[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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