[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 8789-8790]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         NATIONAL ENERGY CRISIS

  Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I come to the floor not to point fingers or 
make accusations about the tragedy that occurred in Iraq and continues 
to unfold. So while we are focused on international affairs and what 
may or may not have gone on in the Abu Ghraib prison, what I am going 
to talk about for a moment is what the average American, taxpaying, 
consuming, voting public, has experienced this past weekend.
  They went to the service station in their local community and filled 
up their gas tank with the highest priced gas in the history of this 
country. They paid anywhere from $1.84 to over $2.50 a gallon, 
depending on where one lives. When that credit card or that cash was 
handed out, that American consumer had paid more for gas at that moment 
on that day than ever in the history of this country. Yet this Senate, 
embroiled in Presidential politics at this very moment, fails to deal 
with this issue.
  I am amazed that last month the American economy struggled along and 
created nearly 300,000 new jobs, and we may well end up the quarter 
with one of the strongest growth periods in the American economy than 
we have had in a decade, and yet in all of those struggles, the 
American economy is spending more for energy than ever in the history 
of this country.
  I have not heard one speech on the floor about blame big oil, and the 
reason I have not is because I think there are a lot of Senators who 
are hiding at this moment or not wanting to address the fact they voted 
down a national energy policy some months ago and denied the American 
consumer a progressive Government policy that begins to promote 
investment and development in the energy sector of this country.
  At the close of business on Friday of this past week, the futures for 
crude oil in some categories went to over $38 a barrel. That will 
translate down the road to nearly $3 a gallon at the pump in the United 
States. I bet I am one of the few who will come to the floor today and 
speak about the crisis in energy that is draining this economy while 
all of that money flows to the Middle East because we are so focused on 
the Presidential fingerpointing that is going on at this very moment.
  Why don't we fingerpoint at ourselves for just a little bit? Why 
don't we blame big government and big politics at this moment for the 
failure of the Senate to address and pass a national energy policy for 
this country?
  When we talk about growth and we talk about the average American 
family's needs, have we told the American family this year they are 
going to spend between $400 and $500 more for gasoline than they did a 
year ago? No, we have not told them that. I am telling them that today 
because that is what they are going to spend.
  They are also going to spend a great deal more for a lot of their 
consumer goods that are made with petrochemicals. Carpeting in our 
homes today is synthetic and made as a derivative of the hydrocarbons 
or petroleum. Paint, plastics, all of those kinds of products are 
critically important to the American consumer, and the base resource 
that makes them is petroleum. Yet this country has had a ``no 
development'' policy for well over two decades. We have run around and 
stuck our heads in the sand hoping that somehow we could just get 
through this while the world was becoming an ever larger consumer of 
hydrocarbons.
  We have good conservation policies in place, and we would have better 
conservation policies in place had we passed a national energy policy. 
We would have pro-production policies in place and we would be sending 
the economy toward producing once again had we passed a national energy 
policy.
  My guess is bids would have gone out for the development of an Alaska 
gas pipeline to bring billions of cubic feet of gas to the lower 48 had 
we passed a national energy policy.
  We would have the legitimate right to say to the consumer that we 
have done something for you. Oh, yes, we were asleep at the switch for 
a decade fighting over the environment and fighting over the politics 
of who wins and who loses in energy production, but we cannot even say 
that today. We cannot even say we did the right things.
  I was doing a radio talk show this morning and somebody said: Isn't 
this the President's fault? I reminded them that the first priority of 
the Bush administration when they came to office 3\1/2\ years ago was a 
national energy policy, and while the other side is trying to subpoena 
the records and pick the books and argue that this was somehow a 
clandestine gathering, what they failed to recognize is the multiple 
recommendations made by this study group, headed by the Vice President, 
was early on and was a priority of this administration.
  We took those recommendations with the work the Energy Committee has 
done in the Senate, under the leadership of Pete Domenici, and we 
crafted a national energy policy. It was not about who was a winner and 
who was a loser. It was about getting this country back into the 
business of production so the American consumer would not have to pay 
$2.50 a gallon at the pump for their gas. But, once again, we got 
embroiled in politics.
  Somehow winners and losers wanted to be picked by some. Somehow we 
could not touch the pristine environment of ANWR of Alaska to bring 
that oil south to the lower 48 and to give us leverage power in the 
world market to tell the world producers that we were not going to be 
held hostage by their restrictive production that would drive up 
prices. We did none of that. Even though a majority of the Senate--
Republicans and Democrats--voted for a national energy policy, a few 
dragged their feet, we missed that magic number of 60, and a national 
energy policy did not go forth.
  What did I tell that phone caller today when he said, Shouldn't we 
blame the President? I said, no, he was the first to lead us. We simply 
would not follow because, you see, our politics was better or smarter, 
and, in this instance, it might well have been dumber. So blame 
Congress and blame the Senate and check the voting records of your 
individual Senators to see where they were on the development of a pro-
production, pro-conservation, multiple alternative, new technology 
energy policy for our country.
  As the summer goes on, all of our refineries are operating at peak 
capacity at this moment, but that which they are refining, nearly 60 
percent is produced by a foreign country, and those foreign countries 
are raking in U.S. gold today in the form of U.S. dollars like they 
never have before. All of our money flows overseas instead of 
developing in this country and producing jobs and improving our 
economy.
  Call your Senator and say: Vote on a national energy policy. It is 
right there in front of you. Quit playing politics with this issue. I 
believe the American consumer grows angry that the price they pay at 
the pumps is the highest price they have ever paid for gas. This time 
they have only one group to blame, and that is the Congress of the 
United States, for failing, at the urging of the President and at the 
urging of consumer groups and all who have studied this issue over the 
years, they have us to blame because we could not produce a national 
energy policy for this country. It is big politics and a failing 
Senate.
  While we continue the debate about the tragedies of Iraq--and we 
should get to the base of that issue, let's not forget there are other 
issues in this country that are very important to job creation, to the 
long-term economic stability of our country, and one of those will be 
the cost of energy and the cost of input into the economy of this great 
country.

[[Page 8790]]

  Let's pass a national energy policy. Let's pass the tax incentive 
package that is within the FISA bill. Let's get at it, Senate, and do 
the work we were sent here to do and allow this country to get back 
into the production of energy so we can challenge the world market and 
provide our consumers with that which they deserve: an abundance of 
reasonably priced energy and a variety of alternatives to pick from in 
this great marketplace of ours.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Montana.
  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak in 
morning business and use such time as I might consume.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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