mr. speaker , i yield myself such time as i may consume .  mr. speaker , this is one of the two most important bills that has come before this congress maybe in the last 10 years , one we passed a couple or 3 months ago .  this bill is not just important to us in congress that we pass something ; it is not just important to companies that have to adhere to the contents of it ; not just to the big oil companies , as they have been referred to , we need them , they need us , we need what they can do for us ; but it is important to the youth of our nation .  this is really a generational bill because it affects your children and my children and my grandchildren .  i probably have asked myself a dozen times what is the primary duty of a member of congress .  it is probably to prevent a war .  and how do you do that ?  you do that by removing the causes of war , and energy or lack of energy is a major cause of most wars that i know anything about or remember .  who fights wars ?  your children do .  they are today in school , juniors or seniors or maybe in junior college , totally unaware of what we are doing here , but so affected by what we do .  our children have to fight wars , not us anymore .  about 64 years ago i was a senior in high school , and i heard frank roosevelt at that podium right there stand up and say in a speech after our nation had been attacked , `` to some generations much is given , of some generations , much is expected , & lt ; center & gt ; & lt ; pre & gt ; [ page : h8771 ] & lt ; /pre & gt ; & lt ; /center & gt ; so , mr. speaker , of course i rise today in support of h.r. 3893 .  while the impetus for the bill arose from tragedy , it opened our eyes to the vulnerability of our nation 's gasoline supply and causes us to act to prevent the price spikes and shortages from happening again , and everything we have said or done here on this floor is going to be in the & lt ; /em & gt ; & lt ; em & gt ; congressional record for the american people to see .  i would hate to say that i opposed everything that had been offered to solve the energy crisis .  there has not been a new refinery built in some 25 or 30 years , and the ones that are currently running are doing so at 95 percent of operating capacity and at peak times of the year , even higher .  the main thrust of this bill before us today encourages the building of new refineries , and in more diverse locations .  it gives areas with closed military bases a chance to convert these bases into refineries so that they can keep their citizens employed and remain economically stable .  i have one in my district at texarkana , not subject to the vicissitudes of nature or the hurricanes ; it is inland far enough .  there are other areas in here .  i hope consideration is given to them .  i encourage my colleagues to vote for h.r. 3893 insomuch as it is a bill that addresses head-on the high price of gasoline and provides solutions from supply to conservation .  i am tired of seeing my constituents have to pay almost 3 bucks for a gallon of gas .  if you want your constituents to keep on paying these exorbitant prices , then go ahead and vote against this bill .  if you want to help them , like i do , i ask my colleagues to vote `` yes. '' mr. speaker , i reserve the balance of my time .  