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Calendar No. 81 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 847 

To lower the burden of gasoline prices on the economy of the United States 

and circumvent the efforts of OPEC to reap windfall oil profits. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 19, 2005 

Ms. STABENOW (for herself and Mr. SCHUMER) introduced the following bill; 

which was read the first time 

APRIL 20, 2005 

Read the second time and placed on the calendar 

A BILL 

To lower the burden of gasoline prices on the economy of 

the United States and circumvent the efforts of OPEC 

to reap windfall oil profits. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. GASOLINE AND CRUDE OIL PRICES. 

4 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that— 

5 (1) the prices of gasoline and crude oil have a 

6 direct and substantial impact on the financial well7 being of families of the United States, the potential 
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1 for national economic recovery, and the economic se2 curity of the United States; 

3 (2) on April 12, 2005, crude oil prices closed at 

4 the exceedingly high level of $51.86 per barrel and 

5 the price of crude oil has remained above $50 per 

6 barrel since February 22, 2005; 

7 (3) on April 11, 2005, the Energy Information 

8 Administration announced that the national price of 

9 gasoline, at $2.28 per gallon— 

10 (A) had set a new record high for a 4th 

11 consecutive week; 

12 (B) was $0.49 higher than last year; and 

13 (C) could reach even higher levels in the 

14 near future; 

15 (4) despite the severely high, sustained price of 

16 crude oil— 

17 (A) the Organization of Petroleum Export18 ing Countries (referred to in this section as 

19 ‘‘OPEC’’) has refused to adequately increase 

20 production to calm global oil markets and offi21 cially abandoned its $22–$28 price target; and 

22 (B) officials of OPEC member nations 

23 have publicly indicated support for maintaining 

24 oil prices of $40–$50 per barrel; 
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1 (5) the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (referred 

2 to in this section as ‘‘SPR’’) was created to enhance 

3 the physical and economic security of the United 

4 States; 

5 (6) the law allows the SPR to be used to pro6 vide relief when oil and gasoline supply shortages 

7 cause economic hardship; 

8 (7) the proper management of the resources of 

9 the SPR could provide gasoline price relief to fami10 lies of the United States and provide the United 

11 States with a tool to counterbalance OPEC supply 

12 management policies; 

13 (8) the Administration’s current policy of filling 

14 the SPR despite the fact that the SPR is more than 

15 98 percent full has exacerbated the rising price of 

16 crude oil and record high retail price of gasoline; 

17 (9) in order to combat high gasoline prices dur18 ing the summer and fall of 2000, President Clinton 

19 released 30,000,000 barrels of oil from the SPR, 

20 stabilizing the retail price of gasoline; 

21 (10) increasing vertical integration has al22 lowed— 

23 (A) the 5 largest oil companies in the 

24 United States to control almost as much crude 

25 oil production as the Middle Eastern members 
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of OPEC, over 1 1 ⁄2 of domestic refiner capacity, 

2 and over 60 percent of the retail gasoline mar3 ket; and 

4 (B) the top 10 oil companies in the world 

5 to make more than $100,000,000,000 in profit 

6 and in some instances to post record-breaking 

7 fourth quarter earnings that were in some cases 

8 more than 200 percent higher than the previous 

9 year; 

10 (11) the Administration has failed to manage 

11 the SPR in a manner that would provide gasoline 

12 price relief to working families; and 

13 (12) the Administration has failed to ade14 quately demand that OPEC immediately increase oil 

15 production in order to lower crude oil prices and 

16 safeguard the world economy. 

17 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con18 gress that the President should— 

19 (1) directly confront OPEC and challenge 

20 OPEC to immediately increase oil production; and 

21 (2) direct the Federal Trade Commission and 

22 Attorney General to exercise vigorous oversight over 

23 the oil markets to protect the people of the United 

24 States from price gouging and unfair practices at 

25 the gasoline pump. 
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1 (c) STRATEGIC PETROLEUM RESERVE.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—For the period beginning on 

3 the date of enactment of this Act and ending on the 

4 date that is 30 days after the date of enactment of 

5 this Act— 

6 (A) deliveries of oil to the SPR shall be 

7 suspended; and 

8 (B) 1,000,000 barrels of oil per day shall 

9 be released from the SPR. 

10 (2) EXTENSION.—If necessary to lower the bur11 den of gasoline prices on the economy of the United 

12 States and to circumvent the efforts of OPEC to 

13 reap windfall crude oil profits, 1,000,000 barrels of 

14 oil per day shall be released from the Strategic Pe15 troleum Reserve for an additional 30 days. 
Calendar No. 81 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 847 

A BILL 

To lower the burden of gasoline prices on the econforts of OPEC to reap windfall oil profits. omy of the United States and circumvent the efAPRIL 20, 2005 

Read the second time and placed on the calendar