[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 75 (Tuesday, May 8, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5679-S5681]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
HIGH GAS PRICES
Mr. KYL. Mr. President, my two Texas colleagues and I would like to
talk about the Democratic response to high gas prices. Given the fact I
believe we have about 12 minutes, we may just have a colloquy instead
of each giving presentations.
Let me begin by making a couple of points. The press reported
yesterday that U.S. average retail gas prices rose to an overall
alltime high, breaking $3 a gallon. I know I paid $3.04, and this is up
just about 20 cents a gallon over the last 2 weeks. Every family feels
this pinch.
Now, Democrats understand this, and that is why last year--and I know
because I was going through a campaign at the time--they attempted to
capitalize on a similar spike in gas prices. They held press
conferences all across the country pledging to lower gasoline prices.
Let me read one of the headlines that resulted from this publicity
blitz from the New York Times. It says: ``Democrats Eager to Exploit
Anger Over Gas Prices.'' This is an April 21, 2006, article, which
reported, and I am quoting:
The recommendations of a memorandum sent by Democrat
campaign officials to Democratic candidates include holding a
campaign event at a gas station where you call for a real
commitment to bringing down gas prices.
I guess you can say: That was then, this is now. Now that the
Democrats are in charge, the question is, What have they done about the
problem they were all too quick to exploit back during the campaign? As
far as I can tell, the answer to that question is, exactly nothing. In
fact, they tried to and to some extent did prevent Republicans, when we
were in control last year, from initiating a series of reforms that
would have actually done something about the problem and might have
prevented some of what we see now. We were finally able to get
legislation passed to open the deep waters off the Gulf of Mexico for
oil and gas exploration to bring more supply on line--that was a very
positive development--but when we tried to do other things, we were
stopped by the Democrats.
I think it is important for us to challenge our colleagues on the
other side of the aisle who were very interested in the American public
having to pay high gas prices back during the campaign last year. Well,
you are in charge. What have you done about it? The answer, so far,
appears to me to be, exactly nothing.
Let me say to my colleague from Texas that I know a lot of our
problem is because of regulations that inhibit oil refineries from
improving their capability to refine more oil and gas or building new
refineries. It is very sensitive to what happens at the refineries. My
recollection is that there was a recent fire at one of the Texas
refineries.
Is it the case that we could do some things--and tried last year to
do some things--to make it easier from a regulatory standpoint for oil
refineries to increase their capacity? And isn't this one of the ways
Republicans have tried to ensure we have a larger supply, which would,
therefore, reduce the price of gasoline to our consumers?
Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, actually, that is absolutely right,
and I will say to the distinguished Senator from Arizona that is only
one of the problems we have, and it is the reason my husband walked
into the house this weekend and said: I just spent $70 filling my gas
tank; what are you going to do about it? Like every one of us, I am
sure, who has this same experience, I think we should be doing
something about it. We should be doing a variety of things about it.
Senator Kyl specifically asked about the refinery capacity. We are
very tight on refinery capacity. We did pass legislation in the last
Congress that
[[Page S5680]]
would try to ease the regulatory burden and therefore the timetable
that it takes from either starting a new refinery or adding critical
capacity in an existing refinery, but the regulations had not yet been
put out as of a couple of weeks ago.
One of the refiners in my State that wants to add capacity asked me
if I would help and at least say to the Department to please issue the
regulations so they can go forward, knowing they would have the
guidance to move forward with expansion plans and add more refinery
capacity.
In addition to that, I have to say that one of the things we see
continuing to be blocked on the other side of the aisle is the ability
to explore and drill in our own waters. The Department of the Interior,
just last week, put out a lease-sale proposal in eight areas, including
the Gulf of Mexico, the Outer Continental Shelf, Virginia, and Alaska.
In Virginia, the legislature is taking the first steps to
production--by supporting the exploration of gas. The capability for
earning money for the treasury of Virginia caused the Virginia
Legislature to say: Yes, we want to do it, but there has to be a waiver
of a previous extension of the moratorium in drilling. We're hearing
signals that the Congress is not going to allow that, even though the
Legislature of the State of Virginia and the Governor have said they
want to be able to explore to see what is out there, 50 miles out.
The people who represent the people of Virginia have seen, as so many
of our legislatures have, that technology today is not what it was 25
years ago. You can drill and explore in an environmentally safe way and
we can do something about the price of gasoline at the pump if we will
take these kinds of measures. The Department of the Interior is now
trying to do that. Yet we are seeing already the signs of obstruction
on the other side of the aisle. So I guess we are going to let these
prices continue to go up without any regard to what we have in our own
resources, under our own control, which could alleviate some of this.
It is not just drilling and production and exploration, either. We
are also trying to put forward nuclear power, which is the cleanest,
most efficient form of energy. The French have proven that it can be
very effective as a clean energy source. Yet we are thwarted from the
opportunity by the other side of the aisle to explore that avenue, and
then lawsuits crop up, which have stymied our efforts to increase
nuclear capacity in our country.
So I would suggest to my friend from Arizona, or my friend from
Texas, if we are going to continue to be stopped from using our own
natural resources and if we are not going to be able to increase our
refinery capacity, then I think we are looking at the capability for
countries that have denounced America and said they want the
destruction of America to, in fact, be able to hurt our economy by
cutting off the oil supply.
I would ask my colleagues, what should we do if we are not going to
have cooperation?
Mr. KYL. Mr. President, I think my colleague from Texas, Mr. Cornyn,
can certainly answer that question, but first allow me to make a few
additional comments.
News reports suggest that increased gas prices can be linked to
production shortages at a time of increased demand. More directly, the
problem can be traced to a continuing lack of refining capacity and
unexpected outages at the Nation's oil refineries. A series of recent
outages, largely for maintenance, have reduced the supply of domestic
gasoline.
The price of a gallon of oil is still $10 below last year when prices
spiked: however, demand has increased 2.3 percent from the same period
last year. Existing refineries are unable to meet the ever-rising
demand for gasoline. The system also cannot handle unexpected outages,
for example, the recent fire in Texas. The U.S. saw the strain on
refinery capacity during Katrina when prices nationwide went up 45
cents in 1 week due to refinery damage in the region.
Because of high costs, regulatory redtape, and public opposition,
refiners haven't built a new facility since 1976--30 years ago. The
system is under such strain that any outages or disruptions are quickly
felt in the market in the form of increased prices.
The lack of domestic refining capacity also increases our reliance on
foreign sources of refined gasoline. America now imports about a
million barrels of gasoline every day--that means that about one of
every ten gallons of gas Americans get at the pump is refined in a
foreign country.
Regulations requiring a variety of new regional gasoline blends also
increase the price and make it difficult to address shortages by moving
supply from one area of the country to another.
Last year, Republicans saw the strain on the existing system, and we
tried to do something about it. We passed legislation that opened new
areas in the deep waters off the Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas
exploration to bring more supply on line. Republicans recognize that it
is in our national security interest to increase domestic supply,
including ANWR, and reduce our reliance on foreign oil.
I also introduced legislation to ensure that oil companies pay their
fair share for the oil and gas they produce from public lands. And I
introduced legislation to remove the 54 cent import tariff on ethanol,
to lower the price consumers pay at the pump.
Republicans also tried to address the lack of domestic refinery
capacity. We introduced legislation to streamline permitting to build
new refineries, and we were blocked by Democrats. Republicans
introduced legislation to incentivize building new refineries, and we
were blocked by Democrats. Republicans introduced legislation to reduce
the number of boutique blends of gasoline, and we were blocked by
Democrats.
Now the Democrats have to do more than block legislation--they have
to solve problems.
The Democrats will talk about price gouging legislation and say that
is the solution. The FTC looked at this last year after Hurricane
Katrina and did not find evidence of price gouging. More hearings will
not reduce the price of a gallon of gasoline since there are already
laws in place to prosecute price gouging.
The Democrats will talk about conservation and higher CAFE as well.
We all support conservation as a long-term solution, but we also need
to take action to address our near-term problems and reduce our
reliance on foreign oil. We need to increase domestic production and
increase our refining capacity.
The theme that I think we see developing here is that the Democrats
campaign rhetoric is catching up with them, and now they must prove
they can govern and solve people's problems. They are 0 for 7 in '07
with their agenda. Gas prices are only the most recent example of
failure. We still don't have a comprehensive energy policy. We still
haven't taken steps to improve health care. Democrats campaigned on big
ideas, but they are playing small ball.
The Washington Post wrote in an article this weekend entitled
``Democrats Momentum is Stalling,'' which stated that: ``Not a single
priority on the Democrats' agenda has been enacted, and some in the
party are growing nervous that the `do nothing' tag they slapped on
Republicans last year could come back to haunt them.'' That was the
Washington Post, May 5, 2007.
I hope the Democrats will work with us for real solutions to people's
problems, including reducing gas prices.
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I think the senior Senator from Texas is
exactly right. There are a lot of laws that Congress can pass--we can
even repeal laws--but we can't repeal the law of supply and demand. The
only way we are going to see these gas prices come down is to produce
more supply, as we look for alternative forms of energy. The Senator
mentioned, obviously, nuclear power, but we are even investing in clean
coal-burning technology. I think we basically need to look at all
aspects of the energy issue.
The Senator from Arizona was exactly correct as well. We have gone
from a high of 324 refineries in this country down to 132. Because we
are in a global marketplace for gasoline, which essentially can be
transported wherever the prices tend to be higher, that is why we have
seen gas prices in excess of $3 a gallon at the pump.
I remember well that our colleagues on the other side of the aisle
last year,
[[Page S5681]]
when we were in the majority, said they wanted to know what the
Republican plan was to relieve the pain at the pump. Well, the
Democrats are in charge now, and we would like to know what their plan
is. We believe this is something we ought to work on together, on a
bipartisan basis, to try to relieve the pain at the pump being
experienced by working men and women and families all across this
country. The only way we are going to be able to do this is on a
bipartisan basis, but the Democrats control the agenda. The majority
leader basically controls the time on the Senate floor. We need to know
when he plans to bring up some meaningful relief for the American
consumers to try to bring that price down.
We need to do this in the short term, the near term, not the long
term only. We do need nuclear power. We need to do research in the
biofuels and other alternatives. We need to employ wind energy and
other clean technologies that will provide for part of our energy
needs. We haven't discovered a way to make any of those useful to
operate our vehicles. It is oil, and it is gasoline.
The only way we are going to be able to provide relief in the near
term is to increase supply by reducing our dependency on imported
energy, producing more of it domestically, and relieving some of the
regulatory impediments which have made it impossible to create a new
refinery in this country in the last 30 years. Only by increasing the
supply in the near term are we going to be able to see prices come down
at the pump as we continue to explore alternative forms of energy and
other ways to meet our energy needs, while continuing to see our
economy grow and continue to create jobs.
I hope the majority will take this request seriously and will come
back and tell us what their plan is to relieve the pain at the pump
American consumers are experiencing today.
Mr. President, I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a
quorum.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
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