Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2005
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2005 -- (House of epresentatives - June 17, 2004)
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 674 and rule XVIII, the Chair declares the House in the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union for the further consideration of the bill, H.R. 4568.
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AMENDMENT OFFERED BY MR. SANDERS
Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.
The Clerk read as follows:
Amendment offered by Mr. Sanders:
At the end of the bill, before the short title, insert the following:
TITLE V-ADDITIONAL GENERAL PROVISIONS
SEC. 501. None of the funds made available by this Act shall be used to maintain more than 65,000,000 barrels of crude oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
MODIFICATION TO AMENDMENT OFFERED BY MR. SANDERS
Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that the amendment be modified in the form at the desk.
The CHAIRMAN pro tempore. The Clerk will report the modification.
The Clerk read as follows:
Modification to amendment offered by Mr. Sanders:
On line 3, strike 65,000,000 and insert 647,000,000.
The CHAIRMAN pro tempore. Is there objection to the modification offered by the gentleman from Vermont?
There was no objection.
The text of the amendment, as modified, is as follows:
At the end of the bill, before the short title, insert the following:
TITLE V-ADDITIONAL GENERAL PROVISIONS
SEC. 501. None of the funds made available by this Act shall be used to maintain more than 647,000,000 barrels of crude oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Chairman, I do not have to convince any Member of this body that the American people are outraged by the extremely high prices they are currently paying for gasoline. I am sure that you are getting the same calls that I get in my office in Vermont.
As we all know, these exorbitant prices are a serious drag on our economy. They affect small business and farmers, they affect airlines and the trucking industry, they affect middle-income people who drive to work every day and are seeing their wage increases going into their gas tanks. This is a serious national problem.
Now, I understand that there are differences of opinion in this body about long-term solutions to this crisis. We have
debated that over the last couple of days. I personally believe we have to take a hard look at OPEC, the cartel which today functions directly in opposition to international free trade law. I think we have to deal with the increased concentration of ownership in the oil industry, and I think the time is long overdue that we have to break our dependency on fossil fuels and move to sustainable energy.
But whether one agrees with my long-term solutions or not, there should be no debate about the need for us to come together now to provide immediate short-term relief to the American people who are hurting from high gas prices.
The concept I am introducing in this amendment has had support from Democrats and Republicans, people from all political views, and I hope and believe that it will win strongly today.
Specifically, this amendment would suspend oil deliveries to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and cap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve at 647 million barrels of oil, the level that it was in in March of this year, just a few months ago. In other words, we would immediately stop the purchase of more oil for the reserve and release into the market 15 million barrels of oil. This action would have the very immediate impact of substantially lowering gas prices in America.
Mr. Chairman, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve currently contains approximately 662 million barrels and the administration is pushing to increase that number to some 700 million barrels. My amendment would increase the amount of oil on the market and lead to lower cash prices immediately upon its implementation. It would also keep gas prices down by making sure the government is not competing against consumers in the marketplace at a time that gas prices are so high.
Mr. Chairman, extrapolating from at least three economic studies done by Goldman Sachs; the largest crude oil trader in the world, the Air Transport Association; and petroleum economist Phillip Burleger, the estimate is that this amendment could reduce gasoline prices at the pump by 10 to 25 cents per gallon. It is not going to solve the whole problem, but 10 to 25 cents per gallon is not an insignificant step in helping the American consumer.
Mr. Chairman, even the staff at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve recommended against buying more oil for the SPRO in the spring of 2002. They state, "Commercial inventories are low, retail prices are high, and economic growth is slow. The government should avoid acquiring oil for the reserve under these circumstances."
Mr. Chairman, a lot of people have come up with this idea. This is not just mine. Members may remember that in March of this year, 53 Members of the House, including 39 of our Republican colleagues, wrote to President Bush calling for a halt of oil deliveries into the SPRO. Let me quote from this letter: "Dear Mr. President, we are writing to urge that you suspend shipments of oil to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and allow more oil to remain on the market and available to consumers when supplies are tight."
I agree with those 39 Republicans and other Democrats who made that request of the President. They are right.
Mr. Chairman, in addition, on March 16 of this year, the Senate passed an amendment by Senators CARL LEVIN and
SUSAN COLLINS with a bipartisan majority of 52 to 43 to suspend oil deliveries to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
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Frankly, there is nothing magical about the 647 million barrels of oil in this bill which this amendment proposes; that is the cap we propose. In conference, that number could be changed. That number simply came about with this amendment because it is where the SPR was in mid-March when the Senate passed its resolution and when the 53 Members of the House, including 39 Republicans, wrote their letter to the President.
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Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Chairman, I thank my friend for yielding, and I am not quite sure I understand the chairman's confusion on this issue.
The gentleman is correct. No money would go to maintain the SPR unless oil was released, and that certainly can be done, as the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kucinich) indicated, through a swap. That is not a difficult process.
What we are saying very clearly is that millions of working people are paying through the nose in high gas prices; it is imperative that this Congress act. We have had Republican presidents, Democratic presidents, Republican Members of the House, Democratic, Independent Members of this House, who have shown sympathy to this idea. It is a simple idea. It could lower the price of gas, and we should go forward on it. It is a totally practical approach.
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Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. DeFAZIO. I yield to the gentleman from Vermont.
Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Chairman, I just wanted to mention for the record that if this amendment passes, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve would have 93 percent of its capacity, and we could fill it as soon as the oil prices went down. And, again, when people talk about concern about national security, we are all concerned. Let me remind that 53 Members of this House urged the President to do this, including 39 Republicans. The Senate passed a bipartisan resolution.
So as the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio) has indicated, the issue is will we finally stand up for the American consumer and lower the cost of gasoline.
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Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. HINCHEY. I yield to the gentleman from Vermont.
Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Chairman, I heard a moment ago an estimate from the DOE that this amendment would lower the cost of gas by one cent. Well, let me tell my colleagues that Goldman Sachs has studies which suggests that it would be 10 to 25 cents. They are the largest crude oil trader in the world, 10 to 25 cents a gallon.
People say this is a new and radical idea. It is not a new and radical idea. George Bush, the first, did it; Bill Clinton did it; and in both instances, it was successful. It drove down the price of gas that consumers were purchasing.
This is an amendment and a concept supported by Republicans and Democrats.
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Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.
A recorded vote was ordered
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