Hultgren Votes for Legislation to Relieve High Gas Prices

Editor's note: This article is from 14th District Congressman Randy Hultgren's weekly newsletter.

Steps To Relieve High Gas Prices

This week I supported commonsense legislation in the House of Representatives to take major steps to relieve gas prices and expand domestic energy production.

In the past week, the House has passed three of these bills, all with bipartisan support. They will require the Secretary of the Interior to increase lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and on the Outer Continental Shelf, while also requiring the Secretary to make decisions on permit applications in a timely manner.

In other words, these bills roll back the counterproductive bureaucratic red tape that has limited domestic energy production for too long.

At a time when gas prices are painfully high, we need to do all we can to increase domestic energy production. These bills will also create jobs, and they underscore the House’s commitment to pro-growth, pro-jobs policies that will help our economy get back on its feet.

Intelligence Act

On Friday, the House passed the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011. Congress is supposed to pass similar legislation every year, authorizing spending on intelligence operations and providing critical Congressional oversight.

Unfortunately, Congress had failed to pass these bills—and simply “deemed” the funds authorized—since 2004. Friday’s vote was an important reassertion of Congressional oversight authority, and another example of our efforts to ensure your tax dollars are being spent wisely.

As part of the bill, we also voted for an amendment congratulating the brave men and women of our intelligence community and the Navy SEALs for their role in killing Osama Bin Laden.

I was proud to support the bill, and especially proud to support that amendment.