Senate Proceeding on Jul 31st, 2008 :: 2:32:52 to 2:48:01
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2:32:52 to 2:33:04( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: i yield the floor. madam president, i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk willall the roll. quorum call: | quorum call: s a senator: madam president? the presiding officer:

2:32:52 to 2:48:01( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Larry Craig

2:33:04 to 2:33:19( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: the senator from idaho. mr. craig: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. craig: madam president, we may be hours or a day

2:33:19 to 2:33:35( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: away from adjourning for the august recess. at the same time many of us have said there is no more important issue for this senate to be dealing with than the issue of energy and the price of gas

2:33:35 to 2:33:56( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: at the pump. the american consumer for the last year has gone through increasing price shocks as they've seen more and more of their family budget left at service station or gas station every time they fill

2:33:56 to 2:34:11( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: up the family car. first it was $15, then $20, then $25, then $3, $40, -- $30, $40, $50. and in certain locations, $60 to fill up the family car. and if that family car is also the vehicle with

2:34:11 to 2:34:24( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: which they commute to their workplace and they have to fill it up several times a week, it has become a dramatic hit on the american family in a way that is now clearly registered in polling across

2:34:24 to 2:34:40( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: our country and what we're hearing every day on our phone calls coming in from that distressed americanut there who's paying more than they ever have before for energy. that's just one side of the

2:34:40 to 2:34:59( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: energy equation. our whole world, our whole economy runs on energy. and the cost of that energy in that economy has to be felt whether it's in the heating of the home or the processing or the manufacturing,

2:34:59 to 2:35:15( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: the growing of food, all segments of our economy feed energy and feed basically gas or hydrocarbons that are reduced into gas, diesel, oil, plastic and refinement energy, all of those have also become

2:35:15 to 2:35:31( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: factors that the average american and certainly the average idahoan are paying now at a higher price than they have ever paid. in my great, open western state of idaho, we travel long distances. the

2:35:31 to 2:35:48( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: majority of our people don't live downtown, don't live in the suburbs. they live out in the countryside. and going to town is a trip that is not unusual to rack up 50, 60, 70, 80 miles. i grew up on a ranch

2:35:48 to 2:35:59( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: that was 30 miles from the nearest community. so it was not unrealistic when my mother went to town to acquire groceries and to dot family shopping, -- to do the family shopping, to travel 60, 70, or 80

2:35:59 to 2:36:15( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: miles roundtrip. that still goes on today in many of our western states. and so the cost for that family has gone up dramatically also simply by the character of where we live. and, yet, for the

2:36:15 to 2:36:28( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: last two weeks in an effort to try to deal with this issue on the floor of the senate by allowing the offering of amendments that would in many ways cause production to begin once again in this

2:36:28 to 2:36:44( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: country in locations where we know oil exists today, but they have been taken off limits for political reasons, in that debate over the last two weeks, the leadership of the democrat party, the majority

2:36:44 to 2:36:57( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: leader has stopped us from doing so on at least six different occasions. why, i'm not -- why? i'm not sure. why any leadership of the great united states senate would stop this senate from doing what the

2:36:57 to 2:37:12( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: american consumer and the american voter is asking for is largely beyond me. i can speculate it. and i have in numerous occasions in speeches on the floor over the last several weeks, as have my

2:37:12 to 2:37:27( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: colleagues. but one thing is clear. on six occasions the leader, the majority leader, the democrat leader has said, no, we will not proceed to offer amendments to allow or to cause this country to

2:37:27 to 2:37:49( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: become, once again, a producing nation. now we're about ready to try a seventh time. i am told that in the defense authorization act, cloture has been filed, that's a procedure we use here in the

2:37:49 to 2:38:00( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: senate ultimately to force a vote -- we -- on whether we're will proceed to go to defse authorization. and we could all vote on it today if well agreed or we can vote tomorrow as the cloture motion

2:38:00 to 2:38:17( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: ripens, or the term we use when all time has run out. i know what the vote will be the as important as defense authorization is, we're going to say no. there is something even more important today to

2:38:17 to 2:38:34( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: every american than defense authorization, and that's the price of energy at the pump, that is literally sucking the family budget dry. so what do we do? well, my guess is we're going to adjourn

2:38:34 to 2:38:52( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: for the august recess having done nothing. and every senator here is going to go home. and i hope they go home to explain to their voters and to their state why they would not vote for increased

2:38:52 to 2:39:08( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: production. why they will not allow this great country of ours to get in the business of producing energy once again. now, the president, he's responded. he removed the moratoria that he had placed on outer

2:39:08 to 2:39:22( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: continental shelf drilling. prices dropped a little as a result of that. yesterday the interior department initiated a five-year oil and gas leasing program for the o.c.s. they're preparing if

2:39:22 to 2:39:36( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: we act -- they're preparing, if we act to expedite an allow these areas we believe production can go on in -- to go on and sooner. you know, we heard the argument here on the floor, oh, well, it's

2:39:36 to 2:39:52( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: five and six or seven years away. no, i isn't. in many areas it could be as short as two or three years. and the anticipation of oil coming into the market in two or three years in nearly everyone's

2:39:52 to 2:40:04( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: opinion who understands oil markets would tell you would bring the price of that product down now in the market. the price already is coming down. not because of our actions. but because of a beleaguered

2:40:04 to 2:40:17( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: consumer out there who simply can't afford the price anymore. and that consumer and his or her family are already making decisions to shrink their travel and shrink their gas budgets, and they're

2:40:17 to 2:40:32( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: doing so. in the last four months comparable to the four months of a year ago, the american family has driven 40 billion less miles. they didn't want to. they didn't want to alter their lifestyle,

2:40:32 to 2:40:45( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: but they did. and the reason they did is they just simply didn't have the money to go forward and the price began to drop. across america today that gas price in many states has now dropped below

2:40:45 to 2:41:00( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: $4 a gallon. you see the marketplace is out there and what we've said about supply and demand is true in the market. even though near the senate the action to deny production is to deny that the

2:41:00 to 2:41:18( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: marketplace exists. and by what is going on today across america is living proof that that market existed. so what can we do? if we were able to act, as we have asked our majority leader here in

2:41:18 to 2:41:31( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: the senate to allow us to do, we could gain access to what we believe is about 30 billion barrels of known oil reserves in the outer continental shelf. we think there are an additional 85 billion barrels of undiscovered

2:41:31 to 2:41:46( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: resources out there. simply if we're allowed to explore and develop the resources we know that are there that are off limits today if -- if i were allowed to offer an amendment here's the amendment

2:41:46 to 2:42:01( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: i would offer. i would go to what we call theal eastern gulf that is now off limits. and i would say 50 miles out from the shoreline along florida in the eastern gulf, this would be open for leases.

2:42:01 to 2:42:17( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: we believe there's over two billion barrels of oil out there. an trillions of cubic feet of gas. and right across here are the pipelines and the infrastructure that we could connect to, that would go into

2:42:17 to 2:42:31( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: the refining areas in louisiana and texas. doesn't that make sense. even floridians, who once said, no, we don't want any drilling, are now by the latest polling say, yes, -- saying, yes, we do. because

2:42:31 to 2:42:46( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: we, too, are going broke at the pump. and we want an opportunity to do something. and, of course, what floridians know, is it oil is discovered here, they'll share in the money that comes from it

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Larry Craig: that could go into their educational programs an their state budgets and potentially reduce the tax burden on the average floridian, along with bringing the price of gas down at the pumps in florida.

2:42:58 to 2:43:13( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: now, i've offered that amendment. i filed that amendment at the desk. and, yet, the majority leader of the united states senate has said, no, that amendment will not be offered. well, ultimately

2:43:13 to 2:43:31( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: it will be offered. ultimately some day the voter is going to say, we've had enough of this. we're not going to stand by and let the senate of the united states block us from the resources that are

2:43:31 to 2:43:45( Edit History Discussion )

ours as a nation, that need to be developed, that can bring the price of energy down. it's a pretty simple equation. and as many of us have said, while this will is an interim solution, many of

2:43:45 to 2:44:00( Edit History Discussion )

us have called it a bridge to future. in the energy policy act we passed in 2005 and the new energy policy act that we passed in 2007, already the senate of the united states was recognizing that the

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day of a nation living exclusively on oil as a form of transportation and energy was a day that would ultimately end. and that we would invest in hybrids and electric-powered cars and new technologies.

2:44:18 to 2:44:31( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: i'm very proud in my state of idaho that in part, we've led those technologies in our national energy laboratory in idaho falls. plug-in electric cars and full-sized electric cars have been ex pertd with

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Larry Craig: and are -- experimented with and are being developed at that laboratory and in other facilities across the nation. but that's not going to be available tomorrow. it takes billions of dollars and 10 or

2:44:49 to 2:45:09( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: 15 years for a lot of this new technology to come online and be available to the american consumer.| so do we just sit idly by and allow the family budget to be drained? do we sit idly by and by

2:45:09 to 2:45:23( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: from foreign nations the billions of barrels of oil that we currently buy from them? and pay a billion, $200 million a day to a foreign nation and drain not only our family budgets dry but our national

2:45:23 to 2:45:39( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: treasury? it's a phenomenal dilemma we've put ourselves in. and if you'll just note, i've used the word "we've put ourselves in." because it's votes on the floor of the united states senate and

2:45:39 to 2:45:52( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: the u.s. house just across the rotunda from us that have put these properties off-limits, that have put alaska's oil off-limits, all in the name of the environment. we caused this crisis, and the american

2:45:52 to 2:46:09( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: family now knows it. and 80% of the american family and consumer out there is saying, congress, fix it. and for three weeks, we've been here on the floor trying to do just that, and every time we

2:46:09 to 2:46:23( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: try it, we're denied that opportunity. in the raw name of politics. well, we're about to go home. and i hope in the raw name of politics, america's voters should rise up and say to their politician go,

2:46:23 to 2:46:36( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: back to washington and do your work -- politicians, go back to washington and do your work, and do it in a way that allows this great nation of ours to once again become a producing nation, not just a consuming

2:46:36 to 2:46:53( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: nation. we know the resources are there. our national geologic survey says they're there. we know they're there because they've been put off-limits in the name of the environment years ago, when gas was

2:46:53 to 2:47:08( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: cheap. about many of us who've worked in this area for a long while said the day would come when there would be a break point and no longer would america be sitting with cap energy available in an

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Larry Craig: unlimited way to it. and that day is here. and yet politically, we are bound up. we cannot move. i guess we will now not move to do what we ought to be doing for the american consumer: acting,

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Larry Craig: allowing these resources to become available so that we can develop them in a safe and clean environmental way for the american consumer to use. a tremendous challenge for all of us. but it is a challenge

2:47:34 to 2:47:48( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: we're capable of meeting if we simply surpass the politics of the moment and get on with the business of this great country. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the

2:47:48 to 2:48:01( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: senator from virginia. mr. warner: mr. president, are we -- presiding officer, are we in morning business at this point in time? the presiding officer: we are on the motion to proceed to s. 3001, and the minority

2:48:01 to 2:48:24( Edit History Discussion )

John Warner: side has ten minutes, until 1:00. mr. warner: well, madam president, i ask unanimous consent that i might use a portion of that ten minutes to proceed as if in morning business. the presiding officer:

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Speech By: John Warner