Travel Promotion Act Of 2009

Floor Speech

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Mr. SANDERS. Madam President, will the Senator yield?

Mr. DORGAN. I am happy to yield.

Mr. SANDERS. Madam President, first, I thank my friend from North Dakota for his efforts on the very important issue of tourism but also for consistently standing up for consumers who are sick and tired of paying artificially high prices at the gas pumps. I wish to take this moment, if I might, to explain what my amendment is.

Mr. DORGAN. Madam President, rather than yield for a question, let me yield the floor so the Senator from Vermont can explain his amendment, and then reclaim the floor if there is not a Member of the minority present.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

AMENDMENT NO. 1330

Mr. SANDERS. Madam President, I thank my friend.

Let me begin by saying this amendment enjoys widespread support from a very diverse coalition of organizations throughout this country that share the common concern that the price of gas and oil is soaring and they do not understand why. What they do know is that it is hurting consumers, especially in rural areas in North Dakota and Vermont and throughout this country, and it is hurting business groups throughout this country. These groups, among others, include the Petroleum Marketers Association of America, Public Citizen, the Gasoline and Automotive Service Dealers of America, the United Egg Producers, the Western Peanut Growers, Friends of the Earth, and the New England Fuel Institute. All of these organizations, for different reasons, are worried about the impact of rapidly rising oil prices on consumers.

All of us took economics 101, and what they told us in economics 101 is when supply is low and demand is high, prices go up. When supply is broad and demand is minimal, prices go down. Well, right now, unfortunately, it seems we can throw economics 101 right out the window, because at this moment the supply of oil in the United States is as high today as it was 20 years ago and demand for oil in this country is lower than it was a decade ago. So the question we are wrestling with now is: If supply is high and demand is low, why are oil prices soaring?

Up until today, as a matter of fact, gasoline prices increased for 54 straight days--the longest streak on record dating back to 1996. Today the national average for a gallon of gasoline is $2.69 a gallon--up more than $1 since late last year.

There is mounting evidence that the runup in oil and gas prices has little to do with the fundamentals of supply and demand and has everything to do with excessive speculation by some of the same Wall Street firms that received the largest taxpayer bailout in the history of the world. They are back again, not having caused enough damage by driving our country and much of the world into a deep recession. Now they are back into their speculation and driving up oil prices which are having an enormously negative impact on consumers all over our country.

Clearly, as a Congress, as a Senate, we have a responsibility to do everything we can to prevent the manipulation of oil and gas prices so that they reflect the basic economics supply and demand curve, not excessive speculation. This would not only help Americans struggling to fill up their gas tanks this summer, but it would have a positive impact, by the way, in expanding the number of international travelers visiting the United States, the fundamental purpose of the Travel Promotion Act that our amendment is a part of--would like to be a part of.

The amendment I am offering or wish to offer would simply require the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to use its emergency authority to prevent the manipulation of oil prices. What is so horrible about that? What has caused our Republican friends to jump up in fear and say this amendment can't be offered?

Let me mention to my Republican friends that last July the House of Representatives passed an identical bill by a vote of 402 to 19--the same bill. An overwhelming majority of Republicans in the House voted for that bill, but for some reason our Republican colleagues here do not want to give us the opportunity to vote for it today.

I thank Majority Leader Reid and Senator Dorgan for trying to work out a compromise with the Republicans that would have enabled a vote on this amendment. Under this agreement, as Senator Dorgan has said, the Republicans would have been able to receive a vote on their top five nongermane amendments. They had five and we had one major nongermane amendment. It is very hard for me to understand--and maybe my friend from North Dakota has some thoughts on this one--I have a very hard time understanding what their fear is. What are they afraid of, if this amendment passes? Are they afraid we would be able to take action against the excessive speculation that is currently taking place on Wall Street?

That is the only answer I can think of, and it is a pretty poor and unfortunate answer. The American people are hurting. We are in a recession. People have lost their jobs. People have seen a decline in their income. The American people are sick and tired of paying artificially high prices at the gas pump, and people in New England are worried about what happens next winter when they have to heat their homes with oil.

I wish to mention in conclusion, interestingly enough, just yesterday--just yesterday--the Guardian, a British newspaper, reported:

Staff at Goldman Sachs can look forward to the biggest bonus payouts in the firm's 140-year history after a spectacular first half of the year.

I don't mean to pick on Goldman Sachs. There are a number of other financial outfits that may be engaged in excessive oil speculation as well, but Goldman Sachs is the leading trader of oil and gas derivatives. So here we are, Goldman Sachs, among others, now paying out huge bonuses after having been bailed out by the taxpayers of this country and they are back at their same old tricks of engaging in excessive speculation, which is what my amendment begins to address.

I am amazed our Republican friends would refuse to allow an amendment to come to the floor of the Senate that was passed overwhelmingly in the House with very strong Republican support in that body.

With that, I yield the floor.

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