[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 18]
[House]
[Page 24239]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             ENERGY PRICES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Emanuel) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, we are in the midst of an energy crisis. 
Gas is at $3 a gallon, and utilities are now predicting that families 
could pay as much as 70 percent more to heat their homes this winter. 
Natural gas prices are so high that the Energy Department predicts that 
the average natural gas bill for every family will be about $350 more 
this winter. Home heating oil used by many in the Northeast has 
skyrocketed. But while American families struggle with sky-high energy 
bills, and oil and gas companies are facing an entirely different 
picture, an entirely different crisis, to be exact, what to do with all 
their profits.
  For example, yesterday Exxon Mobil reported that its profits 
increased by 75 percent in the third quarter alone; their revenues, 
more than $100 billion. Shell Oil said that their earnings increased by 
68 percent. ConocoPhillips' third-quarter earnings surged 89 percent, 
and BP reported a 34 percent rise in quarterly earnings.
  To summarize, as American families are struggling with massive energy 
bills, both at the pump and home heating, energy companies are reaping 
huge profits.
  Now, Henry Hubble, Exxon Mobil's vice president, said, ``You have got 
to let the marketplace work.'' As a Democrat, I could not agree more, 
which is why I oppose what my Republican friends try to do, which is 
provide the oil companies $16 billion in taxpayer subsidies. To quote 
again the executive from Exxon Mobil, ``You have got to let the 
marketplace work.''
  My view is we have got to stop corporate welfare in its worse take. 
If you are making $100 billion or a run rate of $100 billion, profits 
are at $9 billion for one quarter, the taxpayers should not be footing 
the bill, both at the pump and on April 15 when they are subsidizing 
corporate America, big oil. This is corporate welfare at its worst. The 
corporate oil companies should take their historic profits and use 
them, in my view, to execute their business plan. The taxpayers should 
not be subsidizing big oil's business plan. You are in the energy 
business. Drill for oil. Taxpayers should not be subsidizing it for $16 
billion.
  Remember, college grants, the Pell grant system for college education 
in this country is a little less than $12 billion a year. Our corporate 
subsidy, taxpayer subsidy, for corporate America for big oil is $16 
billion. It is more than we actually give for college assistance for 
people going to college. And they are making, just one company alone, 
$100 billion, $9 billion profit.
  Right now Americans pay twice. Once at the pump, once on April 15, 
subsidizing big oil.
  Again, Exxon Mobil's vice president, ``You have got to let the 
marketplace work.'' Therefore, give us back the money we are 
subsidizing you. That is not the free market when we are subsidizing 
corporate America. It is corporate welfare. It is time for corporate 
big oil to get off the welfare roles and start executing their business 
plan.
  While Congress subsidizes big oil to the tune of $16.5 billion, we 
have cut home heating assistance to the elderly. What Congress would 
subsidize big oil for $16 billion and cut home heating assistance to 
senior citizens? A Republican Congress, but of course.
  The energy bill we passed earlier this year contained $14.5 billion 
in subsidies to the energy industry. A few weeks ago we just had not 
done enough; in a refinery bill, a bill for oil and gas companies, 
which they did not even ask for, this Republican Congress gave them 
another $2 billion in subsidies.
  This week the Resources Committee marked up a bill which would allow 
oil companies to drill near the coral reefs of Florida and in the 
pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Yet at the same time, we are 
cutting the low-income heating assistance program that helps the 
elderly and those most vulnerable in our country. It is notoriously 
underfunded. As part of the energy policy Congress authorized an 
increase in funding to energy assistance to $5 billion. However, we 
only allocate $2 billion. Some of us voted to try to bring that up to 
snuff so we could do the full assistance for the elderly low-income, 
those most vulnerable, and we are underfunding it; therefore, a cut in 
the program.
  My view is it is time we stop subsidizing big oil and stop having the 
taxpayers who are very stretched, do not ask them for $16 billion when 
you have record profits throughout the energy industry and are cutting 
assistance to our elderly and most vulnerable. We can do better. We 
need a new set of priorities, and we need to change the direction of 
this country to reflect the values of the American people and their 
generosity.

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