[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 36 (Thursday, March 10, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1516-S1517]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            DOMESTIC ENERGY

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, throughout the week I have pointed out 
that our Nation faces a day of reckoning on entitlements such as Social 
Security and Medicare, and I have expressed my disappointment about the 
White House's failure to lead on reforms that would save these programs 
at an opportune moment like our own.
  The best time to solve the kind of fiscal crisis we face is when the 
two parties share power in Washington. Everyone knows we either address 
these problems together or they won't be addressed at all. Everyone 
knows the President has to take the lead. That is why Presidents from 
both parties have done just that during periods of divided government 
in the past. That is why many of us are calling on this President to do 
the same for the good of the country now.
  But when it comes to job creation, the President isn't just failing 
to lead; in many cases, he is actually blocking the way. Nowhere is 
this more evident than in the area of energy exploration.
  Americans looking at the price of gas at the pump these days are 
justifiably upset. What they may not realize is that some in the 
administration are actively working to prevent us from increasing our 
own oil production here at home. So this morning, with gas prices on 
the rise, I would like to step back for a minute and quickly review 
what the administration is doing to inhibit energy production right 
here at home. Taken together, it would be a pretty long list, including 
delays and suspensions and revocations and outright cancellations of 
lease permits, which translates into higher prices and fewer American 
jobs. So I will just list a few of the highlights.
  The administration started by canceling oil and gas leases for 
domestic exploration. Immediately after taking office, the Secretary of 
the Interior, Ken Salazar, canceled 77 oil and gas leases in the State 
of Utah. One year later, the administration suspended 61 more leases, 
this time in Montana. Shortly after canceling the Utah leases, 
Secretary Salazar extended the public comment period to renew offshore 
drilling by another 6 months, dragging out an already lengthy process 
even further.
  Then, immediately after the gulf oilspill began last April, the 
administration imposed a 6-month moratorium on offshore drilling in the 
gulf even as it canceled energy exploration that was set to take place 
thousands of miles away from the spill in the gulf up in the Arctic. 
Two Federal courts on three separate occasions have declared the 
moratorium in the gulf unjust. The administration has ignored them. It 
has kept the ban in place despite these rulings, forcing the drillers 
who have been affected by it to relocate their rigs--and the thousands 
of good-paying jobs they supported--to other parts of the world.
  So if one is wondering where the jobs are, a good place to start is 
the administration's efforts to block American energy exploration. 
Senator Murkowski points out that U.S. oil reserves at just three 
sources in Alaska--just three sources in Alaska--could replace crude 
oil imports from the Persian Gulf for nearly 65 years. Three sources in 
Alaska, currently shut down, could replace crude oil imports from the 
Persian Gulf for 65 years. Yet all three are off limits due to 
decisions made by or continued by this administration.
  Behind all these actions is a complete disconnect. At a time when gas 
prices are climbing higher and higher, pinching pocketbooks and 
threatening an economic recovery, Democrats in Washington would rather 
ignore the fact that Americans will remain dependent on fossil fuel for 
decades to come. But we shouldn't be surprised by it. Two months before 
the President was elected, the man he ended up choosing as his Energy 
Secretary told a reporter how he would go about reducing America's 
dependence on oil. He said: ``Somehow, we have to figure out how to 
boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.'' And if that was 
the strategy, Secretary Chu seems to be getting his wish. And the 
administration is doing just about everything it can to keep them 
there.
  Now is the time to be asking what we can do to increase domestic 
energy production, not proposing ways to squeeze American families even 
more. That is why all of these actions by the administration, along 
with the tax hike on energy production some have proposed that will 
only be passed on to consumers in the form of even higher gas prices, 
are the very last thing Americans need right now. We should be looking 
for ways to lighten the burden on American families, not saddling them 
with a minivan tax.
  There is a better approach. Rather than squeezing the public and 
killing jobs with artificially higher prices, we should be looking for 
ways to increase domestic production even as we promote alternative 
sources of energy for the future. An all-of-the-above approach to 
energy production--and the jobs that come with it--of the kind 
Republicans have been advocating for years would capitalize on the 
abundant resources we already have right here at home while at the same 
time looking for alternative sources of energy and new technologies 
that will free us from dependence on fossil fuels down the road.
  This is a responsible approach. It protects existing jobs and creates 
new jobs at a time when Americans need them. It would reduce our 
dependence on foreign sources of oil. It honors the concerns Americans 
have right now about the rising price of gas, and it respects the 
reality that most of the cars in this country will run on gas for many 
years to come. But higher prices at the pump and fewer American jobs is 
the wrong answer.

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