The Pulitzer-Prize winning author of The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power, Daniel Yergin, has summed up what many of us are thinking: “We are living in a new age of energy anxiety.”

No one feels this anxiety more than the American families who are shouldering the burden of nearly $125 per barrel oil. The average mini-van owner is now spending upwards of $70 for a tank of unleaded gasoline. And it can cost up to $80 to fill up a pickup truck!

Now more than ever, we must adopt a comprehensive solution that will place more control over energy supply and prices in the hands of America.

Common sense tells us that an increase in our fuel supply will help drive down soaring costs. Yet, there are lawmakers who continue to put forward politically expedient proposals that will neither raise domestic supply, nor solve the broader problem of American dependence on foreign oil.

Some in Congress, including the Democratic presidential candidates, are proposing an irrational windfall profits tax on the U.S. oil industry. Increasing taxes on production only serves to decrease domestic production and encourage more exploration abroad where costs are lower. A punitive tax on profits would raise marginal production costs, reduce domestic oil production, and actually increase the overall level of oil imports. Furthermore, it would send jobs that Americans depend on overseas.

This is not speculation. This has been tried, and has failed, in the past. When Congress imposed a similar windfall profit tax on the oil industry in 1980, domestic oil production decreased significantly and jobs were lost. It raised our dependence on foreign oil by 10 percent.

Today, rather than discourage production we should concentrate our efforts on securing long-term sources of energy, especially within our own borders and along our country’s coastline. And the fact is these resources exist.

On U.S. soil and off our coasts, we have significantly more oil than Venezuela’s 80 billion barrel reserve, and our available natural gas reserves exceed that of Iraq, China, Yemen, Oman, Nigeria, and Venezuela combined.

Last week, my Senate colleagues and I unveiled sweeping legislation to begin to tap some of these resources to increase domestic fuel production and lessen our reliance on other countries. The American Energy Production Act of 2008 would leverage both traditional and renewable sources of energy that could add enough domestic production supply to satisfy U.S. energy demand for five years without foreign imports.

The legislation would allow coastal states to petition the U.S. Department of Interior to lift drilling moratoria for offshore oil and gas leasing off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. It would also grant U.S. oil companies access to the 10 billion barrels of available oil in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Coastal Plain (ANWR).

The legislation seeks to bolster supply and decrease oil prices by temporarily suspending deposits into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which currently has enough oil to supply our country’s energy needs for over 3 months in  case of a disaster or national emergency. Further, the bill would allow access to alternative sources, such as the over one trillion barrels of shale oil in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah. These sources, which presently sit unused, are equal to three times the reserves of Saudi Arabia.

Some of these are not new ideas. Many of us have been fighting for increased domestic oil and gas production in Congress for years. Unfortunately, in 1995 – when oil was $19 a barrel – President Clinton vetoed legislation passed by the House and the Senate to begin drilling in ANWR. If not for that veto, we would now be producing one million barrels of our own oil a day – the amount we import from Saudi Arabia…every day.

The provisions in the American Production Act are an important first step to boosting our domestic fuel supply. But a comprehensive energy plan must also include the deployment of every economically viable alternative energy source - including advanced nuclear energy, solar power, wind power, and biofuels.

The time is now to set the course to produce and maintain control over our own energy sources and end our dependence on foreign oil. We can’t afford to delay further.

By U.S. Sen. John Cornyn

Texans honor our men and women in uniform every day of the year. But formal recognition is concentrated in May. This year, we express our appreciation for military service on May 17, Armed Forces Day, and we honor the fallen on May 26, Memorial Day.

We especially remember the heroism and sacrifice of American troops who served in World War II, which ended in Europe on May 8, 1945, and in the Pacific three months later.

Our current military force is similar to its predecessors in its dedication and determination to preserve our freedom. But in contrast to the past, today’s troops are all volunteers. If anything, their willingness to serve our country creates a greater obligation on our part to look after their long-term needs and goals.

Following World War II, the U.S. government created a G.I. Bill to provide educational benefits for the flood of military coming home from wartime duty. Many recipients were drafted immediately after high school, interrupting their education. The G.I. Bill allowed them an opportunity, upon returning from the war, to pick up where they might have been prior to their service.

The men and women who serve today do so by choice, and their circumstances are diverse. As a result, they require a broader range of options. So Congress is currently updating the G.I. Bill to meet the requirements of our modern-day soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines.

I am proud to co-sponsor new legislation that recognizes the vital role that military families play in the support, well-being and careers of our troops. This legislation expands educational benefits for service members and, for the first time, allows benefits to be transferred to their dependents.

In the military, it is known that “we recruit troops, but we retain families.” This legislation recognizes the critical role that supportive families play in allowing their troops to accomplish their important missions.

The Enhancement of Recruitment, Retention and Readjustment Through Education Act, S. 2938, is aimed at two distinct groups of service members—those who have completed their enlistment, and those who have decided to make military service a career.

Our legislation is unique in allowing more service members to transfer education benefits to family members, either a spouse or dependent children.

“Our first objective is to strengthen the all-volunteer force. Accordingly, it is essential to permit transferability of unused education benefits from service members to family … Transferability supports military families, thereby enhancing retention,” Defense Secretary Robert Gates said recently.

Secretary Gates also noted that competing plans might have unintended effects. “Any enhancement of the education benefit, whether used in service or after retirement, must serve to enhance recruiting and not undercut retention,” he added.

S. 2938 also increases monthly education benefits for active duty personnel, allows more service members to access Department of Veterans Affairs programs, increases benefits for members of the National Guard and Reserve, allows use of benefits to repay student loans, and creates a matching program to help more veterans graduate debt-free.

While this legislation provides a significantly higher monthly payment, it also gives service members wider choices of educational benefits and the freedom to choose those that best meet their needs.

Our first commander-in-chief, George Washington, expressed our national obligation this way: “The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their country.”

This new legislation is well timed. We can never do enough for those who, by their willingness to serve, help protect us and our way of life. But we can express our gratitude and strengthen our military by serving the needs of those who have defended our freedom.

Sen. Cornyn serves on the Armed Services, Judiciary and Budget Committees. In addition, he is Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Ethics. He serves as the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee’s Immigration, Border Security and Refugees subcommittee and the Armed Services Committee’s Airland subcommittee. Cornyn served previously as Texas Attorney General, Texas Supreme Court Justice and Bexar County District Judge. For Sen. Cornyn’s previous Texas Times columns: www.cornyn.senate.gov/column.