Energy Policy Act Of 2005

ENERGY POLICY ACT OF 2005 -- (Senate - June 22, 2005)

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Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent we return to consideration of amendment No. 805, a previously pending amendment.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The amendment is now pending.

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I will address this amendment. As I understand it, we might be able to call for a vote shortly because I will not speak for that long.

Madam President, I rise today offering an amendment that will express the sense of the Senate that the Federal Government should take long overdue action to curb the record-high gasoline prices that are plaguing America's consumers at the pump.

We know there are two aspects to the energy problem we face in America. If anything, the more important is the long-term problem, and there we need conservation and new energy sources and new exploration. In my judgment, at least, this bill does a tiny, little bit of that, not close to enough of what we need, particularly on the conservation side.

But we also have a short-term problem. That short-term problem is the record-high prices of gasoline. It is caused by a number of things: Obviously, increasing demand here in America and worldwide, China and India, in particular, but at the same time, it is also caused by the fact that we are up against a cartel, OPEC, and OPEC manipulates the production of oil.

If OPEC were in the United States, if those 11 countries were 11 companies, they would be brought up on antitrust laws. They play havoc with the gasoline markets. A few months ago, while demand was climbing, they cut back production by a million barrels. Realizing they had overdone it, even from their own point of view, they then asked their members to increase production by 500,000 barrels a day. But that was a paper reduction. It did not really come into the markets.

So the bottom line is this: We have a serious problem in terms of OPEC. Many think we are powerless to deal with it in the short term--for the long term, as I mentioned, there are ways to deal with it--but I do not believe that is the case because we have an ace in the hole; that is, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. It is now full. It has not been full in a long time. There are 700 million barrels of oil, or close to that, sitting in the Louisiana and Texas oil flats.

If we were to strategically use that oil in a swap, which would not decrease the amount of oil in the Reserve but would be a tool to bring down prices, and then we would buy back the oil or have the oil replaced in this swap when the price comes down so we would actually put more oil into the Reserve than when we started, we could do a lot of good for drivers in this country.

The last time the Strategic Petroleum Reserve was used--and it can be used, by law, for this; President Clinton did it in October of 2000, after I spent a lot of time importuning him to do it--prices went down considerably. I have no doubt, if the sense of the Senate resolution is adopted and the President follows it, that prices would go down again.

Madam President, I see my good friend from New Mexico is here. I am told it would be his preference that we have a vote by 12:10. So I will only speak for another 3 or 4 minutes.

Madam President, I would like to offer another amendment, not speak about it, but just lay it down, and then give the remaining 4 or 5 minutes to my colleague from New Mexico, and then we would have a vote. If that is OK with the Senator from New Mexico, that is what I would propose we do.

Mr. DOMENICI. Madam President, I say to the Senator, could we try, in that arrangement, to give me 5 minutes, even if we go over a minute or 2 beyond 12:10?

Mr. SCHUMER. Great. I will try to keep my remarks brief because I have spoken about it before.

Mr. DOMENICI. The other amendment, have we seen it or know anything about it?

Mr. SCHUMER. Yes, it has been filed.

AMENDMENT NO. 811

Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the amendment be laid aside and we return to the pending business, which is amendment No. 805.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

Mr. SCHUMER. Thank you, Madam President.

Now, so we have this ace in the hole, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which has been used before; it is not a long-term solution. But right now OPEC calls all the shots. They know that they can, more or less, set the price, particularly at a time of rising demand. If we were to strategically use, if you will, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, we could break OPEC's resolve, break OPEC's will, and actually deal with the problem of high gasoline prices in the short term. It is virtually the only way to do it.

So I would say to my colleagues, we cannot order the President to do it, so this is simply a sense of the Senate that says we should do it. I believe drivers throughout America--whether they are driving trucks thousands of miles or driving kids to school or anything in between--are looking at us to see if we will do something. This amendment signals our desire and ability not to simply take it on the chin over and over again from OPEC but, rather, to use our strategic weapon, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, as it has been used before, to both lower gas prices and let OPEC know we have good cards in our hand that we can lay on the table and use.

With that, Madam President, since the amendment has been discussed before, and this is an issue I have been involved with for years and years, I will, in the interest of time and getting a vote on this amendment quickly, yield the floor so my colleague from New Mexico might respond.

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