[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Page 16128]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             ENERGY CRISIS

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, it appears that our Republican colleagues 
think they finally found a way. They think, with Americans from coast 
to coast facing huge gas prices, up to $4.70 a gallon in some places, 
they can score some easy political points off the energy crisis. They 
say that all we need to do is open our coasts for oil companies to 
drill and gas prices will go down. I should say that is what they did 
say. Now they say that is not enough. They say the energy crisis is so 
important that the Senate should stay on the issue and do nothing else 
until this problem is solved. We all know actions speak louder than 
words, and the Republican rhetoric has no basis in reality.
  This is not the first time Democrats have tried to address energy. We 
have tried on many other occasions. We have worked to try to lower gas 
prices before this latest energy crisis hit. In fact, Democrats have 
proposed plans to lower gas prices six times in the past few weeks. Six 
times, Republicans have blocked us, just as they are blocking us now on 
the speculation legislation. What has happened over those weeks? Gas 
prices have broken one record after another.
  Democrats proposed legislation to extend tax credits for innovators 
who are researching and producing clean, renewable energy to decrease 
our consumption of oil. Republicans said no. Democrats proposed 
legislation to roll back tax breaks on the oil companies--remember, 
last year they made $250 billion, oil companies that are making record 
profits while we pay record prices--and invest that money in renewable 
energy. But the Republicans said no. Democrats proposed a cap-and-trade 
system that would address global warming and provide billions of 
dollars of alternative energy and create hundreds of thousands of jobs. 
Republicans said no. Democrats proposed legislation to protect 
consumers from price gouging of already record-high prices. 
Republicans, of course, said no, because this would have been an 
opportunity to have the oil companies pay back some of the obscene 
profits they are making. Democrats proposed a renewable electricity 
standard which would save consumers billions of dollars through energy 
savings. Republicans said no. Democrats proposed legislation to go 
after OPEC for collusion and price fixing. But the Republicans said no. 
Democrats proposed legislation that would curb the excessive 
speculation of Wall Street traders who artificially bid up the price we 
pay at the pump. Republicans said no. Democrats proposed improvements 
to the LIHEAP program which helps senior citizens and the disabled with 
assistance to pay the cost of heating and cooling their homes. 
Republicans said no. Democrats even offered the one thing they have 
been talking about: drilling. Let's vote on drilling. But the 
Republicans said no. They didn't take our offer, yet they claim it is 
the panacea for the problems facing America today. They said no.
  The game they seem to be playing is this: Make the American people 
think they are willing to grind the Senate to a halt to deal with gas 
prices. The American people obviously can see the record.
  Republicans are having trouble finding out what they really want. 
Yesterday, out of the blue, came a new one. After all these years, they 
decided they wanted to drill in ANWR again, even though their 
Presidential nominee, John McCain, has said no on the drilling they 
have said they want to do. Maybe the one reason they have been a little 
hesitant is because their Presidential nominee, John McCain, has said 
it is only psychological; it is not going to help anything.
  The American people can see the record. We have tried. Democrats have 
offered a comprehensive set of solutions for the short- and long-term, 
and Republicans have offered nothing but talk. They have talked more 
about drilling. What they don't say is that their drilling bill 
wouldn't put a drop of oil in the marketplace for at least 12 to 15 
years. Even the Republican nominee for President, John McCain, has 
called the Republican drilling plan purely psychological. Democrats 
believe in increased domestic production through responsible drilling, 
but the American people deserve solutions a lot quicker than 12 to 15 
years.
  If Republicans truly believe their drilling legislation would solve 
the problem, why would they say no to an offer to have a vote on it? It 
doesn't add up. Or maybe it does add up.
  Fortunately, the American people are seeing clearly exactly what is 
going on. That is why a moderate columnist like David Broder today said 
that he has never seen a worse month for a Presidential candidate than 
what we have seen with John McCain this past month.
  It appears there is a lot of desperation going on here. While the 
Republicans keep talking--we have three filibusters going on as we 
speak--Democrats are trying to address a critical problem the American 
people are facing every day. Republican strategists have called the 
disingenuous Republican strategy a Hail Mary for the fall elections. 
Perhaps a 2-year Republican strategy of nonstop delay, obstruction, and 
slow-walking has put them in such electoral peril that a Hail Mary is 
all they have left. Their strategy is bad for the American people. I 
have no doubt that the American people will see what they are trying to 
do and, come this November, will reject it.

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