The Stakeholder
Chairman Van Hollen Delivers Democratic Radio Address
DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen delivered the Democratic Radio Address this morning.
Listen:
Transcript:
Good morning. I'm Congressman Chris Van Hollen from Maryland.
Whether you're listening today while behind the wheel or in your home, there's no doubt you're feeling pain every time you pull up to the pump. As you know all too well, gas prices - which were less than a dollar fifty when President Bush took office - are now more than four dollars a gallon.
This is no accident. In the first days of his presidency, President Bush put Vice President Cheney in charge of a secret Energy Task Force. They invited the top oil company executives into the White House and told them to bring along their wish lists.
It's really no surprise what happened next. With two oil men in the White House, gas prices have nearly tripled, and oil company profits are up over 300 percent.
We're all paying the price for these decisions - not only at the pump, but when we buy groceries or when we drive or fly for business or to visit our families. And our already-struggling economy is getting pummeled.
Americans are fed up every time they go to fill up - and they're right to demand action. But instead of a serious response, President Bush and his allies simply repeat the same old line - more drilling.
Now let me be clear: Democrats support more drilling. In fact, what the President hasn't told you is that the oil companies are already sitting on 68 million acres of federal lands with the potential to nearly double U.S. oil production. That is why in the coming days congressional Democrats will vote on ‘Use It or Lose It' legislation requiring the Big Oil companies to develop these resources - or lose their leases to someone else who will.
But we know that drilling by itself will not solve the problem of high gas prices. We cannot drill our way to energy independence.
In fact, the Bush Administration's own Energy Department concedes that drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge won't put a drop of new gas on the market for at least 10 years - and it will only wind up saving American consumers about two cents a gallon 20 years from now.
When Americans are getting sticker shock every time they pull into the gas station, we don't have 20 years to wait. We need action. Real action. Fortunately, there is something we can do right now.
Earlier this week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called on President Bush to immediately tap part of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in order to bring down runaway gas prices. This Reserve is the supply of oil our country has put away for a rainy day. It has never been more full than it is now. There are over 700 million gallons of oil there available for our use.
And when it comes to the harm that gas prices are having on our families and our economy, America's rainy day is now.
Presidents have tapped this Reserve before. President Bush's father did it in the early 1990s. President Clinton did it. Even this President Bush did it after Hurricane Katrina.
We've tapped the Reserve for reasons of instability in the Middle East or high energy prices here at home. And we're facing both these challenges today - in addition to rampant speculation in our energy markets.
If we responsibly used just some of this American stockpile of oil, we could give drivers quick and real relief at the pump.
But so far President Bush has resisted our call. If he gave the go-ahead, new supplies would make it onto the market in just 13 days. But the only answer we're getting from him is, ‘No.'
Tapping America's rainy day oil supply isn't a long-term solution. We need to put in place a real energy policy - one that frees us from dependence on foreign oil, uses American ingenuity and innovation to power our country with new clean technologies, and creates hundreds of thousands of new jobs while reducing climate change.
But Americans who are hurting now can't just wait for the long term. The pain is not ‘mental' and Americans are not ‘whiners' as Senator McCain's top economic advisor Phil Gramm would have us believe. The pain is real, and we need immediate relief.
A couple of months ago, I saw something that made me shudder. President Bush traveled to Saudi Arabia to plead with their king to pump more oil. And the Saudi king turned him down cold.
I don't believe we should have an America that goes begging to other countries. We have our own oil stockpile set aside for a time of need. The President should free our oil now.
The Big Oil companies and the energy speculators may not like the lower prices that would result from using part of our rainy day supply, but I'm pretty sure you won't mind.
This is Chris Van Hollen from Maryland. Thanks for listening.
where’s the change? I ain’t seen no stinking changes,yet. FISA reauthorized with immunity for lawbreakers. Bush has gotten everything he wanted for war in iraq from day one until now. Osama still at large, afghanistan going down the crapper. n. orleans in purgatory, unregulated financials taking down the economy while all the nogoodniks in charge go home with hundreds of millions, or even billions. No intelligent energy program since Carter (he’s looking pretty damn good now) - Dems have been as much in bed with the auto honchos as anyone.
Sorry, but Nader is right - y’all talk a good game, but y’all walk a lot like the Republicans.
Hard to improve on what Digger says.
The bottom line is, pain at the pump now may not be bad IF it yields the intelligent policy that neither party has really tried: average mileage at least 45-50 miles per gallon (should - and could - have happened a decade or more ago), a REAL investment in alternative energy sources instead of pork-barrel ethanol that uses more energy to make than it contains and which increases starvation by raising food prices, and a plan - like going to the moon or Mars - to build a real public transit system and reduce or phase out roadbuilding.
Tapping the strategic reserve is likely to do nothing. Digging up the whole damned state of Alaska for oil won’t yeild as much as improving average mileage by a lousy seven miles per gallon, even if they could do it right now!
The Saudis said - quite rightly - that the problem wasn’t one of supply, and pumping oil more wouldn’t do any good. The problem is that the “financial” industry is in charge, courtesy of Phil Gramm and a lot of Democrats with Enron money in their pockets. Repeal the Enron loophole and get them out of it first of all!
Finally, if we hadn’t treated the rest of the world with contempt for years (especially, but not exclusively, lately), maybe we wouldn’t have to “beg.” A little humility would do us a lot more good than drilling in ANWR or anywhere else.