[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 9762-9764]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             ENERGY PRICES

  Mr. SANDERS. Madam President, I concur with a lot of what my 
colleague from North Dakota said, and I applaud his leadership on this 
whole issue of outrageously high energy prices.
  A few weeks ago, I sent an e-mail out to constituents in the State of 
Vermont, and essentially I said: Please write back to me and tell me 
what these outrageously high gas prices and oil prices mean to you. How 
are they impacting your lives?
  From our very small State of 630,000 people, we received, as of this 
date, some 900 responses. Nine hundred families wrote to me to tell me 
the impact these extraordinarily high gas and oil prices are having in 
Vermont.
  As you know, Vermont is doubly hit by these high prices because we 
are a rural State and people have to travel long distances to get to 
work, to get to the doctor, to get to the grocery store, and with the 
weather sometimes at 30 below zero, people spend a lot of money heating 
their homes. Madam President, $4-plus a gallon for home heating oil has 
a huge impact on their lives.
  What I would like to do in the time I have is simply read some of the 
e-mails I have recently received from Vermont. Let me be very clear in 
saying that while the e-mails came from Vermont, these e-mails speak 
for millions of people throughout this country, perhaps especially in 
rural areas. It is just amazing that at a time when poverty is 
increasing and the middle class is collapsing these high gas and oil 
prices have just taken many people over the edge. We are hearing what 
their stories are about.
  As I have said on many occasions, I think we in the Congress are far 
too separated and isolated from the reality of American life. We are 
surrounded by a ring of well-paid lobbyists representing large, 
powerful multinational corporations, and the voices of the people do 
not ring out as clearly as they should in the Senate. Today I want to 
allow some of those voices to be heard.
  Let me start off with somebody from the southwestern part of the 
State of Vermont. This is what this person writes:

       I retired to this community on a fixed income, and now the 
     price of gas almost prohibits me from having any enjoyment. I 
     have to factor in the price of gas for everything I do. Most 
     of my medical appointments are at least 50 miles round-trip, 
     and the cost of gas is absolutely prohibitive. I do not know 
     how working people who earn less than $10 an hour are able to 
     afford the gas. Something has to happen as this is a crisis 
     not only in Vermont, but throughout the country.

  Here you see a story of somebody being impacted because they have to 
go to a doctor a considerable distance away.
  While we are on that subject, let me read an e-mail that came into 
Burlington, where our major medical center is. This story is 
interesting. Again, it tells you one of the side impacts of these 
outrageously high gas prices--what gas prices are doing. This is from 
Burlington, VT:

       My story involves my capacity as an oncology social worker 
     working with cancer patients in an outpatient clinic. I also 
     run an emergency fund for the cancer support program, which 
     provides funds for cancer patients in need during their 
     cancer journey, including initial diagnosis, surgery, and 
     treatment period in which they experience a significant 
     decrease in income during a medical leave.

  These are people dealing with cancer. They cannot go to work. Their 
incomes are declining. Then she writes:

       I cannot describe how devastating it has been for these 
     folks who need to travel great distances to get to and from 
     their cancer treatment and followup care with the way gas 
     prices have been. Many of these folks need to travel on a 
     daily basis to radiation therapy for several weeks, while 
     others come from surrounding counties every 1 to 2 weeks for 
     chemotherapy. It has had a tremendous impact on our ability 
     to provide the financial assistance through our emergency 
     fund to all those in need. Someone with cancer who has to get 
     treatment has no choice how many times they need to travel 
     great distances. They have to have reliable transportation 
     and thus need access to gas for their cars or other family 
     members' cars to get to their treatment and followup care. 
     This is becoming increasingly difficult as gas prices 
     continue to rise and our emergency fund cannot meet all of 
     the financial needs of these patients.

  How many people think of that? We all get upset and angry when we pay 
$3.79 or $3.80 for a gallon of gas, but here is a story where this 
price of gas is impacting the ability in rural States for people to 
actually get the cancer treatment they need.
  Here is another story that comes from northern Vermont:

       My commute is 630 miles per week. On average, I drive 
     nearly 900 miles per week. My wife also commutes 250 miles 
     per week. Two years ago, we spent between $500 to $600 per 
     month on gas. You don't need an MBA to figure out what we 
     spend a month on gas now. Our mortgage payment is less than 
     the cost of getting to work. How does this hurt all 
     Americans? We spend less on local goods and services. We wait 
     longer to fix problems with our cars. Is this doing further 
     damage to our environment? I need new tires and am scouring 
     the classifieds to find used tires. Is this putting my family 
     at risk? I don't know where this is going to end. How can 
     ExxonMobil possibly make $40 billion in profits alone? I just 
     hope that supposedly smart people in Washington [i.e., us] 
     will use all the tools in their tool boxes to stop this 
     insanity.

  Here is another letter. It comes from northern Vermont again:

       This is my opinion. Here in Vermont you know we face 
     challenges to heat our homes and commute to our workplaces. I 
     live in the town of Morrisville, and I travel 78 miles to

[[Page 9763]]

     work round trip each day. My car gets 30 miles per gallon, 
     therefore I spend roughly $10 a day just to commute to and 
     from work. With that in mind, it costs me $2,600 per year to 
     just get a paycheck. My wages have nowhere kept up with the 
     rising cost of gasoline, much less adjust for the rise in 
     heating fuel, food prices, increases in incidental 
     necessities such as tires, oil changes, et cetera.

  Once again, it is the working person and the burden that high gas 
prices are having on the ability of that person to get to work.
  Here is another story. This is also from northern Vermont:

       I am a working mother of two young children. I currently 
     pay, on average, about $80 a week for gas so that I can go to 
     work. I see the effects of the gas increases at the grocery 
     stores and at the department stores. On average, I spend 
     around $250 per week at the grocery store, and trust me when 
     I say I don't buy prime rib. I buy just enough to get us 
     through the week, and I can't afford to make sure we have 
     seven wholesome meals to eat every night of the week. Some 
     nights we eat cereal and toast for dinner because that's all 
     I have. My family has had to cancel our annual trip to the 
     zoo, and we make less trips to see our families in another 
     town due to the increase of the price of gas. The price of 
     gas has created a hardship for most average Americans. We 
     have less money to pay the living expenses which have also 
     increased.
       It seems as if it is just a rippling effect. I am really 
     scared for what the future holds for me and my kids because I 
     just simply cannot afford to live from day to day and I am 
     getting further and further in credit card debt just trying 
     to stay afloat.

  Another letter:

       I am a single mother of two daughters. The gas prices are 
     affecting my life tremendously. I have a full-time job in 
     Burlington but live in Richmond and it is getting so that I 
     cannot afford my bills such as electricity and phone so that 
     I can afford to drive to work every day. I live off from what 
     I make at work and I get some food stamps to help out. 
     Welfare does not consider gas as an expense, even though you 
     need it to get to work. Right now I am 2 weeks behind in my 
     rent and pinching my pennies as far as they will go just to 
     live a low-class lifestyle.

  Another story:

       Personally, my 90-year-old father in Connecticut has 
     recently become ill and asked me to visit him. I want to drop 
     everything I am doing and go visit him. However, I am finding 
     it hard to save enough money to add to the extra gas I'll 
     need to get there.

  Here is someone whose 90-year-old father is ill and doesn't know how 
he is going to be able to afford to fill up the gas tank to get there.

       I am self-employed with my own commercial cleaning service 
     and money is tight, not only with gas prices but everything. 
     I make more than I did a year ago, and I don't have enough to 
     pay my property taxes this quarter for the first time in many 
     years. They are due tomorrow.

  Madam President, on and on it goes. As I said, we have had about 900 
of these e-mails from the State of Vermont. We also get e-mails from 
around the country. If anybody is interested in reading these e-mails, 
they can do it at my Web site: sanders.senate.gov.
  That is the reality. We have the middle class which for many years 
has been shrinking. Since Bush has been President, 5 million more 
Americans have slipped into poverty; 8 million Americans have lost 
their health insurance; 3 million Americans have lost their pensions. 
That is what is going on for ordinary people.
  But--and we don't discuss this too often--the people on top have 
never had it so good. In fact, the top 1 percent is doing better than 
at any time since the 1920s. Senator Dorgan a moment ago proposed some 
ideas with which I concur, in terms of how we have to address this oil 
and gas crisis. I think we made some progress several weeks ago by 
passing legislation which would stop the bringing more oil into the 
Strategic Petroleum Reserve. That is a small step forward but an 
important step forward.
  Right now I know we have dealt with, and the House is dealing with, 
the issue of OPEC, how to deal with a cartel whose function in life is 
to limit production and artificially raise prices. Clearly, long-term, 
starting yesterday, we have to move this country away from fossil fuel 
and our dependence on foreign oil; move us to energy efficiency and 
sustainable energy. There is unbelievable and huge potential to do 
that. We have made some small starts, but we have a long way to go in 
energy efficiency and in adequately funding solar energy, wind energy, 
geothermal energy, biomass, and other forms of sustainable energy. The 
potential there is enormous if we are able to summon the courage to 
take on the very powerful lobbyists from the fossil fuel and automobile 
industries and move this country in the direction it should be going.
  Right now, while we move forward to break our dependency on fossil 
fuel and foreign oil, we cannot forget these folks from Vermont and 
around this country who, today, are in desperation as a result of 
gasoline prices at $3.80 a gallon, prices which will only go higher. 
There are several other things that, in my view, we need to do.
  For a start, while Americans are paying outrageously high prices at 
the gas pump, the oil industry, as most Americans understand, is 
enjoying recordbreaking profits. The American people simply find it 
very hard to understand how it could be that they can no longer afford 
to fill their gas tanks, while ExxonMobil has made more profits than 
any corporation in the history of the world for the past 2 consecutive 
years. There is no end to the greed.
  Last year alone, ExxonMobil made $40 billion in profits and rewarded 
its CEO with $21 million in total compensation. A few years ago, 
ExxonMobil gave its former CEO a $400 million retirement package.
  All over America, people cannot afford to heat their homes, working 
people cannot fill their gas tanks, but ExxonMobil had enough money a 
few years ago to provide its former CEO a $400 million retirement 
package and provide the current CEO with $21 million in total 
compensation.
  But ExxonMobil is not alone. Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Shell, and BP 
have been also making out like bandits, seeing huge increases in their 
profits. In fact, the five largest oil companies in this country have 
made over $600 billion in profits since George W. Bush has been in 
office. Last year alone, the major oil companies in the United States 
made over $155 billion in profits. Believe it or not, these profits 
continue to soar. There is apparently no end to the profitability of 
these companies. Recently, ExxonMobil reported a 17-percent increase in 
profits. Earlier, BP announced a 63-percent increase in profits. On and 
on and on it goes, the middle class getting decimated--can't afford to 
heat their homes, can't put gas in their tanks--and oil companies 
making outrageous profits.
  In 2006, Occidental Petroleum--not even one of the very major ones--
gave its CEO a $400 million compensation package for 1 year's work. 
They are simply sticking out their tongues, they are spitting on the 
American people, they are saying: We will do anything we want; $400 
million to the CEO in 1 year, and we don't care if you can fill your 
gas tank, we don't care if kids in Vermont are getting sick because 
their parents can't afford to adequately heat their home. That is the 
way it goes. We have contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to 
Congress. We have lobbyists all over the place. You can't do anything 
about it. That is what they are telling the American people.
  I hope that is a wrong assertion. I hope, in fact, that Congress does 
have the courage to stand up to these oil companies and impose a 
windfall profits tax. It will not be easy, but that is the fight we 
have to make.
  Furthermore, in addition to dealing with the greed of the oil 
companies, we must deal with the greed of speculation. The problem with 
dealing with speculation is that by definition, at least as is 
currently the case, everything takes place below the radar screen. They 
are not acting transparently, which is at the heart of what the problem 
is.
  What we do know is, the hedge funds have made huge amounts of money. 
The top 50 hedge fund managers earned $29 billion in income last year; 
50 managers, $29 billion. That is not too bad.
  We also know there are a lot of financial institutions investing 
heavily in oil futures and are driving up the price of oil in the 
process. Clearly, while it is a complicated issue--it is not an easy 
issue, and we made some progress in the ag bill by doing away with the 
Enron loophole exemption. Clearly, a

[[Page 9764]]

lot more thought and work has to go into that. But there are some 
experts who are arguing that literally 50 percent of the $125-per-
barrel cost of oil is a result of speculation and not actually the 
production of oil.
  The issue is not just addressing the crisis in high oil and gas 
prices. The issue is whether the American people will have any degree 
of confidence in their elected officials and in the U.S. Government. It 
is no great secret that President Bush is perhaps the most unpopular 
President--for good reasons, I should add--of any President in the 
modern history of the United States. Congress is held in equal 
contempt. I think the time is now, in the midst of this very serious 
economic crisis our country faces--which includes the high price of 
oil, includes our disintegrating health care system, includes a trade 
policy which allows companies to throw American workers out on the 
street and move to China, and many other issues--if we are to regain 
the faith of the American people, we had better summon the courage to 
take on these oil companies, these speculators, these hedge fund 
operators.
  Now is the time to do that. I certainly hope we will summon the 
courage to go forward.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Menendez). The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SALAZAR. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum 
call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. SALAZAR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in 
morning business for up to 5 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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