Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act of 2007

Floor Speech

FLOOD INSURANCE REFORM AND MODERNIZATION ACT OF 2007 -- (Senate - May 13, 2008)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, one thing has been accomplished by the debate leading up to this morning's vote; that is, Congress finally--finally--has acknowledged the existence of the law of supply and demand. If we look at these two votes we are going to have this morning, first is the McConnell-Domenici amendment, of which I am proud to be a cosponsor, which would produce, if implemented, potentially up to 3 million additional barrels of oil a day from the United States of America--3 million--making us less dependent on imported oil from some of our Nation's enemies, countries such as Iran and Venezuela that are part of OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Alternatively, our friends on the other side of the aisle have proposed--and I will vote for it--a temporary suspension of putting oil into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. But how much does that represent? It represents 70,000 barrels of oil that would not be put in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and would be available on the open market as an additional supply of oil, which is then available to be refined into gasoline. I suspect it will have some modest impact on the price of gasoline at the pump, maybe 3 to 5 cents a gallon. But if we think 70,000 barrels of additional oil into the open market will be beneficial in terms of bringing down the price of gasoline, how much more beneficial would it be to have 3 million additional barrels of oil produced from our country out on the open market available for refining into gasoline to help bring down the price of gas at the pump?

I am pleased that our colleagues have recognized the importance of the law of supply and demand, something Congress has turned a blind eye to for lo these many years as we put so much of America's natural resources out of bounds when it comes to developing those resources, and, of course, we know what the consequences of that have been, with $3.71 average price for gasoline in America today and the price of oil on the spot market bouncing up around $125 a barrel.

I don't know whether this amendment, of which I am proud to be a cosponsor, could produce ultimately 3 million new barrels of American oil each day. I don't know whether it will get the requisite 60 votes. But if it does not, when gasoline is $3.71 a gallon and oil is $125 a barrel, I wonder if the same vote, if we have it again when gasoline is $4 a gallon and oil is $150 a barrel or when gasoline is $4.50 a gallon and the price of oil is even higher, at what point the Congress, the Senate is going to listen to the American people and say: We need some help; we need some relief.

Now that Congress has acknowledged the importance of additional supply in terms of bringing down the price at the pump, ultimately it is my hope our colleagues will vote, at least 60 of us, for the Domenici-McConnell amendment. I think the American consumers would be the beneficiary of that. I urge my colleagues to vote for the amendment.

I yield the floor.

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