[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Pages 14024-14025]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            GASOLINE PRICES

  Mr. CORNYN. I wish to talk just a minute about gasoline prices. I 
don't know of any subject I hear more about and more concern about from 
my constituents in Texas than high gasoline prices, whether it is 
parents driving their children to school or their afterschool 
activities or truckers who have to buy diesel, which is breaking the 
bank and which they are finding it harder and harder to pay for, or 
whether it is the airlines--Continental Airlines and American Airlines 
and Southwest Airlines, all three of which are located in the State of 
Texas. The price of aviation fuel made from petroleum products is 
making it almost impossible for them to do business under their current 
model, and prices are going up. It is becoming harder and harder for 
consumers to deal with.
  There is a way Congress could act to help bring down prices at the 
pump on a temporary basis, and it involves exploring for and producing 
more American energy. That is important from a number of perspectives.
  First of all, it is important from a national security perspective 
because right now we depend on 60 percent of our energy needs, our oil 
and gas needs, from foreign sources. What would happen if something 
were to occur that were to blockade the tankers that would prevent that 
oil from being transported? Well, it would mean in Iraq and Afghanistan 
that the Department of Defense vehicles owned by the Army, Marines, and 
others wouldn't have the petroleum products they need in order to 
function. It would exact a crippling blow against our economy. So why 
in the world would we continue to allow 60 percent of our dependency 
for oil to come from foreign sources when we have here in America 
enough oil under our own Outer Continental Shelf, in the oil shale in 
the West, and in the Arctic that could produce as much as 3 million 
additional barrels of oil a day? That is more than 10 percent of our 
current use here in the United States. As a matter of fact, it is a 
substantial amount--more than 10 percent, closer to 12 percent of what 
we use right here in the United States.
  We know the money we are paying--$135 a barrel--is enriching people 
such as Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, and he is using that money to buy 
weapons from Russia and to arm himself as he continues to take in and 
protect the FARC, a narcoterrorist organization, to the detriment of 
our friends in Colombia and stability in South America.
  But it is absolutely crazy for this Congress to have in place, as it 
does--and it has since 1981 or 1982--a moratorium or ban on developing 
more of our own natural resources and becoming more self-reliant rather 
than more dependent on foreign sources of oil. It is up to Congress to 
get out of the way and to allow America to become more energy self-
sufficient. We can do it, and only Congress can get that done. It is 
completely inexcusable when gasoline is at $4 a gallon on average to do 
that, to be the impediment, to be the blockade, to be the cause of so 
much pain at the pump and so much sacrifice and hardship among hard-
working American families.
  We understand it is more than just a matter of producing oil, but 
that is a first and necessary step because we know when it comes to 
transportation fuel, we depend upon petroleum products right now to get 
that job done.
  But we also know we need to be more fuel efficient and we need to 
conserve. Indeed, that is one area where Congress has acted by passing 
corporate fuel efficiency standards for our cars. But we know that is a 
long-term effort because the average age of a car in America--of the 
250 million cars in America--is about 9 years. So let's assume that, in 
2010, everybody started buying a new car. It would take a long time, an 
average of 9 years, before that entire fleet of cars would be replaced 
with these new more fuel-efficient cars. So that is a long-term 
solution but a necessary and important one for us to take.
  We also need to make sure we use good old-fashioned American 
ingenuity and technology to help us as we transition from this 
petroleum dependence we have now. It is not going to happen overnight. 
But for our friends who say that if we started pumping oil out of ANWR 
or the Outer Continental Shelf or from the oil shale in the West today, 
it would be years before that oil would get online. Unfortunately, that 
is where we put ourselves, as a result of the irrational moratoria on 
the development of American natural resources. It is going to take some 
time to transition into greater energy independence.
  But for those of us who are concerned about the environment, we know 
we are going to have to continue to look for cleaner ways to drive and 
to fly and in terms of our energy needs. That is why it is so important 
that we use good old-fashioned American ingenuity and technology to 
help us find a way--development of things such as plug-in hybrid cars 
that can be plugged in and would charge a battery that could drive 40 
miles or so before it would need to be recharged. That would help a lot 
of people who would only need such a vehicle, with a plug-in, to avoid 
petroleum products altogether. Then we would need to worry about the 
electricity, which is another story altogether.
  There are some who have said that abusive speculation in the 
commodities futures markets is the cause of the problem. That is 
something we need to look at very closely. As a matter of fact, today, 
a number of us--43 Senators--have introduced legislation that we 
believe will create greater transparency and will finance more ``cops 
on the beat,'' so to speak, when it comes to the commodity futures 
market, to make sure that doesn't contribute to the reason for prices 
going through the roof.
  So we need to produce more energy right here at home so we don't have 
to depend so much on those who wish us harm or those who would use the 
money from oil to buy weapons to kill us or our troops in Iraq or 
Afghanistan or elsewhere--or in the case of Iran, which we know is 
supplying troops and training to special forces in Iraq and Afghanistan 
and has threatened and, in some cases, is responsible for killing 
troops. We find ourselves dependent, in part, on countries such as Iran 
for the very oil we use to refine into gasoline to drive our cars. Does 
that make sense to anybody? It doesn't make any sense to me.

[[Page 14025]]

  I think what we need to do is produce more and use less oil as we 
transition into a cleaner, more independent energy economy. It would be 
better for our national security, better for our economy, and it will 
actually help us control prices so hard-working American families will 
not be spending all the money they may have, which they would like to 
spend on other things, or which they need to spend on other things but 
cannot because of the increases in the high price of gasoline and oil, 
and they have to spend on those.
  In conclusion--and I see the Senator from Utah, my friend, Mr. Hatch, 
who wishes to speak--if we will not do this when gasoline is $4 a 
gallon, will we do this when gasoline is $5 a gallon? If we will not do 
it when oil is $135 a barrel, will we do it when oil is $150 a barrel, 
or even higher?
  The solution is not to sue OPEC to get them to open the spigot even 
wider to increase our dependency on foreign oil. The solution is not to 
raise taxes, which we know will reduce American production, while 
allowing foreign oil sources, such as Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, and 
Iran, to continue to operate without those taxes. The solution is not 
to increase taxes and costs on the consumer, who is already paying too 
much. We have it within our power to do something that will actually 
help the American people when it comes to the thing that most of them 
care a lot about today and that is the high price of gasoline.
  Congress is the problem. It is high time our friends on the other 
side of the aisle, who control the agenda because they are in the 
majority, work with us to bring realistic solutions to this problem. We 
can do it but not if people play partisan games and refuse to cooperate 
on something that causes a lot of hardship to the average American 
family.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah is recognized.

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