National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009--Motion to Proceed--Continued
Floor Speech
NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2009--MOTION TO PROCEED--Continued -- (Senate - August 01, 2008)
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
OIL COMPANY PROFITS
Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Let me begin by saying, as we leave for our August recess very shortly, what a pleasure it has been for me to serve with the distinguished Senator from Utah on the Judiciary Committee during these first months of my first term in this body. I would respond to what he has said by suggesting that if he and his colleagues would actually let us lead, we would be able to solve a lot of the problems he discussed and that were indicated on those graphs. However, instead of letting us lead, they have embarked on a strategy of creating gridlock in this institution with--I think at this point we are at 92 or more filibusters--which is the world record in the history of this country--and climbing. I think what has happened to this body is my colleagues on the other side have made the decision that the record of George Bush is hopeless, the Republican message is shot, and their only salvation is to call down a pox on both our Houses and try to disable this institution, try to prevent us from doing essentially anything. It also has the added benefit of allowing the Executive more leeway, and it confers more power on George Bush, which I think is a mistake, given the way the record has shown his judgments have worked out.
For instance, take a look at what has happened in the Bush economy every day and getting worse and worse. Since George Bush and Dick Cheney took office in 2001, wages in America have remained stagnant, as the very distinguished Senator from Ohio knows very well. Wages in America remain stagnant, oil and gas prices have risen sharply, and troubles in the housing market have made it harder and harder for families to stay in their homes. One would not have thought very long ago that America was a country in which tens of thousands of Americans would be thrown out of their own homes, but there we are.
Even those well off enough to own stock have seen the consequences of the Bush economy. In the Clinton years, the Dow Jones industrial average climbed 129 percent. In the Bush years, it has climbed exactly 0.7 percent. I ask my colleagues on the other side of the aisle whether they think their investor friends would prefer 129 percent capital gains and then paying a fair tax on those capital gains or whether they would prefer having big fights about what the capital gains tax rate is, but nobody makes any money.
While American families and American workers struggle in the Bush economy, there is one special, favored industry that is laughing all the way to the bank. Eight years of two oilmen in the White House has brought over $4-a-gallon gasoline for American consumers and absolutely grotesque profits for the biggest oil companies.
Yesterday, once again, the largest of these international giants--Exxon Mobil--announced recordbreaking profits. ExxonMobil's second-quarter profits were the highest in the company's history. They were the highest in the history of the entire oil industry. In fact, Exxon's $11.7 billion profits for this last quarter were the highest corporate profits in the history of the United States. These profits, indeed, are the highest in the history of the universe as we know it.
Think about that: $11.7 billion in just 3 months. The U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that there are 250 million passenger vehicles in the United States. Exxon's $11.7 billion second-quarter profits amount to a quarterly tax of $47 on every car and truck in the country. That is just for one quarter. If you have ever wondered where the $60 or the $80 or even the $100 that it might cost to fill your tank goes, take a look at this. Gas prices are definitely going up; there is no doubt about that. We all experience the pain at the pump. But compared to how gas prices are going up, look at what is happening to oil company profits. As gas prices have risen, oil company profits have soared. If Exxon continues to reap profits at this level, in 2008 alone, you will pay for every car a $188 oil profits fee to ExxonMobil per car--$188 on every car in America--for the profit.
That is not counting the hundreds of billions of dollars raked in by the four other major international oil companies doing business in our country.
We are facing a true energy crisis. Instead of working with us to solve it, our colleagues on the other side of the aisle continue to fight for oil company profits.
Drilling off of our pristine coasts--and I come from the ocean State of Rhode Island--won't produce a drop of oil for a decade and won't significantly lower gas prices even then. These facts have no affect on our colleagues. Make no mistake about it, more drilling means higher profits for Exxon, Shell, BP, and especially for Dick Cheney's former employer, Halliburton, which provides drilling products and services.
Exxon is committed to an oil economy that has no future for this country. They earned $11.7 billion in profits in the last 3 months, but in the 4 years between 2003 and 2007, Exxon spent just $20 million on research and development of alternative and renewable transportation fuel technologies. That is $20 million in 4 years, which is $5 million a year. That $5 million a year is $1.25 million a quarter. If you compare $1.25 million a quarter to $11.7 billion in profits, what you find out is that for every $10,000 in profit ExxonMobil makes, it spends $1 on alternative fuels. I am sure that in Ohio the Presiding Officer is seeing the same advertisements we are seeing in Rhode Island--wonderful Exxon ads with scientists and molecules, telling us how they are investing in the future. But it is $1 for every $10,000 they put in their pockets.
A recent Wall Street Journal article reported that the big oil companies spent $52.5 million on advertisements to burnish their images in the first quarter of the year. That is an annualized rate of $200 million in ads. Of course, many of these environmental ads say: We are green now, just watch us. Well, if you assume that of that $52.5 million, a quarter of it was Exxon, that is $12.5 million. If you assume that just a quarter of that 12.5 was spent on green ads and the rest on other stuff, that is $3 million. That means they spend three times as much advertising their green research as they do actually doing their green research. It is the biggest sham in the world.
I hope when Americans see these ads in magazines and elsewhere they know they are being had. It is $1 in research, $3 in advertising about it, and $10,000 in profits. That is the ratio. That is not a ratio anybody should be very proud of. If only Exxon and the other oil giants would devote some of their advertising budget to R&D, then we might be better off. We don't need sham solutions. We need results.
Yesterday, I signed on to a letter authored by our assistant majority leader, Senator Durbin of Illinois, to request of President Bush to release about 10 percent--or 70 million barrels--from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. That sale would immediately lower gas prices and generate over $8 billion, which is money that could be used to invest in alternative sources of energy for real--not the phony show ExxonMobil is putting on--so that we can finally move away from our oil-addicted economy. But so far, no action. Indeed, yesterday, we tried to pass a Defense authorization bill to support our troops in the field, in harm's way. The Republicans voted against the bill, abandoning our troops for big oil. Big oil is making big money, and that is the Republicans' priority. I urge President Bush to end the rhetoric, put the troops first, get off of big oil's wagon, and let's get together to solve this problem for real.
I thank the chair and yield the floor.
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