[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 8337-8338]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               GAS PRICES

  Mr. CORZINE. Mr. President, first of all, let me go back and 
compliment my colleague from Oregon, who I think has analyzed a problem 
that fits into a pattern of economic pressure that we see building on 
the middle class in America.
  There is nothing more fundamental today in life than filling the car 
with gasoline and using it for commuting and taking the kids to school 
and doing all the normal tasks that we have going on. We see the same 
problem, by the way, with health care costs, tuition costs, and with 
property taxes across this country.
  While there may be some good economic statistics out there, middle-
class Americans are being hit unbelievably hard on the fundamentals 
that drive their basic budgets. Nothing--nothing--more clearly 
demonstrates this than these rising gasoline prices we have been 
experiencing this year. There has been a 23-cent increase in the price 
of gasoline. Nationally, the average price for gasoline is $1.84 a 
gallon. Many places in the country it is over $2 a gallon.
  This comes from flawed simple economics 101, supply and demand. This 
administration is doing everything that you can imagine to hold back 
supply by filling the petroleum reserve at accelerated rates, when it 
is already about 95 percent full. It does not need to be in this 
position.
  As we go into the summer season, the ``perfect storm'' the Senator 
from Oregon talks about is also being implemented with regard to other 
policies. It is counter to any basic economic analysis that you would 
want, to be taking supply off the market that would run down prices. I 
don't know what people are thinking when they implement policies that 
are going to restrict supply, and when they are unwilling to confront 
OPEC as they are cutting back supply. What we are getting is the 
natural result of rising prices, which is coming right out of the 
pocketbook of middle-class Americans. It is just absolutely wrong.
  If you are cynical, you can also say, well, maybe it is because some 
people benefit from these higher prices. Being someone who worked in 
the private sector for 25 years of my life, I don't think profits are a 
bad thing. But when the American people are suffering from this erosion 
of their quality of life--because of the rise in property taxes, health 
care costs, tuition costs, and now gas prices--you wonder why it is so 
appropriate that Exxon-Mobil's profits were up 125 percent in the first 
quarter of this year; BP's profits were up 165 percent; and Chevron-
Texaco's profits were up 294 percent. Is that economic fairness, in any 
context, particularly when you put it into the perspective that what 
the Bush administration is doing is restricting supply?
  This is just wrong. It is out of the context of what is best for the 
American economy and for growth and the quality of life of Americans. 
It needs to be addressed. We are creating a windfall for American 
business at the expense of middle-class Americans. And it is happening 
day after day after day.
  I do not begrudge profits, but I don't think it ought to be done on 
the backs of the American middle class because of the general 
macroeconomic policies of the President. And that is exactly what we 
have right now. It is wrong and needs to be pushed back, just as we 
need to confront Saudi Arabia with regard to its leadership in OPEC. If 
they are our ally, as they claim to be, then we ought to be speaking to 
them about increasing the production of oil out of OPEC as opposed to 
the restrictions we have seen.
  From what we understand from all news reports and actually the Saudi 
Foreign Minister has said, there has not been one word of contact from 
this administration to the Saudis about OPEC production.
  So now we have two of those very large ingredients into the supply 
and demand equation. That is why we are getting high prices. That is 
why gas is $1.84 a gallon, on average, in the country. And that is why 
it is $2 a gallon on the coast and most of the places where our larger 
population segments work.
  It is really troubling we cannot put together a response to something 
that is eroding the quality of life in the aftertax base of middle-
class Americans to actually operate in a sound way. So I hope we will 
all follow Senator Wyden's lead. He has done a terrific job of bringing 
focus to it, as has the Senator from New York, talking

[[Page 8338]]

about pushing back against OPEC on production cutbacks. We really need 
to take a stand for the American people, not for the oil companies and 
the profitability we are seeing brought forth.
  At a time when we still have not recovered those 2.6 million private 
sector job losses, when 8.5 million Americans are unemployed, why we 
are putting more pressure on middle-class Americans and their quality 
of life is just hard to believe. It is time for a change. Supporting 
the proposition of the Senator from Oregon is one that I think we all 
ought to get out and get to work on.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Nevada.

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