[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 48 (Thursday, April 27, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H1892]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            STOP OIL COMPANY PROFITEERING AND PRICE GOUGING

  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take the time of 
the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Emanuel).
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Oregon?
  There was no objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, gas is bumping 3 bucks a gallon in Oregon, 
I know it is well over $3 a gallon in other parts of the country; and 
people are saying, oh, it is just market forces, supply and demand.
  Well, you know, there is no free market in oil: from the production 
by the OPEC countries, with the cooperation of Mexico and Russia, where 
they conspire to restrict supply, to the oil companies themselves, who 
have created a black market, that is, a market where 75 percent of the 
oil is traded and retraded and retraded, driving up the price for no 
good reason just to facilitate profits, and then it is delivered to the 
refineries. We see now that we have a refinery shortage.
  Well, why do we have a refinery shortage? Actually, that is pretty 
interesting. Ten years ago, the American Petroleum Institute sent a 
memo to its members saying, hey, you are not making much money with 
refineries. If you would facilitate the closing of refineries and 
squeeze down the availability of refinery capacity, you could increase 
profits. And then they did. In fact, in the last decade, through 
mergers and by action of individual corporations, they have closed 55 
refineries in America.
  Now they want to blame the environmentalists and say there isn't 
enough refinery capacity. Those darn environmentalists. Guess what? Not 
one of the 55 refineries was closed because of environmental issues. 
They were closed to increase profits.
  The industry has become wildly profitable. Back in 2004, the refiners 
got 27 cents on each gallon of gas we bought. Last year, they got 99 
cents on each gallon of gas we bought, four times higher. That has 
nothing to do with supply and demand. That is extortion of the American 
consumer.
  The Valero Company, now the biggest refiner in America, their chief 
operating officer was asked about building more refineries, and said, 
why would we want to do that? We are doing very well the way things 
are.
  The President claimed it was environmental restrictions, still does, 
and then he offered to allow any oil company to build a refinery on a 
closed military base with no environmental restrictions. He had no 
takers. It is working exactly the way the American Petroleum Institute 
predicted when they recommended the closing of refineries a decade ago.
  Now this administration says they are not going to go with the 
windfall profits tax, despite the fact that Exxon-Mobil last year had 
the largest profit of any corporation in history, $36 billion in one 
year, $10 million a day. They were so awash in cash, giving it back, 
buying stock back, giving out dividends, and $400 million to their CEO, 
who wasn't there very long. It averaged out to a $135,000 pension a day 
for the time he worked at that company.
  But there is no price gouging or profiteering going on here. So the 
administration says no windfall profits tax. They are going to look at 
gouging. But they are not going to look into the corporate boardrooms. 
They are going to go out and look at the corner gas stations, that are 
getting record low margins as they are squeezed by this noncompetitive 
industry.
  It is past time for Congress to take definitive action. First, 
Congress should subject the trading of oil to the same regulations as 
any other commodity. Wipe out the black market in oil where they are 
jacking up the price. Experts say that one simple step, saying oil will 
be traded like every other commodity, it will be regulated and overseen 
by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, something the Bush 
administration doesn't want to do, would drive down the price 
immediately by 25 cents by squeezing out the speculation.
  Impose a windfall profits tax on Exxon-Mobil and others unless and 
except they use some of their obscene profits to build new refining 
capacity. That could be exempt from the windfall profits tax. Give them 
a strong incentive to undo this little game they are playing on the 
American consumers.
  Make price gouging a Federal crime. Right now you have to prove two 
companies colluded, not just one set out to price gouge. Change the 
law.
  And then OPEC. Remember the President told us he was going to take on 
OPEC? He was going to jump on OPEC. He was going to do something about 
their restriction of the supply of oil. We have done nothing. Six of 
the OPEC countries are in the World Trade Organization. This President 
is big on free trade and rules-based trade. They are breaking the 
rules. They are violating all the rules of the WTO. File a complaint.
  To be fair, I asked the last President, Mr. Clinton, to file a 
complaint against OPEC. He was as scared as George Bush to file a 
complaint against OPEC.
  It is time to take on the international cartel and the price gouging. 
We need relief for American consumers now. Stop the price gouging, stop 
the profiteering, and take on this big industry.

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