[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Page 9403]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             OIL SUBSIDIES

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I am happy to see the Republicans opening up 
to what Democrats have been saying all along--that cutting wasteful 
subsidies to Big Oil should be on the table if we are going to reduce 
the deficit. Yesterday, my friend, the senior Senator from Tennessee, 
said he would consider ending taxpayer subsidies for oil companies 
making record profits. I congratulate my friend, the senior Senator 
from Tennessee. Democrats agree. Handouts such as these to companies 
that made $36 billion in the first quarter of this year alone must be 
part of the discussion if we are going to get our fiscal house in 
order.
  As we decide where to cut, we will need to make some tough choices, 
but not every choice has to be difficult. If we are serious about 
reducing spending, ending tens of billions in taxpayer giveaways to big 
oil companies shouldn't be one of the difficult decisions we have to 
make.
  When the other side says the alternative is to end Medicare, slash 
Medicaid, and put millions of seniors at risk, the choice is that much 
clearer. We cannot take with one hand from those who can least afford 
it and give with the other hand to those who can. Before we end 
Medicare as we know it or eliminate Medicaid funding for nursing homes, 
as the Republicans have proposed, we should cut wasteful spending. 
During the course of a year, one in five Americans will be on Medicaid. 
The cuts the Republicans propose will affect real people--the elderly 
man in the nursing home, for example; the child missing her yearly 
checkup, as an example; the pregnant woman, as an example, whose baby 
depends on proper prenatal care; or the person with a disability, for 
example, who is able to live alone thanks to the helping hand Medicaid 
provides. These cuts will affect everyone else too. Cutting Medicaid 
simply shifts costs; it doesn't lower costs. Each patient who doesn't 
get the care he or she needs from a doctor today will get it tomorrow 
at three times the price in an emergency room, and we will all foot 
that bill.
  The American people have spoken loudly and clearly. They do not want 
to balance the budget on the backs of seniors, children, or the 
disabled. I am glad to see at least one of my Republican colleagues 
courageously breaking from the pack.
  Mr. President, would the Chair now announce whatever the business of 
the day is.

                          ____________________