Senate Proceeding on Oct 2nd, 2008 :: 3:40:31 to 4:01:38
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3:40:31 to 3:40:39( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: of your life. mr. president, i yield the floor. and i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. craig: mr. president? the presiding officer:

3:40:31 to 4:01:38( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Larry Craig

3:40:39 to 3:40:59( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: the senator from idaho. mr. craig: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. craig: mr. president, for the next few minutes, i

3:40:59 to 3:41:17( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: would like to connect the dots. what am i saying? well, i would like to take us from where this senate was last night when on a 74-25 vote it voted out one of the largest financial assistance

3:41:17 to 3:41:34( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: packages in the history of the nation. $700-plus billion to try to stablize the credit markets of our country and make sure that main street, whether it be in small-town colorado or small-town

3:41:34 to 3:41:49( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: idaho still have credit in its banks for its citizens and its small business people to conduct business and make payroll. we have, by a series of actions over the last decade, placed the american economy

3:41:49 to 3:42:05( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: and the american consumer taxpayer in peril, and last night was an effort to recognize that and to do something about it. and because of its size and because of its early billing that it was a -- quote

3:42:05 to 3:42:19( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: -- "wall street bailout" -- i suspect your constituents and mine backed off and said whoa! wait a moment, government. wait a moment, politician. don't put the taxpayer at peril with this kind of effort.

3:42:19 to 3:42:36( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: at the same time, you and i and many of us here were looking at all of the issues at hand, recognizeing this was not a bailout for wall street; in fact, from its original concept to its evolution

3:42:36 to 3:42:51( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: into the bill that was passed last night, itig was a much different document safeguarding and protecting the taxpayer and trying to recognize the need of a growing credit crisis on main street, u.s.a.

3:42:51 to 3:43:04( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: and i think -- and i hope -- we've accomplished that. but how did this come to be? well, there are a lot of fingers that can be pointed. we can point at the liberal lending policy and add row cass ive

3:43:04 to 3:43:19( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: freddie mac and fannie mae and subprimes and too much credit in the market and the explosion of the housing industry, or at least the explosion of the bubble of the housing industry, but something

3:43:19 to 3:43:38( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: else came along just about the time all of those elements in our economy were coming together that i think was probably the trip wire that helped create the current situation. so let me connect

3:43:38 to 3:43:54( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: the dot -- the dot of too much credit, of subprime, of an economy that was maxed out, of a consumer that was maxed out. let me connect the dot of the average consumer having to pay anywhere fro $100

3:43:54 to 3:44:25( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: to $150 more a month on his or her energy bill at the gas pump. and what happened in our economy as energy prices went through the roof and that spread out across our economy in food costs, in transportation

3:44:25 to 3:44:40( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: costs, in the costs of everything we do, because our economy is so intricately linked with energy and the availability of energy. you didn't hear anybod but it was there and it was lurking in the

3:44:40 to 3:45:09( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: background, and it had already hit our economy along the side of the head with a fatal blow. and we have over the last several years tried to recognize that. but when we left here in july for the august

3:45:09 to 3:45:23( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: recess, democrats and republicans were at odds over energy consumers were saying, what's wrong, politician? why are you locking away the great resources of this country? in the name of the environment?

3:45:23 to 3:45:38( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: in the name of no growth? in the name of good feelings? the bad feelings were at the pump. the bad feelings were in the pocketbook. and. so stay with me for a moment and think about this. think about

3:45:38 to 3:45:51( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: that consumer. he and she working hard, maybe bringing home $45,000 or $50,000 a year amongst the two, mom and dad. they got their credit cards maxed out. they've got maybe $5,000 on their credit cards

3:45:51 to 3:46:04( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: and they're paying $14 u7b or $200 a month each month on that credit card and making their house payment and barely getting by and all of a sudden in the last year and a half or two, their energy bill

3:46:04 to 3:46:20( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: goes through the roof. and they're paying and extra $100 to $150 a month, and they just don't have it. and then the value that they had in their house that they might have taken a second mortgage

3:46:20 to 3:46:35( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: out on toon bail them out, all of a sudden begins to disappear. now, that's an american family in crisis. that is an american family in crisis, without question. and that's the crisis that we begin

3:46:35 to 3:46:47( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: to deal with last night. -- began to deal with last night and that, of course, was that $5,000 that they had on their credit card, the credit card company called them up and said, we're going to bump

3:46:47 to 3:47:01( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: it up to four a month, we're going to drop your credit line, and we're going to charge you more interest. and that is what is happening. and it was brought on by practices in the economy over the last

3:47:01 to 3:47:21( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: good number of years and the energy crisis coming down on top. well, in the midst of awful this great de -- all of this great debate about the economy, something happened at the end of september. politicians

3:47:21 to 3:47:39( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: who just couldn't face the vote to deal with the issue of taking off the offore oil moratorium just let it expire. and there were a few stories about offshore drilling moratoria expires, and even

3:47:39 to 3:47:51( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: some of the cable news stations had charts up, showing grafs, grafs that -- grafts, grafts that i had up here. and somehow there was a little story out there that possibly we would get back into the

3:47:51 to 3:48:09( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: business of drilling and production and therefore bring down our risk as a nation and stop the huge flow of money going offshore and the consumer would be better off. well, i'm here today to connect

3:48:09 to 3:48:22( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: another dot and to suggest to the american consumer that's an illusion. and the reason it's an illusion is because there are a few politicians around here saying, well, when we get back next year, we can slip

3:48:22 to 3:48:42( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: that moratoria baiack on. there are others saying, good, it's off, it will stay off and we can begin the process of getting the department of interior to do the surveys and environmental impact statements

3:48:42 to 3:48:59( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: that will allow us to begin to drill. therein lies the question: to drill when? let me tell you how it really works. because the day the moratoria comes off, and it came off the last of september.

3:48:59 to 3:49:13( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: if everything were to work right, itt, would be seven to eight years before any reed could go out in the deep waters and begin to drill. now, that is normal process and time. if you look at the examples

3:49:13 to 3:49:28( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: of alaska where there are offshore leases and the environmental impact statements had been done, guess what else happened, along came the interest groups and filed suits and have extended that

3:49:28 to 3:49:46( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: drilling time out another three or four years while the oil companies go through the courts and fight the battles of the environmental groups that don't want you there to begin with. so america, please,

3:49:46 to 3:49:57( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: awaken. don't think the energy crisis is over just because we've turned the economy down, we've turned consumption down around the world, and all of a sudden oil is now down to 92 -- $92, $93, $94

3:49:57 to 3:50:14( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: a barrel. because the very thing that we hope for is for the economy to come back and people come back to work and homes to be built here and around the world, means that energy consumption will go

3:50:14 to 3:50:31( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: back up against a relatively static supply market. so the good news is we hopefully did the right things to bring the economy back. the bad news is we haven't don a darn thing to increase the supply

3:50:31 to 3:50:44( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: of hydrocarbons in our market except to run a few ticker tapes or billboards that we let the moratorium expire on offshore oil. but we've not imdem any fried the companies. -- indemnified the companies.

3:50:44 to 3:50:58( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: we have not done the right things it would take to bring the drilling to the areas where we thought it is. and there's oil out there. billions of barrels of oil. and every time the gulf, where there's

3:50:58 to 3:51:10( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: a lot of deep-water drilling gets hit by a hurricane, whether it was katrina or ike recently that knocked hundreds of platforms off their foundations out in the deep-water production area, there was

3:51:10 to 3:51:24( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: no environmental problem. because sear so good at doing what we do today. and we insist that the best talent come, the best equipment come, and we w have those kind of environmental protections that

3:51:24 to 3:51:37( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: deny us the ghost of santa barbara of three decades ago. and, yet, there's still a large number of americans who want to deny us that and there are a great number of politicians who would love to run

3:51:37 to 3:51:49( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: from the reality of getting this country back into the business of producing energy. oh, we talk about it. we play the game. but i'm here today to say if we don't connect all of the dots, and it

3:51:49 to 3:52:04( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: isn't going to be two, three, four years after the moratoria goes off, after you work all of the systems, all of the lawsuits through all of the courts, you would be very lucky to get any field of production

3:52:04 to 3:52:22( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: in the next 12 years. that's just the way it is. and that's the problem we have to deal with. and that's the problem the new congress will have to deal with. and deal with it in a very, very real way.

3:52:22 to 3:52:39( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: so, what are we talking about? the estimation of the domestic recoverable oil and gas resources in the outer continental shelf in old geology, in old surveys that don't even keep up with the modern techniques

3:52:39 to 3:52:56( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: that we have today where we're finding the truly deep oil out in the gulf, we know there are at least 30 billion barrels of oil. we believe in the undiscovered resource areas, there could be as

3:52:56 to 3:53:08( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: much as 95 billion barrels of oil. and there are literally bilons of cubic feet of gas, 200, 250, 300, 400. we're not sure. but wet know this when you take the old geology where you know the oil is;

3:53:08 to 3:53:20( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: and you go out there with the new technologies and apply it to the old geologies, you usually get two to three times more than you thought you were going to get. and that's a fact. we know that today

3:53:20 to 3:53:38( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: and therefore it is critically important that we get the rigs into the water, get the rigs out there and begin to explore and develop. that is -- that is if you do not want another runup in energy values

3:53:38 to 3:53:53( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: and an energy crisis of the kind we've just put our people through when this economy comes back. and it will come back. hopefully sn. but within the next couple of years. and congress's failure to act.

3:53:53 to 3:54:08( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: congress's willingness to march down the old path of no exploration, no drilling, no production, buy it from our enemy, send our money offshore syndrome will plunge us back into another energy crisis.

3:54:08 to 3:54:27( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: so i say to those who might be listening today, connect the dots. and one of those dots you connect is with your politician, with your policymaker. insist that they do the right thing. and the right

3:54:27 to 3:54:42( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: thing is to free this country up and get us back into the business of production. now, while the o.c.s. moratorium has just lifted, here's another little problem. a couple of years ago, with a political

3:54:42 to 3:55:00( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: compromise here on the floor of the senate, we took a little piece down off the florida coast an down off the alabama coast called lease sale 181. and the reason we opened that up was because it

3:55:00 to 3:55:11( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: was very close to the infrastructure, meaning the pipes, and the refinery areas, and we know there's a lot of gas and oil there. and we created special conditions. and we even indemnified or protected

3:55:11 to 3:55:24( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: from lawsuits some of the companies going in there and those sales are let and those companies are headed there. and we believe there could be several billion barrels of oil there. but very quietly

3:55:24 to 3:55:39( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: in the language it also prohibits us from going on east toward the florida coast where there are billions more barrels of oil that were once under the o.c.s. moratorium, but has special language

3:55:39 to 3:55:52( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: and special protection and still have that special protection and still have that special protection even with the moratoria being lifted through exploration just this last week. that's another dirty

3:55:52 to 3:56:05( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: little secret that nobody wants to talk about, the floridians, most assuredly, don't want to talk about. even though in florida today they're saying, drill it. go after it, get it. help us out. drop

3:56:05 to 3:56:19( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: our energy bills. help our pocketbooks, help our family budget. congress, do theco right thing. those are some of the challenges that the new congress will face. we've gt a staggering economy.

3:56:19 to 3:56:31( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: we're in a major credit crunch, we have consumers that are maxed out in a lot of ways. but the one thing they grew so very angry about the last six months was that somebody was robbing them blind,

3:56:31 to 3:56:46( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: or at least they thought they were, at the fuel pump. and the reason that we had an energy crisis was because we began to have a political crisis on the floor of this senate years ago when we continually

3:56:46 to 3:56:59( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: locked up our resources all in the name of some worthy cause, denying the riches of our country and our land to the american people. well, as some know who has been listening or who have been watching thetc

3:56:59 to 3:57:11( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: floor for the last hour, i'm not going to be here. i'm retiring. i've spent a lot f my years -- a lot of my years dealing with the very issue i'mry talking about now all in the name of increased

3:57:11 to 3:57:29( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: production. fighting the unbelievable odds that many of our members of congress have about just locking it up in the name of something. well, i would hope that congress got real. and recognized the reality

3:57:29 to 3:57:49( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: of the world we live in and just as we live in a worldwide economic market, we also live in a worldwide energy market. and the great tragedy of today that has created in part, the economic crisis we're

3:57:49 to 3:58:07( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: in, while it was at the gas pump for the average citizen, we were also every day -- at least when it was $140 a barrel, sending upwards of $1.2 billion offshore to buy oil. america cannot continue to

3:58:07 to 3:58:18( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: do that. and remain a wealthy and prosperous nation. we simply are draining our treasury dry. and, yet, we have oil all around us. consumers are now seeing ads on television talking about the great

3:58:18 to 3:58:33( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: shale pools of natural gas that the new technology is bringing. and, yet, very quietly we're trying to keep a lot of that out of reach all in the name of the environment. we have all other kinds

3:58:33 to 3:58:46( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: of energy resources that we oug to be going after and developing. i believe the next decade in front of us is the decade of energy. i think as a congress we are awakening. i know that the consumers

3:58:46 to 3:59:00( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: have awakened. and they're going to demand that congress do the right things, all in the name of new production, new technologies, diverse kinds of energy portfolios for our country. we will not

3:59:00 to 3:59:19( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: be a wealthy nation 20 years from now. we will not be a nation that allows our citizens and our young people to pursue the american dream like we and our parents before us and our grandparents before

3:59:19 to 3:59:32( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: them unless we recognize that -- the next 20 years ought to be and must be dedicated to the production of energy, all forms, clean, diverse. that's our challenge. so let's connect the dots. last night

3:59:32 to 3:59:44( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: we talked about a credit crunch and a credit crisis, and i believe it was worsened by an energy crunch and an energy crisis that we've just lived through and are currently continuing to live through.

3:59:44 to 4:00:05( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: and if congress doesn't bring that together, then we will fail , or at least we will not allow the greatest hope and the greatest expeceatation of our country, this great country, to see its natural

4:00:05 to 4:00:20( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: level. those are our challenges. bold votes last night. bold and necessary steps were taken. can we be as a country, can this senate as a policy-making body be as bold in energy as we were with the

4:00:20 to 4:00:37( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: economy? that's the challenge we face. i won't face it anymore, but everybody who serves here will. and i hope they can meet that challenge. because if they fail, then our great nation is weakened.

4:00:37 to 4:00:55( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: and the opportunities that many of us have worked for for our children and our grandchildren over the years simply cannot be realized. so u.s. senate, u.s. congress, connect the dots, work at getting

4:00:55 to 4:01:13( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: the energy -- the economy right, work at getting energy production back on-line, work at giving this great, energizing country of ours the opportunity create and to be what it can be. that's a necessary

4:01:13 to 4:01:26( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: and important challenge and i'm confident if the citizens of our country demand it, the congress will rise to that occasion. i yield the floor. mr. allard: mr. president? the presiding officer: the

4:01:26 to 4:01:38( Edit History Discussion )

Larry Craig: senior senator from colorado. mr.ly a reasonable doubt: mr. president, thankou. while the senator from idaho is on the floor, i made some comments earlier about the pleasure of being able to work with him

4:01:38 to 4:01:53( Edit History Discussion )

Wayne Allard: in the senate and i want to also recognize the fine work that he's done on energy. we certainly appreciate his work on that. in the state of colorado, we come from an energy rich state. we have all

4:01:38 to 4:05:13( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Wayne Allard