Making Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for the Fiscal Year Ending September 30, 2006--Continued

MAKING EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2006--Continued

BREAK IN TRNASCRIPT

ENERGY

Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I come to the floor and join my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who have been here for the better part of today, discussing the President's comments this morning about energy legislation and about price gouging and about the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission investigation of energy prices.

Many of my colleagues here in this body know how important this is, and how important it is that we move forward. Yet I think we have actually been investigating for months. The fact remains that we need to do a more aggressive job in looking at the issue of price gouging. Fifty-seven Senators here supported legislation in November of last year, giving the tools to the FTC, the attorneys general, and to individuals who are responsible at the Department of Justice to investigate price gouging. It is that same legislation that I think would help us in moving forward today, giving consumers confidence as they head into the summer driving season that we are doing everything in our power to get serious about a Federal price gouging ban and that we are going to make it a Federal crime.

This legislation would create a new ban on price gouging during national energy emergencies, giving the President authority to declare that emergency. It would give the Federal Trade Commission and State AGs and the Department of Justice the ability to levy civil and criminal penalties for proven price gouging up to $3 million and 5 years in jail. And, on an ongoing basis,
it would put in place a new ban on market manipulation and giving false information to the FTC or the Department of Justice.

If you think about it, it is similar to some of the requirements for those involved with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and the standards they are required to meet. This bill also gives the FTC the authority to levy fines up to $1 million for each violation of market manipulation, that is the market manipulation and false information prohibitions in this legislation.

Some people would say $1 million for price gouging doesn't sound like a lot of penalties, but this is $1 million for each violation of the market manipulation ban. If you think about it, in the context of the market manipulation that is being discussed right now in the Enron trials, on an ongoing basis there were probably hundreds of instances of market manipulation related to Enron.

My colleagues and I offered this price gouging legislation on the floor and it received 57 votes, so I think it is time the Senate comes together on a very aggressive approach to tell consumers that we will protect them this summer. The reason I say it is imperative we do this now is because for the last 5 years in the West we have suffered through the aftershocks of the western energy crisis. That is, we have suffered the consequences in my State of the market manipulation that Enron engaged in. And five years later, really, we have gotten very little relief from Federal regulators on that issue.

What happens during periods of dysfunctional markets, where there is a lack of transparency, is that many people are hurt. Businesses are hurt, individual consumers are hurt, even school districts are hurt. We had one school district in Washington state that basically had to pay $2 million in additional energy costs because of Enron and manipulated energy prices, and thereby ended up not hiring teachers or buying books.

All this leads to a simple and inescapable conclusion. And that is, when it comes to energy commodities that power our economy, we have to be very aggressive at protecting consumers. We need to do everything in our power right now at the Federal level to put us on the right course and to fashion legislation that will help protect consumers now.

If you think about the President's request, he is saying the Department of Justice and the FTC should investigate. We do not even have the authorities and remedies in current law that would help in pursuing these cases and bring these individuals or corporations to justice if market manipulation is found. So I encourage my colleagues to move quickly on legislation that would give the Federal government the true tools we need to investigate market manipulation and to pursue remedies on behalf of consumers. Let's not wait several months into the summer season, as consumers are already being hurt at the pump, to come to this conclusion.

Since we have already had 57 Senators, a majority of the Senate, support this legislation, why not pass it out of the Senate and give consumers the confidence that, as they hear the earnings reports from oil companies in which they are making billions in profits, we are not going to give them a pat on the back. Instead, we are going to give a helping hand, to protect American consumers at the pump this summer, as these prices are expected to continue to rise.

UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST--S. 1735

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Commerce Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. 1735 and that the Senate proceed to immediate consideration of that legislation, that the Cantwell amendment which I am sending to the desk be considered and agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, that the bill be read three times and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, without intervening action or debate.

Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I object.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.

Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I hope my colleagues will consider this. This Senator will continue to be vocal on passing Federal legislation to make price gouging a crime. I hope this is legislation that we can take up in the next several days, or at least in the next weeks, so we are giving consumers before the Memorial Day recess the confidence that we have serious teeth in Federal legislation to protect them at the pump.

I yield the floor.

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