time of record budget deficits .  i urge my colleagues to vote against this bill , and to support the substitute that provides real provisions to crack down on price gouging .  the substitute bill provides real help to the american people .  it punishes price gougers , not just the gas stations but the refineries , the wholesalers , and any of the big oil companies if they are caught taking advantage of the american people .  the substitute also creates a strategic refining capacity for the country in times of a national emergency , without jeopardizing the environmental safeguards put in place by the congress to protect our air , water , land , and public health .  again , i urge my colleagues to support the democratic substitute .  