Domenici Statement on Reid "No Energy Bill" Vote
June 10, 2008
01:22 PM
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Pete Domenici, ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, today issued the following statement regarding the Senate’s failure to proceed to Senator Reid’s energy bill (S.3044):
“After spending last week debating a bill that all independent studies agree will increase the price of gasoline, Senate Democrats today tried to force debate on a different bill that the independent Congressional Research Service says will increase the amount of oil we need to import and have “several adverse economic effects”—with the same failed result.
“At some point, I hope my friends on the other side of the aisle will get the message. The American people don’t want higher prices. The bill we considered today would have imposed a 25 percent “windfall profits” tax on American oil companies. The windfall profits tax has been tried before in our country and failed miserably. It did nothing but decrease domestic production and increase gas prices.
“Instead of trying to tax our way out of this problem, we should encourage domestic energy production to address the fundamental supply and demand problem that our nation faces. I have proposed legislation that would provide up to 24 billion barrels of American oil, and yet most Democrats won’t even consider supporting even some of it.
“How high will the price of gasoline need to go before we tap into our own natural resources and reduce our dependence on foreign oil?”
--30--
