News

‘It might have taken awhile for our friends on the other side to come around to our view and the view of most Americans on these issues, but for the sake of our troops, their families, and our security, we’re glad they finally did’

Washington, D.C.— U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday regarding pending legislation, including two key national security accomplishments—funding for the troops and providing the intelligence community the tools it needs to track terrorists overseas:

“Looking at the remaining days this week, Americans can expect the Senate to make progress on three significant pieces of legislation.

“After a failed attempt to address the housing crisis without Republican input, Democrats finally agreed last week to allow our input. As a result, we now have a bipartisan housing bill that addresses many of their concerns but I think it could be made even better with some further amendments which I am hopeful we’ll have an opportunity to do even if cloture is invoked.

“The Senate this week must also complete two important and long overdue national security measures: the supplemental troop funding bill that the President first requested more than 500 days ago and an updated terrorist surveillance bill that the Senate first approved last August but which expired more than four months ago after House Democrat inaction.

“It’s worth noting that on both national security measures, Democrats will be approving something Republicans have supported all along. Regarding the supplemental, Republicans have argued for the past year and a half that Congress has a solemn duty to fund our troops while they’re on the field of battle. And regarding FISA, Republicans have argued for more than a year that the intelligence community should have the tools it needs to listen in on conversations between terrorists overseas — and that the companies that may have allowed them to do so shouldn’t be punished for helping.

“And I remain hopeful that the Senate will be able to follow these important issues and end the week with a bipartisan Medicare agreement as well.

“It might have taken awhile for our friends on the other side to come around to our view and the view of most Americans on these issues, but for the sake of our troops, their families, and our security, we’re glad they finally did.”

###

‘By failing to address supply even with gas prices at $4 a gallon, Congressional Democrats are telling the American people that $4 a gallon gasoline is acceptable, that they should get used to it.’

Washington, D.C.— U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor Friday regarding the need to act to reduce the rising price at the pump:

“There’s no doubt the subprime mortgage crisis is a timely and important issue, and it’s a worthy topic for the Senate to have taken up. There’s also little doubt, however, that the single most important issue facing Americans at the moment is the high price of gas at the pump.

“Indeed, it would be difficult to find a single American who’s escaped the painful effects of the recent record spike in gas prices — and who isn’t eager for Congress to do something about it.

“That’s why I was so concerned to hear the Democratic nominee for President say last week that he wasn’t as concerned about high gas prices as he was about the fact that they rose so quickly. He would have preferred a ‘gradual adjustment,’ as he put it, to the sudden shock that we all got.

“More concerning, not a single Democrat in the U.S. Senate has come forward to distance himself or herself publicly from his words.

“The message of the Junior Senator from Illinois was clear: high gas prices don’t concern him as much as they concern most people. And by allowing his comments to stand, Congressional Democrats are being equally clear: they agree with him.

“The fact is, on the issue of lowering gas prices, Congressional Democrats have little to say. There’s a common-sense response, and that’s to increase supply here at home in a limited, environmentally-responsible way.

“America floats on top of an ocean of untapped oil reserves three times the size of Saudi Arabia’s. As an immediate response to high gas prices, common sense dictates that we should be moving immediately to increase our own massive domestic supplies and add American jobs in the process. In the short term, there’s only one answer to high gas prices, and that’s more American energy now.

“Looking ahead, there is no doubt that something also needs to be done about demand.

“But while Congressional Republicans have a solution to the problem, our friends on the other side have shown a stubborn unwillingness over the years to do much at all about increasing domestic supply. And the result of yesterday’s inaction is the strain that American families are feeling today in the form of record high gas prices.

“By failing to address supply even with gas prices at $4 a gallon, Congressional Democrats are telling the American people that $4 a gallon gasoline is acceptable, that they should get used to it. Well, Kentuckians aren’t interested in getting used to $4 a gallon gasoline, and neither am I.

“Congress has the power to do something about high gas prices, and we should. Americans are looking to Washington for action. What they’re getting instead from Democrats in Congress is a lecture on ‘gradual adjustments.’ Americans don’t need a lecture. They need relief.

“While Americans grow increasingly frustrated with gas prices, Democrats in the House of Representatives are showing where their priorities lie. Among other legislative business this week, they scheduled a vote on whether to ban the interstate sale of monkeys. House Democrats also recently took up resolutions commemorating ‘National Plumbing Industry Week’ and the ‘International Year of Sanitation.’

“These resolutions were important, no doubt, to some. Yet none of them will do anything to lower gas prices.

“Americans frustrated about high gas prices are wondering why Democrats in Congress are talking about the Monkey trade. And I don’t blame them.

“It’s time Democrats took the issue of high gas prices as seriously as the American people do. It’s time Democrats in Congress join with Republicans and get serious about lowering $4 a gallon gas and lessening our reliance on Middle East oil.”

###

By Senator Mitch McConnell

Two years ago, the Washington liberals who control Congress claimed they had a “common sense plan” to lower gas prices. But since they took over, the average price of a gallon of gas has shot up from $2.34 to more than $4.08—a whopping increase of 74 percent, and with no relief in sight. If it gets any worse, we’ll all have to commute to work in hot-air balloons powered by all the hot air they generate in Washington.

Believe it or not, that plan makes about as much sense as their latest proposal. They recently offered a “climate tax” bill which would have dramatically raised energy prices across the nation. Congress asked the Environmental Protection Agency to study the bill, and they found it would increase gas prices by as much as $1.40 a gallon—on top of the high prices we’re paying already.

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is an important goal, and in fact, Congress already has taken important steps to do so. I was pleased to support bipartisan legislation last year that raised fuel economy standards for cars and trucks, increased our use of renewable fuels, and expanded research into innovative technologies to reduce pollution.

We should not allow, however, legislation that would increase gas prices, send American jobs overseas and fail to promote scientific innovation here at home. This proposed bill failed on all counts. Undaunted, Washington liberals submitted another terrible idea—a bill to raise taxes, by imposing a new “windfall profits” tax on energy companies.

America tried this once before in the era of double-digit inflation and double-digit interest rates under President Jimmy Carter. According to the non-partisan Congressional Research Service, the “windfall profits” tax of 1980 made things worse by depressing domestic energy production, increasing our dependence on Middle Eastern sources of oil.

A few months ago when asked about reviving a “windfall profits” tax, President Carter’s old director of domestic energy policy said, “It’s a terrible idea today.” I agree—it simply makes no sense to beg the Middle East for more oil.

I support and have sought to implement a three-pronged approach—conservation, innovation for newer technologies, and expanded exploration of our domestic resources—to solve America’s energy crisis, create thousands of jobs and get prices down at the gas pump. Expanding our domestic energy production will do all this, and limit the hold Middle Eastern nations have on our economy.

This country is the third-largest producer of oil in the world after the Saudis and the Russians. And while we must work now to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, if we truly want to achieve energy independence, America must be allowed to take advantage of the vast energy resources we have right here at home.

A recent Gallup poll found that by a sizable majority, 57 to 41 percent, most Americans support increased production of domestic energy. Presidential nominee Barack Obama admitted that he doesn’t have a problem with higher gas prices, only with how fast we got here, saying, “I think I would have preferred a gradual adjustment.” Well, if you’re like me, $4 gas is unacceptable—whether we got here gradually or quickly!

So as gas prices continue to set record highs, and the American people clamor for relief, the liberals who run Washington have some serious questions to answer. Why don’t we help ourselves by producing more energy right here at home so we don’t have to rely on the Middle East to help us?

Senator McConnell is the Senate Republican Leader and only the second Kentuckian to lead his party in the U.S. Senate.

Recent Press Releases

A Week of Significant Legislation

June 24, 2008

Are Democrats Okay With ‘Gradual Adjustment’ to $4 Gas?

June 20, 2008

Stop Relying on Middle Eastern Oil; Produce More Energy Here at Home

June 20, 2008