High Gasoline Prices

Floor Speech

HIGH GASOLINE PRICES -- (Senate - July 16, 2008)

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I want to talk as well about high gasoline prices. I agree with my colleagues that this is the No. 1 issue of the day when it comes to domestic policy.

Frankly, as we talk about the housing crisis, the subprime mortgage crisis, hopefully, our economy will work through this difficulty with the collective efforts of the White House and Congress. But, frankly, I am worried the most that unless Congress acts to lift the moratorium on the Outer Continental Shelf, the oil shale, and other sources of oil here at home, then it will be high gasoline and high energy prices that will plunge our Nation into a recession.

As bad as people feel the economy is going right now, I believe it can only get worse, unless Congress acts responsibly to deal with the causes of high gas prices. It is within our grasp to have a positive impact and bring down the price of gasoline at the pump.

I think it is important for the American people to understand that the consequences of the last election in 2006 meant that the Democrats--our friends on the other side of the aisle--are in charge. As the Senator from Tennessee mentioned, it is Senator Reid, the Senator from Nevada, the majority leader, who controls floor time. We cannot bring things up on the floor of the Senate unless he says it is OK. What we are doing here today is imploring him to get to work--to allow us to get to work on the Nation's business when it comes to bringing down the price of gas at the pump.

There is some good news: After 145 days of delay and going dark listening to foreign terrorists, because we hadn't reauthorized the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, we were able to get a bipartisan compromise and pass that legislation.

Here, again, this is where the majority party, the Democrats, control the agenda and, frankly, we are seeing unnecessary delays that were causing harm not only to our intelligence gathering, but also it has been 603 days
since the Colombia Free Trade Agreement has been stalled. This is an example where my State sells $2.3 billion of produce from our farmers and manufactured goods to Colombia. They bear a tariff that would be removed if that trade agreement were to go through, which would create additional markets and help create jobs and improve the economy not only in Texas but across the country. If we can persuade Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid to allow this thing to go through, we can see a boost in our economy as a result of that free trade agreement.

Then, of course, there is the matter of judicial nominees who have been blocked because of the unwillingness of the majority leader to allow them to have a vote on the Senate floor. It has been 748 days.

I am here to talk about this last figure, and that is the 814 days since Speaker Pelosi said, in anticipation of the 2006 election:

If Democrats get elected and if I become speaker, we are going to have a commonsense plan to bring down the price of gasoline at the pump.

That was when gasoline prices were $2.33 a gallon. We thought gas prices were high then. What are they today? They are an average of $4.11 a gallon. We are still waiting for that plan.

So we are here to ask, in the most respectful way we know how, for the Democratic majority leader in the Senate, who controls the floor of the Senate, to bring a bill to the floor that will allow us to deal with this national economic crisis and provide some relief to the hard-working families in Texas and across the Nation who need some help. We know that high energy prices not only impact the quality of life and the economic welfare of hard-working people in my State and across the country, it has a ripple effect on the price of food and other commodities, which is driving up inflation and threatening our economy. So we need some action.

I was somewhat amused to hear the distinguished Senator from New Jersey, Mr. Menendez, come to the floor yesterday and talk about the need to ``act more and talk less.'' Act more and talk less. I agree with the slogan, but I wish the majority leader and our friends on the other side of the aisle, who are in control of the agenda of the Senate, would take their own advice: Act more, talk less.

We know what is necessary in order to deal with the energy crisis in this country. Here is what we have encountered: Nothing but obstruction. The Senator from New Mexico, Mr. Domenici, is our leader on energy issues. He is the ranking member, and former chairman, of the Senate Committee on Energy. He has been an unparalleled advocate of the expansion of nuclear power to generate electricity in this country.

What happens when we ask our friends on the other side of the aisle to work with us to try to expand the availability of cheap electricity through nuclear power in a safe way? It is blocked. What are we told, regarding our 300-year supply of coal in this country, that we want to invest money in clean coal technology and to use that energy in a way that protects the environment but generates electricity to be used by the American people? We are told, ``no, you cannot do that either'' by the majority party. When it comes to offshore exploration, taking advantage of the God-given natural resources America has been blessed with, we are told, ``no, you cannot do that either,'' even though it is within the power of the Congress to lift the ban that was imposed by the Congress, which would allow us to explore and produce oil from the submerged lands around our shoreline.

The President lifted the executive ban a couple of days ago. So the only barrier to the production of more of America's natural resources here at home in the submerged lands off our coastline is the Congress. Our friends on the other side of the aisle are in charge, and we are imploring them to work with us to produce more American energy. We have heard a lot about the oil shale out in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. About 2 million additional barrels of oil a day, we are told, could be produced from that oil shale. But we are told, ``no, you cannot do that.'' That was Congress that imposed that ban last year on developing the oil shale, which could relieve some of that pain at the pump.

Then, of course, we know about ANWR, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. When Congress actually passed legislation that would allow exploration and production of oil in ANWR, President Clinton vetoed it about 10 years ago. If he hadn't vetoed that legislation, we would have about a million barrels a day on line that would help with supply and would bring down the price.

So the new energy policy of our friends on the other side of the aisle seems to be a ``no energy'' policy. It is not ``let's do this instead of that''; it is just ``no new energy.'' Now we are told that the majority leader wants to bring a bill to the floor to focus on speculation in the commodities market. We favor an examination of the commodities futures market, more transparency, and more cops on the beat in order to make sure the American people are being well served by the commodities futures market. But it is not the only problem we need to deal with. We need to deal with the law of supply and demand, which, amazingly, Congress is under the misimpression that it can suspend the law of supply and demand.

We know, because we have been told by the world's experts, that we are in competition with growing economies, such as China and India, with more than a billion people each, who are buying cars and using more energy because they want the prosperity that comes along with more energy use. China's GDP is growing at 10 percent a year. It is building about two new coal-powered plants a week in that country. So we know we are in a global competition.

You would think that common sense would tell us, from a national security standpoint and from the standpoint of bolstering our economy here at home and producing additional supply, which will give us temporary relief as we transit that bridge Senator Domenici talks about to a clean energy future--we know in the long run we are going to have to get off of an oil-based energy dependency. Frankly, there is not enough of it for us to permanently continue where we are now. That is why alternative sources of energy are important and why it is important that we conserve and, as Senator Alexander said, ``find more, use less.''

I was in Tyler, TX, last week, at Brookshire Groceries, which is a chain there. They were talking about how they had retrofitted their tractor-trailer rigs and tried to find ways to conserve and use less diesel. They told me how they had retrofitted their tractor-trailer rigs to try to conserve and use less diesel. They found, also, that if they drove their trucks at about 62 miles an hour, they could maximize the range that they could travel--the distance--and minimize the consumption of diesel. If I am not mistaken, I think they told me they were able to save roughly 20 percent of their diesel consumption by finding ways to conserve. So we support the concept of using less, but we need to find more at the same time.

It makes sense that we produce more here in America. It will create jobs at a time when our economy is flying into a headwind right here in America, all across the country. It will bring some relief to consumers at the pump. We know that 70 percent of the price of gasoline is directly tied to the price of oil.

We need to ``act more and talk less,'' I agree. But it is up to the majority leader to allow us to act by bringing an energy bill to the floor.

I yield the floor.

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