Date: 2006-04-26
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Absolutely. Let us do that. Because the thing that astonished me was that only yesterday did the President make a statement about doing something. And believe me. that statement was only a token statement. He laid out some fourpoint plan where he is going to try to hold suddenly the oil companies accountable. Holding them accountable? I mean.- give me a break. It is a little late in the game now that we are 6 months from an election. Is that not convenient? Is that not nice? I will tell you I have only been here about 14 months and I am less senior than you. You have been here for at least a couple of years before me. During the time that you have been here. that I have been here. where has the outrage been? Where has the outrage been? We are only going back to 2002. but in 2002 the summer gas prices. the average price of a gallon of gas was $1.39. You could hear a pin drop. it was so quiet. the reaction from the administration. Okay. No outrage from $1.39 a gallon. Then $1.57 a gallon. a third more. just a summer later. No end in sight. No proposal. No initiative to ease the burden and head this problem off at the pass. A summer later. 2004. $1.90. Now we are approaching almost $2. almost. but oneandahalf times the cost from the summer before that. No end in sight. No proposal to stem the tide. No proposal to urge the oil companies to diversify or pursue alternative energy sources. Go to 2005. last summer. Now. last summer was when you really knew that the pressure began to rise. I mean. the boiling point was reached last summer. Last summer was when I really thought okay. there is no way that they can ignore this anymore. yet ignore they did. They reached $2.37 a gallon as the average price of a gallon of gas. And simultaneously last year. in my first year in Congress. two energy bills. two energy bills passed that gave 16 billion. with a "b". dollars away to the oil companies. What we talked about last night I will reiterate again: The United States Government owns the areas in which we allow the oil companies to drill. Whether it is the drilling rights that we grant them in the gulf. in bodies of water. .or on land. we own them. And they are supposed to pay us royalties and make tax. payments to us in exchange for their being able to drill there. Those two bills that we passed last year. Mr.* RYAN. forgave those taxes. essentially gave the oil companies those rights for free. And we have a chart that we will put up. Hopefully we will be able to get access to it. It is stuck in an office. but we will get that chart up here in the hour after next. RECORD profits. both individual quarterly profits that the oil companies made and historical record profits. We are giving tax breaks to companies that are making record profits and providiig no relief. no assistance. no urgency to the American people who are struggling to get themselves to their jobs. to get their kids to school? Where is the outrage? It is just of the oil companies. for the oil companies. by the oil companies. That is the kind of policy that is made here. And before I yield to you. to add insult to injury. on top of that legislation. forgiving the taxes. if you recall. one of those energy bills was one of the bills that the Republican leadership held open the vote for 40 minutes. twisting the arms of our Republican colleagues who knew that bill was the wrong thing to do. who knew we should be doing something about an energy policy. who had their arms wrenched behind their backs. And we watched our vote board that hangs above us. that lights up above us. the Christmas lights. red to green. green to red. all over the map for 40 minutes until they got their way. Forty minutes. The rubberstamp Republican Congress did the bidding of their leadership and the bidding of the President and the bidding of the oilmen in the White House. It is disgusting.