[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 55 (Tuesday, April 17, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Page S2346]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          A NEED FOR SOLUTIONS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, yesterday I highlighted some of the 
tremendous challenges we face in our country and this President's 
refusal to face them with the seriousness they demand.
  At a moment when the Federal debt makes us look a lot like Greece, 
President Obama spends his time running around stumping for a tax hike 
that he knows will not help and that he knows will not pass. On gas 
prices, the President's response has been to call for a tax hike on 
energy manufactures, which, if anything, will drive the price of gas 
even higher and which he knows will not pass.
  Now we hear that the President is announcing some kind of task force 
on oil speculation today--in other words, the same thing Washington 
Democrats always call for when gas prices go up. If I were to guess, I 
would say today's proposal by the President probably polls pretty well, 
but I guarantee you it will not do a thing to lower the price of gas at 
the pump. It never has in the past. White House officials admit as 
much. So why would it now?
  The Democrats' favorite policy adviser, Warren Buffett, weighed in on 
the issue a few years ago. Here is what Warren Buffett had to say about 
it. Asked about the role speculation in the oil markets plays in 
determining price, he said, ``It's not speculation, it's supply and 
demand.'' That is Warren Buffett on speculation relating to the oil 
markets. ``It's not speculation,'' Warren Buffett said, ``it's supply 
and demand.'' But, of course, that is not the point for this White 
House. President Obama only seems to care about Warren Buffett's 
opinion if it polls well.
  The President's goal here is not to do something about the problem, 
it is to make people think he is doing something about the problem 
until the next crisis comes along. And that is the larger problem, that 
we have a President who is more concerned with looking as if he is 
doing something than in actually doing what is needed to tackle the 
challenges we face. We have a President who told us that he was a 
different kind of politician doing the same old things and using the 
same old talking points politicians in Washington have been peddling 
for literally years--for years. I mean, weren't these kinds of gimmicks 
and stale talking points precisely what President Obama campaigned 
against 4 years ago? I thought he was offering something new, something 
different.
  I think the Associated Press summed up the President's latest 
proposal pretty well this morning. The White House plan, which Obama 
was to unveil Tuesday, the AP said, is more likely to draw sharp 
election-year distinctions with Republicans than to have an immediate 
effect on prices at the pump. Well, AP pretty well summed it up. They 
said it is more about drawing a distinction. Look, we do not need new 
distinctions, we need solutions. Americans need lawmakers who are more 
concerned with facing up to the problems we face than getting 
reelected. They need a President who thinks about solving a problem, a 
President who thinks solving a problem involves more than giving a 
speech about it and pointing the finger at whatever does not poll well 
that particular day.
  As I said yesterday, the President seems to have forgotten why he was 
elected in the first place. He seems to have forgotten his own campaign 
rhetoric: that he was going to be different, that he would bridge 
differences, that he would bring people together. The reality could not 
be more different or more disappointing. The sad truth is that it is 
all politics, all the time in this White House. They are out of ideas. 
They have nothing new to offer. Today's announcement is all the proof 
you need of that.
  I yield the floor.

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