[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 65 (Thursday, May 12, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2904-S2905]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
DEFICIT REDUCTION
Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I come to the floor today to support
the Close Big Oil Tax Loopholes Act and to talk about the devastating
effect that high prices at the pump are having on families in my home
State of Washington.
Middle-class families and small business owners are still struggling.
Our economy is just starting to turn around, but so many families are
still fighting to stay in their homes, so many small business owners
are still struggling to keep their doors open, and so many workers are
still desperately trying to get back on the job. All of this is
happening while we are here debating in Congress about the best ways to
cut spending responsibly and rein in the deficit.
This is a serious issue. We need to get it done. But I feel very
strongly that before we make budget cuts that slash support for our
middle-class families, we should look at ways to responsibly reduce the
deficit that do not hurt the families who are struggling the most. To
me, one of the most commonsense actions we can take is to end the
wasteful subsidies that we, the taxpayers, are forced to hand over to
the big oil companies every year. It is a no-brainer.
Anyone who is serious about reducing the deficit should support this
effort. It is as simple as that. The big oil companies are already
making billions of dollars in profits from families in America who are
paying now sky-high prices at the pump. In fact, the five biggest oil
companies have made nearly $1 trillion in profits--$1 trillion in
profits--in the last decade and $36 billion in the first 3 months of
this year alone.
But the big oil companies are not just making money hand over fist
from families paying sky-high prices at the pump. They also have the
gall to come back to those same taxpayers and demand billions more in
subsidies that add directly to their profits. It does not make any
sense, and it has to end.
I think my colleagues in the Senate who oppose this legislation need
to explain to the American people why they think big oil companies need
even bigger profits and why they think American taxpayers should
continue to pad their coffers with unwarranted subsidies at the very
time we are fighting to rein in the deficit.
But in addition to ending those wasteful subsidies to the big oil
companies, we also have to act to end the speculation that is a big
part of what is pushing prices at the pump higher and higher. At a time
when our household budgets are already stretched so thin, speculators
continue to drive up those prices and volatility in the oil markets.
That is one of the reasons I was so angry and disappointed that the
House Republican budget proposal slashed the funding for the Commodity
Futures Trading Commission. That is the very agency that is charged
with protecting consumers from excessive speculation in the markets.
How can they do their job and protect consumers if they are not there?
[[Page S2905]]
I think that says a lot about our very different priorities in
Congress. The House majority has pushed to slash spending by crippling
agencies that middle-class families depend on for basic protections,
while Democrats are here trying to reduce the deficit responsibly by
ending subsidies to the big oil companies that do not need them.
I urge our colleagues to put taxpayers in the middle class ahead of
Big Oil, to end those wasteful giveaways to oil companies, and to use
that money to pay down the deficit in a responsible way.
I thank Senators Menendez, McCaskill, Tester, and Brown for their
great work on this issue.
Once again, I support the Close Big Oil Tax Loopholes Act. I am going
to keep fighting to end the oil and gas speculation that is hurting so
many families in my home State of Washington and across the country.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Madam President, I wish to thank the Senator from
Washington State for her leadership on this issue and for her eloquent
remarks just now, as well as other Senators who have championed this
cause, as I have, over years when we have fought rising gasoline prices
in the State of Connecticut relentlessly and tirelessly, and now I rise
here in support of this legislation, the Close Big Oil Tax Loopholes
Act, which would fundamentally restore fairness to our markets and tax
system.
Over the last decades, the big five oil companies have taken home
about $1 trillion in profits while enjoying tens of billions of dollars
in taxpayer subsidies, giveaways, sweetheart deals, and preferences
which undermine the credibility of our tax system and our economy in
the eyes of ordinary Americans. Ordinary Americans, in fact, are still
struggling to make ends meet, to stay in their homes, to keep their
families together, and to find jobs.
In Connecticut, the price of gasoline now has risen to more than
$4.25 a gallon from about $3 just a year ago. There are a number of
ways to combat the spiraling cost of gasoline, including going after
some of the illegal manipulation and speculation that may be occurring.
I have proposed some measures--for example, a Department of Justice
investigation that for the first time would effectively and
comprehensively pursue the traders and hedge funds that are at an
alltime high in their energy positions.
But the ending of giveaways and subsidies is about the fairness of
our economic system and our Tax Code. Our families and businesses in
Connecticut are paying these higher costs for gasoline but at the same
time are providing subsidies that are in no way needed for exploration
or refining or any part of the business of these big five oil
companies. They have made over $30 billion in profits in the first
quarter of this year alone, representing a 50-percent increase in
profit from last year. Big Oil doesn't need help from American
taxpayers to make unprecedented profits. For better or worse, they know
how to do it without corporate welfare, and we ought to end the
corporate welfare that makes our job of cutting the deficit and reining
in the debt and reducing the size of government all the more difficult.
This call ought to be an easy one. We have difficult choices ahead in
cutting spending and perhaps increasing revenue, but this one should be
easy for us. I hope it will attract bipartisan support because there is
truly nothing partisan about this kind of corporate welfare.
Despite claims to the contrary, ending these subsidies will not
increase prices at the pump. It will impose basic fairness because
Americans will no longer pay out of pocket for these tax breaks and
giveaways to some of the most profitable companies in the world. It
will not add to prices at the pump.
In my home State of Connecticut and across the country, people are
rightly concerned about reducing our debt and deficit, and we will make
those difficult choices just as Americans are making difficult choices
in tightening their belts and their budgets as they struggle to find
jobs and make ends meet. But as resources remain scarce for some of our
most vital programs, we can ill-afford this kind of corporate welfare.
I urge my colleagues to seize this moment, to cut these subsidies,
and to protect the hard-earned dollars of American taxpayers. Taxpayers
in Connecticut and throughout the country basically want fairness--
shared sacrifice, truly shared sacrifice--and I urge my colleagues to
demonstrate to the American people that we are serious about tackling
unfair giveaways and to take this step toward restoring fairness.
Madam President, I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a
quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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