[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 15790-15799]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        WARM IN WINTER AND COOL IN SUMMER ACT--MOTION TO PROCEED

  Mr. REID. Madam President, I now move to proceed to Calendar No. 835, 
S. 3186, a bill to provide for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance 
Program, and I send a cloture motion to the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion to proceed.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       Motion to proceed to the bill (S. 3186) to provide funding 
     for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program.


                             Cloture Motion

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The cloture motion having been presented under 
rule XXII, the clerk will report the motion.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

                             Cloture Motion

       We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the 
     provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, 
     hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to 
     proceed to Calendar No. 835, S. 3186, a bill to provide for 
     the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
         Harry Reid, Bernard Sanders, Barbara A. Mikulski, Charles 
           E. Schumer, Christopher J. Dodd, Debbie Stabenow, Maria 
           Cantwell, Byron L. Dorgan, Richard Durbin, Patrick J. 
           Leahy, Patty Murray, John F. Kerry, Kent Conrad, 
           Benjamin L. Cardin, Jack Reed, Jon Tester, Thomas R. 
           Carper, Joseph R. Biden, Jr.

  Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum be 
waived.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Republican leader is recognized.
  Mr. McCONNELL. I say to my Senate colleagues, to the American people, 
there is both good news and bad news. The good news is we are now on a 
subject that the American people are interested in. The bad news is, it 
only deals with a very tiny part of the overall problem we confront.
  We know that over 80 percent of the American public believes we ought 
to expand domestic production of oil and gas, both onshore and 
offshore. We know a speculation-only bill, while interesting debate as 
to what part of the price of gas at the pump speculation involves, we 
know that alone is not going to deal with the core problem, which is we 
do not have enough supply of oil and gas.
  As the most famous rich Democrat in America, Warren Buffett, said: We 
do not have a speculation problem, we have a supply and a demand 
problem.
  As T. Boone Pickens, who has been liberally quoted on both sides of 
the aisle here, and has been in town this week, has repeatedly pointed 
out to us, his view is we ought to do everything we can to both expand 
domestic production and to conserve. But he too does not believe 
speculation alone has anything to do with the core problem.
  The dilemma we have now is that we have a very narrowly crafted 
measure that the majority leader has made impossible to amend, that no 
experts in the country think would have a real impact on the core 
problem. Senate Republicans find that unacceptable.
  The American people are pounding the table. They are angry as they 
gas up their cars every week and see the pricetag. They are saying: Do 
something and do something now that will make a difference. This is the 
biggest issue in the country since terrorism right after 9/11, and our 
response: A no-amendment approach. That is simply unacceptable and 
inconsistent with even the recent history of the Senate when preventing 
amendments by the minority has become all too common.
  Look back to last fall or last year. We did an energy bill on the 
floor of the Senate, an important energy bill that, among other things, 
raised the corporate average fuel economy of automobiles. We spent 15 
days on the floor. The price of gas at that point was $3.06 a gallon. 
It is a full dollar or so higher now. It was not the biggest issue in 
the country at that point. Although it was a big issue, it was not the 
biggest issue. We had 16 rollcall votes. We agreed to 49 amendments; in 
15 days, 49 amendments when the price of gas was $3.06 a gallon.
  In 2005, when this side of the aisle contained the majority, we had 
an energy bill, an important energy bill. The price of gas at that time 
was $2.26 a gallon, which we all felt was entirely too high then. We 
spent 10 days on the floor on that debate, we had 19 rollcall votes on 
amendments, and we adopted 57 amendments.
  Both of those measures ended up becoming law. They were clearly not 
one of those check-the-box exercises where you put everybody on record 
and move on. I think the American people would be appalled and will be 
appalled as they learn that the plan here is to not do anything serious 
about the biggest issue in the country.
  There is a lot of dodging and weaving going on. We know the Senate 
Appropriations Committee decided not to function out of fear that 
amendments would be offered relating to offshore drilling. The chairman 
of the Appropriations Committee, I gather, was rather candid about it: 
We are not going to meet because we might have votes on the No. 1 issue 
for the American people, which is to expand domestic supply.
  Now, we have said repeatedly on this side that we do not think 
expanding supply is the key. We think you should both find more and use 
less--do both. As T. Boone Pickens repeatedly told us this week, both 
sides of the aisle: You need to do all of these things. You need to do 
all of them quickly. ``Get about it,'' he suggests.
  I am sure he said to the Democrats, as he did to the Republicans, 
that he is 80 years old, he wants to see some results soon. He said he 
was running out of time. Well, the American people are running out of 
time too. So my suggestion is we proceed with this bill, the most 
important issue in the country, in a way that will get a result for the 
American people. A proven way to get a result, demonstrated last year 
when the Democrats were in the majority and in 2005 when the 
Republicans were in the majority, is to have a process that is fair to 
both sides, that allows all Members of the Senate to participate in 
writing a bill on an important subject.


                   Unanimous-Consent Request--S. 3268

  Now, in that regard, I have indicated to my friend the majority 
leader that I was going to propound a unanimous consent agreement that 
I think would be reasonable, related to the subject, and begin to move 
us in the direction of having an accomplishment and not a check-the-box 
exercise.
  Therefore, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate consider the 
pending measure in the following manner: that the bill be subject to 
energy-related amendments only; provided further, that amendments be 
considered in an alternating manner between the two sides of the aisle, 
first an amendment on one side, then on the other. I further ask 
unanimous consent that the bill remaining be the pending business to 
the exclusion of all other business other than privileged matters or 
items that are agreed to jointly by the two leaders. I ask unanimous 
consent that the first seven amendments to be offered on my side of the 
aisle by the Republicans, by either myself or my designee, be the 
following: an Outer Continental Shelf amendment, plus the conservation 
provision; an oil shale amendment, including a conservation provision; 
an Alaska energy production amendment, including a conservation 
provision; the Gas Price Reduction Act, which has 44 cosponsors; a 
clean nuclear energy amendment; a coal-to-

[[Page 15791]]

liquid fuel amendment, plus conservation; and a LIHEAP amendment.
  All this would do would be to indicate what the Republicans have in 
mind on those seven amendments related to the subject, and would give 
notice to the other side that were we permitted to do so, those would 
be the first seven we would offer.
  Therefore, I ask unanimous consent that that be adopted.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. REID. Reserving the right to object, the matters the 
distinguished Republican leader has outlined are part of their proposal 
that they offered before, I think they call it the Gas Price Reduction 
Act. Everything he has talked about here is part of that legislation, 
and it is part of an alternative we have also. Senator Bingaman has 
worked for more than a week with the assistance of other Senators on 
this side of the aisle coming up with different amendments which, of 
course, have the Alaska energy production. That is part of ours. We 
have the oil shale amendment as part of ours. We have the LIHEAP, of 
course, which is now or shortly will be before this body.
  It is very obvious that the Republicans, especially when they want 
this to be the exclusive matter we deal with, that is this energy bill, 
that they want this to go on, as a lot of things have this year, into 
oblivion. That is why they had 84 filibusters and we have had to file 
cloture 84 times.
  These are the first seven amendments. I hope everyone heard that; the 
first seven amendments they want to offer. We know that the drilling 
amendment is a subterfuge. We know that John McCain, the Republican 
nominee for President of the United States, has said it will do nothing 
for short-term oil supply. He said it is psychological. That is what 
the Republican nominee for President has said.
  We said what we wanted to do is have a vote on speculation, which is 
a very big deal. Now I know my friend keeps bringing up Warren 
Buffett's name, said he does not think speculation has anything to do 
with it. I have great respect for Warren Buffett. I consider Warren 
Buffett a friend. I have talked to him many times and have met with him 
on many occasions. By the way, he told me the best business he has ever 
had in his whole life is a furniture store in Las Vegas.
  We read into the Record today numerous scientists, economists, 
regulators, who said that speculation is from 20 to 50 percent of the 
cost of a barrel of oil.
  We believe that is an important issue. My friend said: It is only a 
tiny part. Only a tiny part? Twenty to fifty percent of the cost of a 
barrel of oil a tiny part? Remember, it is very interesting. It is 
interesting that their so-called Gas Price Reduction Act that they 
introduced with 42 cosponsors--part of that is a provision dealing with 
speculation. So speculation is not a tiny part.
  This morning, the distinguished Senator from New Hampshire said he 
thought there should be a vote on oil shale. I said: Fine, we will have 
one. He said he thought it would be great to have a vote on nuclear 
power. I said: We have not built a plant in 40, 50 years. I am sure 
that is not much of a short-term solution to the energy problem facing 
people buying gasoline in Las Vegas or Reno. But we said we would do 
that.
  So, Madam President, this is nothing more than what the Republicans 
have done from the very beginning. They are not concerned about 
speculation. Drilling, as their Presidential nominee has said, is only 
psychological. We want to do something to certainly focus on 
speculation.
  I would say, as LIHEAP is part of it, they are going to have that 
opportunity. We are going to take up LIHEAP. People have come to me and 
said they think this is an important issue. Well, join with Democrats 
because we also believe it is an important issue. They will not let us 
do anything on speculation. Maybe they will let us do something on 
LIHEAP.
  I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Well, Madam President, the good news is we are on the 
subject the American people are interested in. Republicans believe it 
is important to talk about the biggest issue in the country. We have 
agreed that speculation is something we are willing to take a look at.
  As the majority leader pointed out, it is part of the Gas Price 
Reduction Act. But we need to do a lot more than that, and we will be 
arguing during the pendency of this issue that we ought to open this 
bill, give all Senators on both the Democratic and Republican side an 
opportunity to turn this into a serious, comprehensive energy proposal, 
debated and amended, consistent with Senate tradition.
  That, we know, will lead to an actual law. What happens when you go 
through these expurgated, slimmed-down, check-the-box exercises is, you 
do not get anything done. The American people are out of patience. 
Maybe this is one of the reasons this Congress has a 14-percent 
approval rating, which makes the President's approval rating look 
pretty good. They sent us here to do something, and I think I can 
safely speak on behalf of the Republican conference that we are ready 
to do something about the most important issue in the country.
  We are pleased to be on the subject matter, and I see my good friend 
from Arizona on his feet.
  Mr. KYL. Madam President, might I just ask the minority leader to 
yield for a question?
  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I would be happy to.
  Mr. KYL. Madam President, just to clarify one thing the majority 
leader said, your unanimous consent request dealt with seven specific 
subjects that you would like to address by amendment. The majority 
leader indicated that all seven of those were part of a bill that 44 
Republicans had cosponsored.
  I would ask the minority leader, is that correct? Specifically, did 
that bill that Republicans have cosponsored include LIHEAP, which is 
one of the amendments, a nuclear amendment, which is another amendment, 
or an amendment dealing with the production in Alaska, specifically 
ANWR?
  Mr. McCONNELL. Well, Madam President, I would say to my friend from 
Arizona, of course not. Members of our conference, as we know because 
we worked very hard on this, believe that the four provisions of the 
Gas Price Reduction Act--offshore drilling, oil shale moratorium--I see 
the Senator from Colorado here--battery-driven cars--I see the Senator 
from Tennessee here--and an important provision on speculation are a 
good place to start.
  We would like to have that vote. But there are other members of our 
conference--I see the Senator from Alaska here who feels very strongly 
maybe this is a good time to debate and vote on ANWR or maybe a good 
time to discuss the proposal about which the other side has been 
talking about part of her State that is currently open that may or may 
not end up being productive.
  The fundamental point, I say to my friend from Arizona, is, everybody 
in the Republican conference believes, since this is the most important 
issue in the country, we ought to spend some time on it and try to get 
it right. That is what we ought to be doing.
  I see my friend from Tennessee on his feet. Does he have a question?
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Madam President, I wonder if the Republican leader 
would answer a question.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I am happy to yield.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Madam President, is it the intention of the Republican 
leader to cause the Senate to take up the issue of $4 gas prices and 
stay on it and debate it and amend it and come to a substantial result, 
including ways to increase supply and reduce demand, so we can say to 
the American people we have done our job?
  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I would say to my friend from 
Tennessee that is precisely what we had hoped to do. And that is the 
reason I outlined the way the Senate dealt with the broad subject of 
energy last year under a Democratic majority and 3 years ago under a 
Republican majority.
  If we want to make a law around here, the way you do it is you give 
both

[[Page 15792]]

sides an opportunity to amend and debate. That is not for the purpose 
of not going forward with a bill. That is for the purpose of going 
forward with a bill and getting a result. I think clearly I can safely 
speak for every single member of the Republican conference: We would 
like to get a result to make a difference.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Madam President, if I may ask a second question of the 
Republican leader. Has the Republican leader not from the very 
beginning said that the solution to $4 gasoline is both supply and 
demand; that we want to find more and use less; that, yes, we want to 
drill offshore, but we also want to make it commonplace to have plug-in 
electric cars and trucks, as an example, and that the major difference 
between us is that we are willing to find more and use less and the 
other side is not?
  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I say to my friend from Tennessee, I 
think I am hard pressed to think of a particular example of any 
conservation measure that virtually every Member of our conference is 
not in favor of. Every Member of our conference has said, as the 
Senator from Tennessee has indicated, that we would like to both find 
more and use less, and we are confident that we cannot have an 
accomplishment that actually makes a difference unless we do both.
  So I think the Senator from Tennessee is entirely correct. Our goal 
here is to find more and to use less and to actually make a law and 
make a difference rather than trying to make an issue.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Madam President, if I may ask a last question of the 
Republican leader. The Republican leader and I and many other Senators 
probably took economics 101. When I took it, the law of supply and 
demand had both supply and demand, finding more and using less.
  I wonder if the Republican leader knows of any movement in academic 
circles to repeal half of the law of supply and demand, and to say that 
the law of supply and demand does not anymore include supply?
  Mr. McCONNELL. The only time I heard that suggested was by some of 
our friends on the other side of the aisle who think maybe you can only 
do half of that. But I am unaware of any American people who believe 
that. The American people get this. The reason this issue has jumped 
way up the charts is because they understand the law of supply and 
demand. They understand we both need to find more and to use less.
  And I do not understand the reluctance here. I really do not. In a 
Congress enjoying a 14-percent approval rating, I do not understand 
what my good friends on the other side are afraid of. What is the 
problem? Why don't we join hands and do something?
  Every one of our amendments may not pass; we do not know whether they 
will. But what is the reluctance of the majority to tackle the No. 1 
issue in the country? I am perplexed by the strategy. I do not know why 
we should be afraid. We are all familiar with these issues. We wrestled 
with many of them in 2007 when we passed an energy bill. We did it in 
2005 when we passed an energy bill. Most people think both of those 
bills made a positive difference for the country. It obviously is not 
enough.
  If not now, when? When? Now is the perfect time to get started. And 
it is never a good answer to say if we do this or we do that it will 
not make a difference tomorrow. Almost none of these things make a 
difference tomorrow, unless collectively we do something that is so 
applauded by the rest of the world and by the markets that they think, 
my goodness, maybe these Americans are serious about getting on top of 
this problem and doing something about it.
  So that is our goal, I would say to my good friend, the majority 
leader. There is nothing tricky about it. There are no gimmicks 
involved. This is a serious effort and an overwhelming interest on our 
side to make a law--a law that will make a difference, and to do it not 
tomorrow, not 3 weeks from now, not in November, but now. The way 
forward toward an accomplishment for our country is to get started. We 
have the opportunity to do that.
  If my good friend on the other side would like to engage in further 
discussions off the floor about ways in which we can agree to sets of 
amendments that are fair to both sides and go forward, we are happy to 
do that. But we are relieved to be on the subject, and we think we 
ought to stay on this subject because the American people expect it of 
us.
  Mr. GREGG. Madam President, will the Republican leader yield for a 
question?
  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I will be happy to yield to the 
Senator from New Hampshire for a question.
  Mr. GREGG. Madam President, it seems to me that the Republican leader 
has outlined the process for getting this bill completed. He has listed 
seven amendments which are reasonable and which are significant because 
they involve--well, in the area of oil shale, over $2 trillion of 
potential reserves, in the area of offshore oil, literally years of 
reserves, and on the issue of nuclear power, a chance to produce a 
clean energy that does not pollute the environment and addresses the 
issue of clean energy.
  I presume the Republican leader--certainly, one of those amendments 
might be my amendment, and I would certainly be agreeable to a time 
limit. Would the Senator agree that we on our side would be willing to 
agree to reasonable time limits for debate on each of these amendments 
so there could be an orderly process which would have a time certain 
for completion of this bill sometime early next week?
  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I say to my friend from New 
Hampshire, of course we would be happy to agree to time agreements on 
our amendments. We want to go forward. There is no effort to slow this 
down. We want to make progress. Frequently, as my friend from New 
Hampshire points out, the way you make progress when you offer an 
amendment around here is, you agree to a time agreement. There is a 
certain amount of risk involved because you do not know whether you are 
going to win or lose, but you move forward.
  That, I assure my colleagues, is the way we handled the energy bill 
last year, it is the way we handled the energy bill in 2005, and it is 
the way to make a law and to make a difference for our country.
  So I would say to my good friend, the majority leader, that is where 
we hope we will end up, in a position where both sides can have their 
fair say on this important issue and just maybe come together and do 
something important for the American people.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader is recognized.
  Mr. REID. Madam President, my friend, the Republican leader, said 
this is a good place to start. That is the problem with the minority. 
They have a lot of good ideas to start but never finish anything. That 
is the way it has been. They have had 84 filibusters this year.
  This is really kind of like the ``Twilight Zone.'' The Republicans 
are saying now that they want to drill in the Outer Continental Shelf. 
The Republican nominee for President, John McCain, says that is 
psychological and won't help. Now, today, to show they are not tracking 
very well with John McCain, they come and say they want to drill in 
ANWR. Now, John McCain is opposed to that. He stated so publicly. So 
they have two issues, one of which the Republican designee for 
President says is just psychological, but they want to have a vote on 
that. They also want to start drilling in ANWR--something their 
Republican nominee for President totally opposes.
  My friend from Tennessee said: Don't we want to do something about 
the $4 gas prices? Please, Madam President, let's not laugh out loud. 
We have brought matters before this body in detail more than once to do 
something about gas prices long ago. The Presiding Officer played an 
essential part in one piece of legislation. It was called the Consumer 
First Energy Act. That matter was brought up in June of this year. It 
was a good piece of legislation.

[[Page 15793]]

It said we should tax the windfall profits of these oil companies, 
which last year, by the way, made $250 billion. It repeals the section 
for major oil and gas companies that were using foreign tax credits on 
oil that they shouldn't have. It suspends the filling of the Strategic 
Petroleum Reserve. We had to force the President to do that. That part 
of it was ultimately adopted. It punished price gouging. The American 
people understand that.
  So to say we haven't done anything on gas prices is not because we 
haven't tried. Again, our Republican colleagues have said: Well, that 
is a good place to start, but we are not going to do anything about 
that.
  We also talked, even in that legislation, about excessive speculation 
in the oil markets. We also had another piece of legislation the 
American people identified with which was recommended as part of our 
Consumer First Energy Act by Senator Kohl of Wisconsin and Republican 
Senator Specter of Pennsylvania. Why not make OPEC--this huge 
organization which is in control of most of the oil in the world 
today--why not make them subject to the Sherman Antitrust Act. That is 
what a Democrat and Republican thought was important, and we put it in 
this bill. So no one needs to talk about us not trying to do something 
about gas prices. We have been trying for a long time.
  We also believe the American people understand that global warming is 
here. We tried to move to that. The Republicans said: No, we are ready 
to start, but that is a little tiny thing. We want to have an open 
amendment process. Then, bang, a couple more cloture motions.
  The goal of the Republicans is to stall, and that is what they are 
doing, and they are pretty good at it. I asked the Democratic whip to 
meet with his counterpart last week to see what we could do about 
having some amendments to move forward on this speculation bill. The 
distinguished Republican whip told the Democratic whip they had 28 
amendments and they would probably have more.
  This is not a serious effort to legislate; this is a serious effort 
to stop everything. They are willing to stop housing again. We are 
going to have to go through all of this process of housing, causing at 
least 45,000 or 50,000 people in the next few days to get foreclosure 
notices. That is part of what they are stalling on tonight. We know we 
are going to move to LIHEAP. LIHEAP is something important. We must do 
that, because there are senior citizens around this country, disabled 
people, who are having a difficult time in the summer, but winter makes 
it brutal. We want to move to that. They are stalling us on that. That 
is three more cloture motions we have had to file, so now I guess we 
will be up to, by the end of this week, 87 filibusters.
  I know there are a lot of Senators here who wish to speak. I think it 
would be appropriate that we enter into some kind of order if people 
want to speak here so it is not a jump ball.
  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, would the majority leader yield for a 
question?
  Mr. REID. I would be happy to yield to my friend.
  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I wish to ask the majority leader if--I 
don't question the sincerity of the Republican side or the minority 
leader--but did we not say to the Republican side that if this is a 
critical, timely issue, can you gather together your Republican 
Senators--all 49--and come up with your package that could include all 
of the elements that are mentioned here, and did we not make the offer 
to the Republican side that that would be called to the floor for 
debate and for a vote in a timely fashion?
  Mr. REID. I say to my friend, the answer is yes. But now they have a 
new deal. The new deal is they want to do some interesting things that 
haven't been brought up before. They want to drill in ANWR, even though 
it was resoundingly defeated in the Senate a couple of years ago. Even 
though McCain is opposed to it, they are in favor of it. They want to 
do something that is psychological. Not only do they not want to move 
with their package that we thought was what they wanted to do--they 
introduced it, whatever the name of it is--now they want to split that 
off piece by piece and have one piece, two pieces, three pieces, five 
pieces, whatever is in it, so they can stall some more.
  So what I say to my friend is, yes, we were willing to have a vote on 
their package, and we would have our package. We are very proud of our 
package.
  Mr. DURBIN. If the majority leader would yield through the Chair for 
another question, if this issue is so critical and time is of the 
essence, why do they have 28 amendments plus? Why do they come to us 
and say we will start with 7; there may be more?
  It would seem to me if time is of the essence, they would want us to 
move in an orderly debate to two energy proposals--one on their side, 
one on our side--have a debate, take a vote, and make sure it is done 
so we can adjourn as scheduled a week from Friday.
  Mr. REID. I say to my friend it is obvious that the situation is they 
think this is a tiny part of what we are doing. Speculation, which is 
20 to 50 percent of the cost of a barrel of oil, is a tiny part, and 
they will skip that for now and go on to something else. Drilling? The 
McCain special, the psychological cure for the problems of this 
country, they decided maybe they don't want to have a vote on that. 
Maybe what they will do is add on 27 other things.
  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, if I could ask the majority leader 
through the Chair, as I understand it we have 9 days left--assuming 
that there is not much to be achieved later today--9 days left before 
we are supposed to adjourn. We are trying, before we adjourn for the 
August recess, to deal with several outstanding measures: the housing 
bill, which is now back over from the House of Representatives to try 
to deal with America's housing crisis; the LIHEAP bill, which the 
Senator has said will provide for the elderly and disabled, help with 
their air conditioning and heating bills; the tax extenders, an 
important part of our energy picture so that we have our Tax Code 
friendly to those who want to promote solar power and wind power and 
similar renewable and sustainable sources; and, of course, we can't 
overlook the item that keeps us in through the weekend, the so-called 
Coburn package--relating to the Senator from Oklahoma--some 40 bills 
dealing with issues as serious as child pornography and missing 
children; these elements too.
  I ask the Senator from Nevada, the majority leader, how is it 
conceivable we could have an open amendment process with an endless 
number of amendments, according to the Republican side, and possibly 
deal with all of these important issues?
  Mr. REID. I say to my friend through the Chair, you can't. I didn't 
mention--and I appreciate very much the distinguished Democratic whip 
mentioning this--also they have turned us down on alternative energy. 
They voted that down, the extenders, which included a 6-year tax credit 
for solar and all of those good things that Boone Pickens and others 
said we must move to.
  In addition to turning us down on energy price relief, the Consumer 
First Energy Act--they turned us down on that--they turned us down on 
the extenders. They do not want to legislate. They obviously aren't 
concerned about the 85,000 people who are going to be given foreclosure 
notices in the next few days. They obviously are not concerned about 
moving forward on LIHEAP quickly. They obviously are not concerned 
about setting up a registry for Lou Gehrig's Disease so people can find 
out how to cure that disease. They are not concerned about the 
Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Act. Those are all being stalled 
because of this subterfuge of what is going on here.
  Madam President, as I said, there are a number of people on the 
floor. I know the Senator from New York has been waiting, and the 
Senator from Illinois has been staying here a while. I see now the 
Senator from Colorado. I am wondering if we can enter into some kind of 
a consent agreement. The suggestion has been made that Senator 
Voinovich be recognized for 10 minutes, followed by Senator Clinton for 
15 minutes, and then we will alternate

[[Page 15794]]

back and forth. I think it would be appropriate if we did 10-minute 
timeframes, so I ask unanimous consent for that to be the case.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Reserving the right to object, Senator Voinovich 
wishes to have 20 minutes and Senator Allard wishes to have 15 minutes.
  Mr. REID. OK. The Senator from Ohio needs 20 minutes? We were going 
to have 10-minute blocks, but do you think you could do it in 15?
  Mr. VOINOVICH. I probably won't use it. I would like to not have it 
cut off. That has happened too many times here.
  Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that Senator Voinovich be 
recognized for up to 20 minutes, followed by Senator Clinton for up to 
20 minutes, and following that, we go in 15 minute-blocks. Senator 
Allard would be next recognized and someone on our side would be next.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Senator from Ohio is recognized.
  Mr. VOINOVICH. Madam President, I rise to speak today about one of 
the top issues facing our Nation: the skyrocketing price of gasoline, 
something both the majority and minority leader have been talking 
about.
  Throughout our Nation's history, our strength and identity have been 
marked by moments that demanded great action in the face of grave 
threats. We saw this in 1776 when our Founding Fathers declared their 
independence from the oppressive hand of a mighty empire, and again in 
1961 when President Kennedy responded to the growing strength of the 
Soviet Union and their successful launch of Sputnik by announcing the 
Apollo Project to put a man on the Moon in 10 years.
  In 2008 we are faced with a grave threat. Today, across America, 
people are hurting. If you are looking for the root of their pain, you 
don't have to look any further than their home energy bill or their 
local gas station. It is not just our people who are in grave danger, 
it is our Nation as well.
  While I know Americans are hurting from our addiction to oil, I am 
not sure they fully realize the extent our national security--and, 
indeed, our very way of life--is threatened by our reliance on foreign 
oil. Every year we send billions of dollars overseas for oil to pad the 
coffers of many nations that do not have our best interests at heart, 
and some such as Venezuela, whose leader has threatened to cut off the 
oil. In fact, in 2007, we spent more than $327 billion to import oil, 
and 60 percent of that--or nearly $200 billion--went to oil-exporting 
OPEC nations. In 2008, the amount we will spend to import oil is 
expected to double to more than $600 billion. Now, let's put that into 
perspective. In 2008 we are going to spend $693 billion on our defense, 
and now we are sending $600 billion overseas to some folks who don't 
like us.
  There is no question that our dependence on foreign oil has serious 
national security implications, and we don't talk about it enough. In 
addition to funding our enemies, as I explained, we cannot ignore the 
fact that much of our oil comes from and travels through the most 
volatile regions of the world.
  A couple of years ago I attended a series of war games hosted by the 
National Defense University. I saw firsthand how our country's economy 
could be brought to its knees if somebody wanted to cut off our oil. In 
2006, Hilliard Huntington, executive director of Stanford University's 
Energy Modeling Forum, testified before the Senate Foreign Relations 
Committee that based on his model:

       The odds of a foreign oil disruption happening over the 
     next 10 years are slightly higher than 80 percent.

  Eighty percent.
  He went on to testify that if global production were reduced by 
merely 2.1 percent due to some event, it would have a more serious 
effect on oil prices and the economy than Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
  Our dependence on foreign oil is made even more troubling when you 
consider our Nation's financial situation. Today, 51 percent of the 
privately owned national debt is held by foreign creditors--mostly 
foreign central banks. That is up from 6 years ago. Foreign creditors 
provided more than 70 percent of the funds that the United States has 
borrowed since 2001, according to the Department of the Treasury. Who 
are those creditors? The three largest are China, Japan, and the OPEC 
nations. This is insane. It has to stop. We cannot afford to allow the 
countries that control our oil and our debt to control our future. 
Think about that. The same people who have us right where they want us 
in terms of oil now almost have us right where they want us in terms of 
our debt. If they want to put the two together, they can strike a 
lethal blow to our economy and to the American people.
  I am going to be brutally honest with folks. The future of our 
country I think is in jeopardy. We cannot continue to transfer our 
wealth overseas to this degree without expecting serious consequences. 
Rather than addressing these national security concerns, we have been 
living the life of Riley and have allowed the environmental movement to 
run wild. They have gone and sued every which way to Sunday and all the 
while ignored our energy, economic, and national security interests.
  We have let them get away with it. We have let them get away with it 
because oil was cheap and so Congress felt no urgency to act.
  I have to tell you something. Oil is not cheap anymore. For 10 years, 
I have been a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, and 
for 10 years I have tried to coax the committee into harmonizing our 
energy economy, environment, and security. The committee has refused to 
do it. Now, as I predicted, the chickens have come home to roost. 
Americans, today, demand action and that we come together in a 
bipartisan fashion to solve this crisis. I am glad we finally have come 
to an agreement to move forward and debate this issue on the floor. I 
hope we can continue to work together to address the wide range of 
amendments that I believe could improve this bill.
  I have to say, I didn't follow all of what our leaders were talking 
about, in terms of how this is going to be handled. I wish to let 
people know I have been involved in the debate on energy since I have 
been in the Senate. First, in 2003, we were on the floor for 6 weeks 
and didn't get anything done. Then we came back in 2004 and spent a 
great deal of time, and nothing happened. Then we came back in 2005, 
with the Energy Policy Act, and spent 10 days on the floor and 19 
rollcalls and 57 amendments.
  I believe the American people want their Senators to debate this 
issue on the floor of the Senate, give us the right to make amendments, 
and let's vote up or down on them; let's go at it and have a robust 
debate. Hopefully, after it is over, some consensus will come back, as 
we did in 2005 and 2007, so people will feel we have, for the first 
time, stopped bickering and tried to address our attention to something 
that will make a difference in their lives.
  As you know, oil is not easily found or substituted. It will remain 
an integral component to our economy in the shortrun. We must make 
investments today that will help us achieve our goals of tomorrow. I 
believe this is what we must do: Find more and use less. We must 
increase our supply, reduce our demand through alternative energies, 
and conserve what we have. We must carefully avoid the smoke-screens 
that cloud our path to real solutions.
  Some people are saying the speculation bill is a smokescreen. There 
is legitimate debate about that issue, but that is not the only issue 
we should be debating. Some smart people are saying that, including 
Robert Samuelson, who recently wrote:

       Speculator-bashing is another exercise in scapegoating and 
     grandstanding.

  Paul Krugman wrote in an op-ed:

       The hyperventilation over oil-market speculation is 
     distracting us from the real issues.

  That same issue also came up with Boone Pickens. I was at the hearing 
he attended in the committee. I think we can all agree this is a 
complicated issue, with many moving parts. That is

[[Page 15795]]

why we have to look at the issue comprehensively and find solutions to 
combat this crisis from all angles. In the end, we must not forget the 
bottom line is about supply and demand.
  Let's talk about supply. In order to stabilize our Nation's energy 
supply, we must enact policies to increase the development of domestic 
fuels.
  While these resources will not physically come online for a number of 
years, moves to expand development will send a clear signal to the 
market that we are serious about meeting our future energy demands and 
immediately begin to drive down the cost of oil because investors will 
know that gas will not be worth as much in the future and will 
therefore sell it off today, lowering the cost immediately.
  The fact of the matter is we have more energy resources than any 
other area of the world. I chaired a committee a couple weeks ago and 
it was amazing to me. They showed a chart. We have more oil reserves 
than any other place in the world. Most of that is in the shale oil out 
in the Western United States. Some say it is too expensive to get, over 
$100--we are not sure yet. Boone Pickens testified and said that in 10 
years, if we don't do so, the cost of oil could be $300 a barrel. The 
fact is we have to understand that the majority of our oil resources 
are locked up. Eighty-five percent of our offshore acreage and 65 
percent of our onshore acreage is off the table.
  It is interesting. I have been saying that if the President goes over 
to see King Abdallah and says: Give me some more oil, the King should 
say: Why should I give you my oil? The supply is almost the same as the 
demand and demand is growing. Why don't you go home, Mr. President, and 
use the oil that you have in the United States of America? Why don't 
you drill in the Outer Continental Shelf and move east in the Gulf of 
Mexico? You have rigs down there right now. Yet with 4,000 of them 
during Katrina, there wasn't any oil spill during that period of time. 
I understand you have some shale oil out in the West--800 billion 
barrels of oil--that is available, and perhaps even 2 trillion, in 
terms of reserves. You have lots of coal, and you could use that to 
create oil. You have some friends in Canada who have 185 billion 
barrels of oil in the tar sands, and someone in your Congress has made 
it almost impossible to bring the tar sands down from Canada, who are 
friends, neighbors, and they share your values.
  It is interesting; when we talked to Pickens about this, he said: 
When I was in Saudi Arabia and talked to these guys, you know what they 
said to me? Go after your own oil. You know, once your oil is gone, 
that is a great resource. Go after yours.
  In a nutshell, I think that we need to go on and do the very best we 
can, in an environmentally sound way, to get at the oil we have 
available to us as a country.
  I was thinking about this. If, in 10 years, we had this shale oil out 
in the West, and it proved to be what everybody says it can be, instead 
of us being at the bottom of the barrel, we would be at the top. We 
might not have to use it, but we would be able to look out around the 
world and say: You know what, folks, we have a lot of oil. What you did 
to us, we could do to you if we wanted to.
  But that is not the real answer. The real answer is what I call the 
second declaration of independence. In the second declaration of 
independence, we would basically say we are going to be oil 
independent. Tell your kids and grandchildren that. We are going to do 
it like President Kennedy did. Remember when the Russians sent Sputnik 
up and we didn't like it? President Kennedy said to the American people 
that we are going to get this done in 10 years. By golly, we saw a man 
from Ohio land on the Moon.
  I know this: We have wonderful, smart people in this country. One of 
the ideas I have, in terms of an amendment, would be that if we did 
exploration or we lifted the moratorium on the Outer Continental Shelf 
exploration, what we would do is take the lease money and put it into 
the research we are going to have to do on batteries, which I think, 
ultimately, are the ones, because you don't need an infrastructure with 
fuel cells, and even with Boone Pickens' oil or natural gas, you have 
to have a pump there. But with a plug-in vehicle, all you do is come 
home at night and stick it in the plug and you are all set. You don't 
have to worry about whether the gas station will have a pump to take 
care of it.
  The fact is we need more money to do this. The Department of Energy 
has good programs, but they don't have the money to take care of it. We 
can say to the American people--on those leases, by the way, we have $9 
billion this year, and that is a lot of money--we are going to let you 
go out and explore, and you are going to pay us for these leases. By 
the way, we are going to take that money and use it so we can become 
oil independent in this country. That sounds, probably, idealistic. But 
the fact is we have to do something creative around here. We know we 
don't have a lot of money. The national debt is $9.4 trillion.
  But somehow we have to come together and say we are going to do two 
things: go after what we have available to us, and we are going to do 
everything we can to be independent from relying upon foreign sources 
of oil. We recognize this is not just a problem of high gasoline costs; 
this is a problem about the national security of the United States of 
America. This is more than just, well, $4 a gallon.
  Two years ago, I went over to that National Defense war games. I 
walked out of there, and I was concerned about what could happen to our 
country if somebody decided they are going to shut off our oil.
  The problem today is, if you look at the demand for oil and the 
supply, it is about equal. Boone Pickens said that in his testimony. We 
have the supply about where the demand is and demand is going up and 
the supply isn't there. So one of the things we have to do as a country 
is let's do more with our own. Let's find more. We can tell the 
American people it will not happen overnight, but we are going to do 
this so that down the road we are not going to be at someone's beck and 
call or at their mercy. In addition, it is going to allow us to stop 
sending money overseas to countries that don't like us.
  Can you imagine that we get 11 percent of our oil from Venezuela and 
Chavez down there, who is talking about cutting off the oil and trying 
to get the South American countries to all organize against the United 
States of America? This is a big deal.
  It is finding more, using less. It is also doing everything we can do 
for conservation. These are simple things. I have a 2000 Ford station 
wagon. It has a little dial there that I can tell how many miles I get 
per gallon. I have to tell you, in the last 6 months, I have been 
paying a lot more attention to that. I have found that if I drive at 
about 57 miles per hour, I can get 2 to 3 more miles per gallon. I 
don't get there as fast, but I am saving on gas. My daughter Betsy--
every time she needed something, she would jump in the car and go out 
and get it. Now she makes a list, and they only go out once. My son 
Peter now works 10 hours a day for 4 days a week instead of 5 days. 
That saves gas. There is a lot that we as Americans can do to cut back 
on the amount of oil we are now using.
  I think it is time we all work together, in a bipartisan fashion, and 
harmonize our energy, our environmental needs, our economy, and 
national security. Can you imagine how the American people would 
rejoice if they saw Republicans and Democrats come together and say we 
are going to work this out on their behalf? Our numbers are pretty bad. 
I can tell you--and I am sure the Chair understands this--I am out in 
Ohio all the time. Do you know what I hear? Why can't you stop the 
bickering? Why are you so much more interested in partisan politics?
  Some have heard me say this before. I was mayor of Cleveland, working 
with 21 Democrats. I had to work with the most powerful Democratic 
leader they ever had in the city. We decided to work together on a 
bipartisan basis. Then I went down to Columbus as Governor, with the 
most powerful speaker

[[Page 15796]]

ever, Vernal Riffe, whom they built and named a building for. They put 
up a bust of him there that I had to genuflect to before I got to my 
office. We decided to work together and not talk about our differences. 
We decided to find the things that would bring us together.
  Let's go to the environmental groups, let's go to the people 
interested in the economy, let's go to the people who are interested in 
energy, let's go to the people who are interested in our national 
security and say: You know what, we have a symbiotic relationship, you 
environmentalists, you people over here; let's work together, let's do 
something special, let's restore people's faith in our system in that 
we are capable, Republicans and Democrats, Americans, to come together 
and really do something significant for not only ourselves today but, 
more importantly, for my children, and more important than that, 
posterity--my seven grandchildren.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Casey). The Senator from New York.
  Mrs. CLINTON. Mr. President, there is obviously a lot of discussion 
and even frustration on the floor, certainly from our side of the 
aisle. It appears as though there is not going to be a meeting of the 
minds on this important legislation.
  It is deeply disturbing because as we have been speaking today, in my 
State of New York, a lot of people finished work, started driving home, 
looked at their gas gauge, and realized they were going to have to stop 
and fill up either for tonight or for going to work tomorrow. They 
experienced what people are experiencing across America: the shock of 
the rising gas prices which in New York are now an average of $4.27 a 
gallon. That is more than $1 higher than a year ago. Every extra dollar 
per gallon costs the average family of four an extra $1,500 a year. 
That is $1,500 that can't be saved for college or retirement. That is 
$1,500 that can't be used to buy groceries, clothes, or school 
supplies. That is $1,500 that can't help pay for health care or house 
payments. That is $1,500 that the people I represent don't have. It not 
just lying around waiting to be used or spent on some luxury. It really 
goes to the heart of whether people are going to be able to meet their 
daily obligations.
  Statewide in our State, every dollar that gas prices increase costs 
the New York economy $6 billion in added expenses for our drivers. That 
is $6 billion that can't be used to grow local economies, to support 
local businesses or stimulate new jobs.
  Our farmers are hurting as higher energy costs shrink profit margins, 
even with higher market prices. Our commuters and our truckers are 
hurting. Tourism is hurting. I am hearing from New Yorkers every day 
who depend on tourism at local marinas, for example, where the money 
has dried up.
  Meanwhile, we are sending $1.7 billion a day out of our country, more 
than $600 billion a year. We know where that money is going. It is 
going to places that are unstable, to governments that use our dollars 
against us, our allies, and our interests around the world.
  Clearly, we need a short-term strategy and a long-term strategy. That 
should be self-evident. In the short term, we have to lower these 
prices and get relief to the farmers and the truckers, the small 
businesses, the hard-working families. In the long term, what is 
required is nothing short of an energy revolution. But there is no way 
for us to do that energy revolution unless we have the political will 
to begin acting now.
  I believe this debate is too important to be sidetracked by slogans 
or proposals such as opening our coastal waters to drilling. So if the 
question is, as it should be, what can we do to help lower gas prices 
right now, drilling is the wrong answer. It will do nothing right now. 
It is literally a shell game or an ExxonMobil game. It is designed to 
serve the political interests of vulnerable Republicans and the 
financial interests of profit-rich oil companies. Average Americans 
will not see a dime. That is not just my opinion. The Bush 
administration's own study found that drilling would not have an impact 
for more than 20 years, and in 20 years, the impact on prices will be 
insignificant.
  If the question is, as it should be, what can we do as a nation to 
end our dependence on foreign oil and begin to harness clean, renewable 
energy, drilling is the wrong answer again. Even if we drill for oil 
off our east and west coasts, the most oil we could generate, when the 
rigs come online in the year 2030, is 200,000 barrels a day. We import 
12.4 million barrels a day; 200,000 barrels is barely a drop in that 
barrel.
  I heard one of my colleagues, the Senator from Washington, Ms. 
Cantwell, speaking on the floor earlier today, say that 200,000 barrels 
a day could be achieved right now by increasing the pressure in the 
tires of the cars and the trucks we drive.
  So what are the answers? First, how do we help reduce gas prices 
right now? That is what my folks are asking me. They want relief now, 
not next year or in 30 years but now.
  I believe we can lower gas prices in the very near term by taking 
smart, practical, sensible steps to address rampant oil speculation. We 
have all heard recent testimony from financial experts, oil industry 
executives, the airline industry, consumer advocates--virtually 
everyone has said that speculation in oil futures is driving up prices 
beyond what supply and demand justifies. Some experts believe 
speculation accounts for as much as 50 percent of the current price of 
oil. Others argue it is less. But many experts still agree it is having 
a significant impact.
  I recognize there are companies that use oil and need to use futures 
markets to hedge against price spikes. All of us in this Chamber 
believe in free and open markets. But when speculation is allowed to 
run roughshod over the economy, with little oversight and even less 
transparency, when backroom deals line the pockets of speculators while 
sending gas prices soaring, literally taking money out of the pockets 
of consumers, then we have to do something. We have to ensure that our 
markets are honest, open, fair, transparent, and accountable. That is 
why I support granting the Commodity Futures Trading Commission greater 
authority to regulate trading in these markets.
  I urge my Republican colleagues to join in this effort. We could pass 
a bill tomorrow and have it on the President's desk before the recess 
that would immediately give agency watchdogs new tools to crack down on 
unfair, unbridled, unregulated speculation.
  While we are relieving pressures on the markets as a whole, we need 
to target relief directly to people who are struggling. I am proud to 
support $2.5 billion in energy relief to low-income families in New 
York and across America. It is shameful that after all the hand-
wringing about gas prices and energy prices, Republicans in the Senate 
blocked this bill last week. We need to move ahead with this 
legislation, and I hope we will do so before the August recess.
  Second--and this question is tougher--how do we break the bonds of 
the fossil fuel economy? I believe America will and it must embrace 
this historic challenge because it is a historic opportunity. We can 
create at least 5 million new jobs, green jobs, we can tackle climate 
change, and we can end our dependence on foreign oil.
  Last year, we passed landmark legislation to increase fuel economy 
standards for the first time in 30 years. That will save millions of 
barrels of oil a day. It is an important step forward, but what we need 
is a giant leap.
  I have proposed a $50 billion strategic energy fund paid for by 
eliminating tax breaks for the oil companies and making sure they pay 
their fair share for drilling on public lands. The fund could be used 
to support the deployment of wind, solar, geothermal, biofuels, and 
other clean energy technologies available right now. The fund would 
invest in new ideas and new research to encourage our best and 
brightest to think outside the box and outside the tanks.
  But that is just the beginning. Let's create the right tax incentives 
to promote renewable sources of electricity production. That is 
something on which Al Gore and T. Boone Pickens

[[Page 15797]]

agree. If that is not consensus, I don't know what is.
  Unfortunately, Republican opposition in the Senate prevented the 
passage of energy tax reform, and the American economy is paying the 
price. One study found that blocking these kinds of tax incentives will 
cost 116,000 U.S. jobs and nearly $19 billion in U.S. investment in 1 
year alone, while we fall further and further behind in the race to 
lead the world in clean energy technologies.
  Let's accelerate the development and deployment of plug-in hybrid 
vehicles by investing in research and consumer tax credits. Electricity 
is generated nearly 100 percent from domestic sources, and we have 
enormous untapped renewable resources we can use to create electricity 
without contributing to climate change. A recent study showed that a 
vehicle powered by electricity releases one-third less global warming 
pollution into the environment than a gas-powered vehicle even if the 
electricity comes from mostly coal-fired powerplants. This will save 
the American people money. According to one estimate, to travel as far 
as you would on $4-a-gallon gas, you only need $1 of electricity, and 
that is a bargain.
  We don't need to create a whole new infrastructure the way we would 
for natural gas or hydrogen. A recent study by the Pacific Northwest 
National Laboratory found that 70 percent of the 220 million cars, 
light trucks, SUVs, and vans on the road today could be run on power 
drawn from existing powerplants and grids. This is an important point. 
Drilling may produce 200,000 barrels of oil each day at most in 2030, 
but if we used electricity to power our passenger cars by moving toward 
plug-in vehicles, we would save 6.5 million barrels of oil every single 
day, fully half of our oil imports. So let's move toward a stronger, 
smarter, more flexible electricity grid that increasingly relies on 
wind, solar, and other renewables, while employing smart-grid 
technology to reduce peak demand and conserve energy.
  These are solutions that will work. They are solutions that embrace 
the challenge instead of ignoring it or postponing it, solutions that 
harness our creativity and talent that have the potential of creating 5 
million new, good green-collar jobs. It is the calling of our time. It 
is, as one of my colleagues and friend on the other side said, the Moon 
shot. There isn't anything we can't do if we make our mind up to do it. 
That is who we are. We are Americans. We solve problems. So enough of 
the fatalism and the defeatism and more of that can-do spirit to tackle 
this problem.
  We know President Bush and Vice President Cheney have a different 
approach. The oil companies say drill, and the President and the Vice 
President say, how deep? I don't think that is the smartest, most 
effective answer, and I hope we will be able to work out a way forward 
between our two sides.
  I know my colleagues on the other side have a very strong view, as we 
do, but the American people are depending on us to choose a different 
course.
  So let's cut through all of the talk, let's cut to the chase, let's 
try to cut out the politics, and let's take those bold steps that will 
relieve pressure now on gas prices at the pump and oil prices in the 
open market, and let's lead our Nation to embrace the great next 
American endeavor--a national effort to change the way we produce and 
use energy. It will serve our economy, it will strengthen our security, 
and it will bring us together as a Nation. And we sorely need that.
  I look forward to working with my friends on the other side to come 
up with solutions that will actually work now. Give us the opportunity 
to make it clear to the American people we can act, we can see results, 
and we can move forward together.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Colorado.
  Mr. ALLARD. Mr. President, when I first ran for the Senate in 1996, 
my position was that we needed to have a broad-based supply of energy 
for the State of Colorado and that Colorado had the resources and the 
technology which could help contribute to the energy needs of this 
country. I said that because we have lots of renewable energy and we 
have lots of natural resources.
  NREL, a Federal research laboratory located in Golden, CO, does 
splendid work and it is their sole purpose to move the technology and 
the science of renewable energy to the marketplace. In addition, they 
did some basic research. We also have universities in the State of 
Colorado that have contributed a lot to helping develop the technology 
we use in renewable energy.
  We look at the resource side in the State of Colorado. We have 
abundant sources of wind. There is a wind area that goes through the 
central part of the United States, down through Montana, Wyoming, 
Colorado, and hits parts of Nebraska and Oklahoma, then goes into 
Texas. We are known for that resource. Coloradans have been willing to 
utilize wind energy, and we see now wind generators developing and 
growing throughout the State of Colorado.
  Our tourist boards brag about the fact that 97 percent of the days we 
have in the State of Colorado you can see the Sun. So we have lots of 
sun in the State of Colorado. We have it at a higher altitude. It means 
you can have some pretty efficient solar panels. I was one of the first 
ones to use the new technology. We have had passive solar, but now we 
have the more active solar, which is the solar panel.
  In Colorado, we have opportunity for biofuels. Agriculture is a 
strong part of our economy in the State of Colorado.
  We have geothermal. We have parts of the State of Colorado that 
provide an opportunity to use the ground to heat or to even cool your 
home or your business.
  I know the environmental community doesn't like to recognize this 
renewable source, but we have hydroelectric dams in Colorado because of 
our altitude and the steep drop we get through our streams. It is a 
very practical source of energy within the State.
  In addition to that, we have a rich source of natural resources that 
come out of the ground. Obviously, there is oil and gas in the solid 
and liquid form. We have an abundant source of natural gas along the 
western slope of Colorado--probably one of the largest reserves of 
natural gas in the world. And today we have many oil and gas companies 
that are very active in the western part of Colorado to provide this 
valuable resource.
  We are a good source of uranium. So if we go to nuclear power, 
Colorado is going to play a role in that.
  We have coal. But it is not just plain coal, it is clean coal. It is 
coal that frequently gets sold to communities in the East, which have 
soft coal, which tends to be more polluting. So they come to buy 
Colorado and Wyoming coal because it is hard and it will help them meet 
the clean air requirements the Congress has passed.
  We have oil shale, and it is a developing resource we have in the 
State of Colorado. It shows lots of promise. In fact, oil shale at one 
time was in the State of Colorado but it was promoted purely by the 
Federal Government. Now, without taxpayer dollars going into it, the 
industry said: Look, there is enough opportunity in oil shale that we 
are going to put in our resources. So we have companies in Colorado 
that are putting in millions and millions of their own resources to 
develop this particular source of energy in the State of Colorado.
  Of course, I have always felt that conservation was a viable solution 
that everybody should look at, and Colorado is particularly sensitive 
to the need to conserve energy. I was one of the cofounders of the 
Renewable Energy Caucus here in the Senate and have encouraged Members 
to join that and get their staffs involved so we can better understand 
how to develop renewable energy.
  My position all along has been that we need to have a broad base of 
energy not only to meet the needs of my State but to meet the needs of 
this country. So when we get into this debate, I am flabbergasted that 
we have Members in the Senate who feel we can only come up with one 
solution to our energy problems. I think we need to come up with a 
multitude of solutions for our

[[Page 15798]]

energy, and that means we shouldn't take anything off the table and 
that all those sources of energy I mentioned from the State of Colorado 
are viable resources. We need to be sure we make those resources 
available in order to meet the needs of this country in an 
environmentally sensitive way. And Coloradans, obviously, take a lot of 
pride in their environment, so these technologies have been developed 
in the State of Colorado in a way that has minimal impact on our 
environment.
  I was very pleased when the minority leader stood up this evening and 
mentioned that oil shale should be an important part of our 
consideration when looking for solutions to the energy problems we have 
in this country, where we have $4 a gallon gas at the pump.
  I was struck also by the argument that 20 to 50 percent of our 
problems with energy is speculation. That is contrary to testimony from 
experts I have heard in committee. Now, I don't know where those 
experts came from, but let me tell you about the experts I heard 
testifying in committee. There was a witness representing the Commodity 
Futures Trading Commission. They deal with futures markets. They 
regulate the futures markets and they monitor the futures markets for 
the very thing we are talking about here, which is manipulation of the 
markets, and manipulation of the market is a Federal crime. You can go 
to jail for that. So that is part of their mission.
  We heard from the SEC--the Securities and Exchange Commission--
experts from their organization talking about whether there was 
manipulation of the market. These are the experts we have who monitor 
what is going on.
  We also heard from the Chairman of the Federal Reserve.
  They all agreed on one thing: They did not see any indication in the 
figures and the facts they had which suggested there was a manipulation 
of the market. They said: Yes, there is speculation, because you have 
to have some degree of speculation for the futures markets to happen 
and for the stock markets, and the Senator from New York made that 
point in her comments a few minutes ago. But they also said we need to 
monitor the situation closely, because we don't feel as though we have 
gathered all the facts, and I would agree with that. I think we do need 
to be very concerned in today's market about the possibility of 
manipulation, but to say it is 20 to 50 percent of the problem? I don't 
believe that is going to hold water.
  Our problem, in my view, is supply. We need to deal with issues where 
we think we can increase supply. I was pleased the minority leader 
mentioned looking at increasing our supplies from offshore, on the 
Outer Continental Shelf, and from oil shale, and from conservation 
issues, such as electric cars. Also, we need to be sensitive about 
speculation. These are issues we could bring together a consensus on 
the Republican side. We have some people who are pushing hard for 
nuclear power and pushing hard for drilling in ANWR, but they didn't 
develop a consensus.
  I am proud to be helping, to be a part of the solution, and I fail to 
see how the package that has been produced by the Democratic side of 
the aisle addresses the supply problem. Raising taxes on companies has 
an adverse impact on the market. It doesn't increase supplies. Dealing 
with things such as the Strategic Petroleum Reserve has a minimal 
impact on the total market and the total world supply. It is minimal. 
After we had our votes here on the strategic petroleum supply and 
everything, guess what. Prices continued to climb. We weren't able to 
have any effect on that.
  Price gouging? Obviously, we need to take a look at that. But one of 
the things I have noticed that has made a difference is when this 
President said: Look, we need to take the moratorium off drilling in 
the Outer Continental Shelf. That action alone by the executive branch 
was enough to make investors look out in the future and think that 
maybe the price of oil and gas is going to go down. So now what we have 
been seeing since that announcement is the price of oil and gas is 
going down.
  I am here today to actually address some of the myths regarding oil 
shale regulation moratoriums. The very first myth is that oil shale is 
a myth. It is not. It is a reality. We have been spending years in the 
State of Colorado developing technologies to be able to, in an 
environmentally sensitive way, extract that valuable resource out of 
the ground. It has incredible potential to help the United States 
during a time of energy need. Oil shale in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming 
could yield 800 billion barrels of oil for the global market. Some 
estimates have gone as high as 2 trillion, but we are looking at 8 to a 
little over 1 trillion that they think has a legitimate chance of being 
extracted out of the ground, and at a much lower price than we are 
getting at today's prices on a barrel of oil. That is more than the 
proven reserves of Saudi Arabia and would clearly help drive down 
prices in America.
  Other countries are developing their oil shale. It can be done in 
Australia, China, Estonia, and Brazil. All these countries produce oil 
shale. The United States is behind these countries because we require 
cleaner, more efficient, and better regulated development. But we are 
prevented from even beginning to plan how we can utilize this resource 
by stopping the regulation process dead in its tracks.
  Despite attempts to assign motives, proponents of oil shale do not 
see it as a quick fix. I fully understand we are at the beginning 
stages in the process of utilizing and benefiting from our oil shale 
reserves. But I must point out that we won't even be able to use our 
800 billion barrels of oil potential as a slow fix if we don't get 
started, and we need to get started now.
  Since December of last year, the Department of the Interior has been 
prevented by Congress from even issuing the proposed regulations under 
which oil shale development could eventually move forward. Instigators 
of this prohibition want to continue the delay for another year at 
least.
  We have heard claims that the Department is under a frenzied rush to 
organize a fire sale of development leases. I think it is ridiculous to 
consider the multiyear oil shale effort as frenzied. The recent efforts 
started in 2004, and included congressional debate and passage of the 
2005 Energy Act, years of planning and years of studies, research and 
development, and a draft environmental impact statement issued last 
December. This has not been a frenzied rush and there hasn't been any 
attempt to organize a fire sale.
  When attempting to sensationalize this process, opponents never make 
it clear we are simply trying to lay the groundwork on how to offer 
this resource for development. When those who are trying to stop oil 
shale say we are not ready to move forward with commercial oil shale 
leasing, and point out that Chevron believes a full-scale commercial 
leasing program should not proceed, I have to say: True, and completely 
irrelevant. In that vein, I heard my friend and colleague from Colorado 
earlier today read excerpts from the BLM draft oil shale regulation 
report. Quote after quote seemed to suggest that oil shale requires 
more work, but he did not mention that we aren't even trying to lease 
yet.
  The Secretary of the Interior, a former Member of this body, said 
this week it would be 2015 before we have a full-scale production. 
Assistant Secretary Allred said this week that ``commercial development 
of oil shale will not begin until technologically viable.''
  So the point is we need to have the rules and regulations to get 
started. Then we can phase in for the development phase. But right now 
we have stopped everything dead in its tracks. You can't even move 
forward because of the current policies of this Congress. The fact is 
the moratorium is, at this point, stopping the way forward whereby 
industry, local officials, affected communities, and the world market 
would assess and prepare for the upcoming development of this massive 
resource.
  We are not proposing a full-scale leasing program for this year or 
this decade. We are not there yet, and the moratorium is not stopping a 
full-scale

[[Page 15799]]

commercial leasing program. The reality is it has stopped an 
administrative process that will allow us to see how our energy 
resources can be best utilized.
  Before I finish here, I feel I must point out how strange it is that 
developing regulations for oil shale, a technology we have been 
exploring for decades, can be labeled as unproven and harmful by many 
of the same people who supported the absurdly complicated, wholly 
bureaucratic scheme of cap and trade for greenhouse gas emissions. This 
straitjacket on the entire U.S. economy would cost billions and 
billions of dollars and had no workable examples, antecedents, or 
precedents. Yet allowing western land managers to move forward with the 
regulations for how to utilize oil shale is too dangerous?
  Let me relate to my friends here on the floor an experience I had in 
the Interior Committee as the top Republican. I worked with the 
chairman of the Interior Subcommittee on Appropriations. We had a bill 
put forward and we worked out our differences. It was ready to go--it 
was yesterday. Then after our meeting, 4 or 5 hours later, maybe 3 
hours later, I was notified that we were not going to have any more 
appropriations this year.
  It was not Republicans who were stopping the process in the 
committee. It was not the Republicans on the House side who stopped the 
process over there when they tried to propose amendments in their 
Appropriations Committee to provide more supply.
  This issue needs to come to the floor. We need to have open debate. 
We need to have an opportunity to produce amendments to support supply. 
It is not Republicans who are stopping the process. I can tell you from 
personal experience as an appropriator that it was not Republicans who 
stopped that process in committee. That was a directive that came down 
from higher up.
  I have to say here that what I see happening on the floor today is 
nothing more than an attempt to confuse the issue, to confuse the 
listeners to this debate as to how important supply is to the welfare 
of this country. I think we need to drill more and we need to use less. 
That would have been reflected in the Republican package of amendments 
we talked about.
  I encourage the Democratic leadership on the floor to rethink their 
current policies because I think the American people want to see us 
move forward. They want to see us put partisanship aside. They want to 
see something done about what they are paying at the gas pump. They are 
feeling the pain at $4 a gallon.
  Mr. President, I thank you for granting me an opportunity to spout 
here on the floor, and I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the 
quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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