[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 69 (Thursday, May 16, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Page S3555]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   IRAN SANCTIONS IMPLEMENTATION ACT

  Mr. INHOFE. Madam President, first of all, I think we, all of us, 
late in the week, are on a timeline. I have a very significant piece of 
legislation, S. 965, called the Iran Sanctions Implementation Act. I 
spent a long time on the floor yesterday talking about this. It 
occurred to me it is a little bit complicated. The longer we talk about 
it the more complicated it gets. I have shortened it. Let me make a 
couple of brief comments about where we are today in relationship to 
Iran and some of the other countries in the Middle East, and a solution 
to which everyone can agree to the problem that is there.
  First of all, 70 percent of Iran's revenues come from their export of 
oil. What we have done successfully is had some modest means of 
reducing that, so we have actually cut their amount of exports in half 
over the last 4 or 5 years from 2.5 million barrels of oil a day to 
1.25 million barrels of oil a day. That amounts to 70 percent of the 
resources, the revenue that Iran has.
  What do they do with their revenue? First of all, we recognize 
something that people do not like to talk about; that is, our own 
intelligence says, and has said since 2007, by 2015 Iran will have a 
weapon and the delivery system for that weapon.
  Our concern, of course, is that one of the things that happened in 
Barack Obama's first budget 4 years ago was, in addition to other 
things regarding the military, they did away with the ground-based 
interceptor in Poland which was designed specifically to take care of a 
missile coming from the east and, of course, what we had there was the 
threat from Iran. That is a threat.
  The second thing they have, besides their nuclear buildup, is they 
are helping all the terrorist operations throughout the Middle East. We 
know they are very significant in assisting Asad in his barbaric 
slaughter of over 70,000 of the Syrian people. They are able to do this 
because Iran earns $3 billion a month in oil revenue, 70 percent of 
their revenue. If Iran didn't have access to this money, its ability to 
influence the region would be either stopped or significantly 
curtailed. In other words, Iran cannot pose this threat without their 
oil revenues.
  U.S. production is now 7 million barrels a day, which is 40 percent 
higher--put the chart up, please--40 percent higher than in 2008. When 
we look at the map, we can see back in the old days the oil belt was 
the western part of the United States. Look at it now. It has all 
changed. We have the Marcellus up there in Pennsylvania, which is now 
the second largest employer in Pennsylvania. It is scattered 
throughout.
  The reason for this surge is because the use of horizontal drilling 
and hydraulic fracturing has allowed us to reach reserves, reach 
production we otherwise could not do.
  Here is the interesting thing: We have grown by 40 percent in our 
production, and all 100 percent of it is on State or private land. None 
of it is on Federal land. In fact, during this boom we are in the 
middle of right now that is so productive to the economy of most of the 
States, none of that came from the Federal Government. In fact, we had 
a reduction during this time in production from Federal lands.
  The Institute for Energy Research recently issued a report stating 
that if we enacted policies that allowed aggressive development of all 
this off-limits land that is there right now, it would generate $14 
trillion in economic activity, create 2.5 million jobs, and reduce the 
deficit by $2.7 billion. Most of all, we could become totally 
independent from having to import our energy from any other country.
  This bill says if the President would, at his discretion--it would 
require the President to find some area where we can just increase our 
production from Federal lands 1.25 million barrels a day. That is just 
a small, minuscule part of all the production we could have. For 
example, in just this area, that would exceed 1.25 million barrels a 
day or this up here, in Alaska, or even offshore.
  The Senator from Virginia is going to be speaking next. They have 
actually voted to go ahead and explore this off their shores. Any of 
these places would do that.
  Why do we say 1.25 million barrels a day? That is what Iran exports. 
This is what would happen: If we were able to do that, that would be 
1.25 million barrels a day that we in the United States would no longer 
have to import, which would open that up to those who are importing 
from Iran, and it would completely dry up 70 percent of their revenue. 
Of course, the rewards of that would be great for our country.
  We are looking at one of these rare situations where everything is 
good, everything that would come from this is beneficial. We could dry 
up their revenues that they are using right now to enhance their 
nuclear capability and to perform all these atrocious acts in the 
Middle East. At the same time, we would be able to lessen our 
dependence and provide all of the benefits that come from the use of 
this.
  Eventually, we would like to be at a situation where we can do not 
just 1.25 million barrels a day but maybe 10 times that and become 
totally independent. In the meantime, we are only talking about one 
very small amount that we would be telling the President of the United 
States he is going to have to allow us to explore so we can stop Iran 
from doing the things they are doing today.
  I thank those who have allowed me to have a little bit of time today, 
and I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Warren). The Senator from Virginia.

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