OPEC

OPEC

Mr. SCHUMER. I would like to bring one other issue forward now that something has been announced, and that is the issue of OPEC. Tomorrow the OPEC nations meet. I have a letter that has been signed by 19 of my colleagues as well urging the President, today, to speak out strongly and publicly to get OPEC to back off their counterproductive policy to restrict the amount of oil that flows into the market and raise the prices. It is counterproductive because it is going to cause our economy to slow down and hurt everybody.

But where is the voice of our President? He went out of his way to create a $400 tax cut, to put money into the hands of average families to stimulate the economy. I was all for that part of his tax proposal. But now that tax cut is going to OPEC. By the end of the summer, the average American family with 2 cars will pay $400 more than they paid for gasoline because of this recent price rise in OPEC. It is taking the wind out of our economy.

OPEC is a monopoly-an oligopoly. It is killing America. We have a solution, which is the Strategic Petroleum Reserve which President Clinton did dip into after, frankly, I pressured him for 6 months. That brought oil prices down and they stayed down. Where is President Bush? What is his policy to deal with oil prices now?

He talks about the energy bill, he talks about ANWR. At best, whether you agree with it or not, that is not going to put more oil on the market for 5 years. What are we doing now, as OPEC drains dollars from the American family's pockets? There is no extra money to take the vacation, build the extra room on the house, or buy the new car. The President fiddles, frankly, while Rome burns, while oil prices go through the roof, not because of a free market but because there is a monopoly here that is manipulating price.

OPEC always said they would keep the price no greater than $28 a barrel. It is now about $10 more than that. Now, with the Saudi announcement this morning that they are going to constrict oil production further, it should go above $40 a barrel. That is a very bad sign for this economy and for the American taxpayer, the American family.

The President is silent. He has to tell his Saudi friends they have to come clean. He has a weapon, an ace in the hole at his disposal, and that is the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. In this letter, 19 of us urge him to speak out today before the OPEC meeting tomorrow and shake up the Saudis and shake up OPEC and tell them that, if they don't start producing more oil, we will use our Strategic Petroleum Reserve.