[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 63 (Tuesday, May 10, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2832-S2833]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                BIG OIL

  Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, I rise in support of legislation I am 
proud to cosponsor--to finally end the taxpayer handouts to the world's 
largest oil companies--as they rake in record profits. This measure is 
about accountability. It is about responsibility. It is about fairness.
  When I got off the tractor from planting last weekend and went to 
fill my tank, it was $3.69 in Big Sandy, MT--almost a dollar higher 
than just a few months ago. But while I am paying close to $4 gallon at 
the pump, like other working Americans, oil company executives are 
padding their stock options and bonuses. They are diminishing their 
investment here in America, choosing instead to use tax loopholes to 
offshore their production.
  I would like to make just three quick points today about the over $4 
billion in tax earmarks that the biggest oil companies in America are 
receiving today.
  First, they never asked for them.
  Second, they don't need them.
  And finally, they are not good for America--or our economy.
  These taxpayer handouts are running up our national debt, taking our 
jobs overseas, and they expose us to higher gas prices.

[[Page S2833]]

  In 2005, the CEOs of the five largest oil companies testified in the 
Senate about these subsidies. When asked directly about these oil and 
gas tax breaks, all five executives said they did not ask for them.
  They agreed with President Bush--that with the price of oil over $55 
per barrel, they didn't need tax incentives. And today, oil is $109 per 
barrel.
  The CEO of Chevron told the committee that ending these breaks ``will 
have a minimal impact on our company, minimal.''
  Let me be as clear as those executives were then: This bill has 
nothing to do with Chevron's or Conoco's or Exxon's ability to operate 
refineries or put folks to work here at home.
  It has everything to do with holding their top-level executives 
accountable to all American taxpayers as they rake in billions of 
dollars in profits every year. Right now Big Oil executives are writing 
off the royalties they pay to foreign countries as taxes, and until we 
fix it, all of us are paying for it.
  That means you and I are footing the bill every time one of these big 
companies writes a check to the government of Saudi Arabia or Nigeria. 
And they are telling us they don't want it or need it. We should do the 
fiscally responsible thing and close these loopholes.
  Instead, we should use that $8.5 billion to pay down our deficit. And 
that is what this bill does.
  Special tax breaks are supposed to make companies more competitive 
and get new technologies into the market. But for major oil companies 
we have written a privileged tax code just for them.
  Some of these provisions have been on the books since 1913. I don't 
know what companies after 98 years still need a subsidy, but if it 
does, either it isn't very effective or the system is being abused.
  As you will hear again and again this week--because it is just an 
astonishing number--as gas surpasses $4 per gallon, oil companies are 
getting $4 billion annually in tax breaks.
  The big five oil companies have made nearly $1 trillion in profits in 
the last decade. Nearly $32 billion of that came in the first 3 months 
of this year alone.
  But what is happening to gas prices?
  Rather than bringing down prices at the pump, these giveaways merely 
line the executives' pockets and run up the deficit. All the while, gas 
prices have gone up.
  For example, Exxon, the biggest of the oil companies in the U.S. made 
more than $9 billion dollars in profit last year--just their U.S. 
operations. And how much did they pay in taxes? Just $39 million.
  That is 0.4 percent.
  But this is more fair than in 2009, when Exxon received a $156 
million tax refund from the IRS.
  That means we as taxpayers are paying them. The Tax Code is broken 
and this bill will help fix it.
  Right now, we are making tough choices about how to get a handle on 
our Nation's debt. We have tough debates ahead about heating homes in 
rural America, and investing in crumbling highways, and strengthening 
the future of Medicare.
  All the while, we are still literally writing checks to our biggest 
oil companies who don't need them.
  After causing the largest offshore oil spill in American history, BP 
still managed to rake in more than $7 billion in profits, up 17 percent 
from the year before.
  But most of these big companies are not developing their onshore 
resources here at home.
  How do I look the oil worker in Montana's Bakken Field in the face 
and say: We are giving the largest oil companies a billion dollars a 
year to go drill overseas, taking your opportunities offshore.
  Dual Capacity, the most egregious of these tax provisions, subsidizes 
$1 billion each year in royalty payments to foreign governments that 
don't like us very much. We don't let companies producing in America 
credit royalty payments to their taxes, so why would we do that for 
companies that produce outside of the U.S.?
  And does this make us safer? Does it bring stability to the market? 
Absolutely not.
  As we have all watched in the last few months, turmoil in the Middle 
East has driven up speculation and driven up prices.
  Oil prices fell about 10 percent last week--though not enough to 
relieve hardworking Montanans with any changes in prices at the pump.
  Prices didn't fall because of the discovery of a new oil field or a 
new technology. It happened because some folks on Wall Street moved 
some numbers around on paper.
  There is no accountability in that. And that is why we're trying to 
change it.
  But unlike on Wall Street, there are places where folks are doing the 
hard work of oil discovery and developing the technology to lower the 
cost of oil.
  A lot of that has to do with the ``small guys'' in the oil business. 
And they are successful. In fact, domestic production is going strong--
at its highest level in almost a decade.
  They are making risks and getting new technology into the field, like 
in eastern Montana.
  My State is home to likely the most productive domestic onshore 
oilfield in the United States. And small oil companies are doing good, 
responsible in securing America's energy future.
  The Bakken Field is estimated to hold nearly 4 billion barrels of 
oil. They are leading the way in developing new technology for oil 
field development.
  Where is Exxon? They aren't reinvesting the last quarter's $11 
billion back in U.S. exploration.
  In fact, in 2009, they paid their shareholders 90 percent of the 
profits to shareholders, leaving just 10 percent to invest in their 
workforce, research and development, exploration, safety and the 
expanding energy frontier.
  Contrary to what some of my colleagues are saying, eliminating these 
wasteful subsidies won't raise gas prices. I want to repeat that:
  Eliminating wasteful subsidies will not raise gas prices.
  Many of these handouts have been on the books for decades as prices 
have continued to rise.
  It is time to close these loopholes for big oil in order to 
strengthen our national security--and our energy future. It is time to 
end the taxpayer handouts to Big Oil.
  This bill returns us to a responsible path toward energy development 
that benefits taxpayers and consumers. And it starts addressing the 
debt and deficit. It is the right thing to do.

                          ____________________