Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, And Continuing Appropriations Act, 2009

Floor Speech

CONSOLIDATED SECURITY, DISASTER ASSISTANCE, AND CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2009 -- (Senate - September 27, 2008)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DeMINT. Madam President, as we try to end the session today, I think I am looking for some silver lining in all we are doing here, with the panic I believe we here in Congress have created in our markets and credit industry and passing this conglomeration of bills without adequate debate. There is one silver lining for me that I think we need to mention to the American people. A number of families are suffering for a lot of reasons, but one of the greatest is the high cost of gasoline in this country--and now even shortages. But because of the anger of the American people, because of the e-mails that have come in, this continuing resolution we will be voting on today includes a huge victory for the American people because the moratorium on oil and gas leasing on most of the Outer Continental Shelf and on oil shale leasing on Federal lands will expire.

Many thought this was a law that we couldn't change, but the fact is this was a year-to-year rider on spending bills that had to be included every year or it would expire. But because Americans got engaged in this whole idea of making October 1 Energy Freedom Day, our Democratic colleagues have backed down and have not included an extension of this moratorium in this year's bill.

So at midnight on October 1, 2008, because it is a start of a new fiscal year, the current prohibitions on oil and gas leasing on most of the Outer Continental Shelf and on oil shale leasing on Federal lands will expire. That is something to celebrate here in America.

Estimates from the Minerals Management Service and the Bureau of Land Management indicate there are upwards of 18 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil on the currently off-limit areas of the Outer Continental Shelf, as well as more than 55 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

Estimates of American oil shale vary widely but range from the hundreds of billions of barrels to trillions of barrels of oil. Many believe we have more oil in oil shale than Saudi Arabia has.

Taking advantage of America's resources will increase the worldwide supply of petroleum and bring down prices at the pump. The very access to these resources will send powerful price reduction signals to the futures market, providing immediate price relief, even if the actual leasing does not commence for months.

Everyone is familiar with the crisis on Wall Street. The coverage dominates every media outlet. But we also have a crisis on Main Street, where people are paying outrageously high prices for gasoline and having to wait in long lines to fill up their cars.

Here are only a few headlines we are starting to get from newspapers. The Associated Press headline: ``The Southeast Shortage Squeezes Small Retailers and One Gas Station Owner Says It's A Panic.''

CBS News reported in their headline in North Carolina: ``Gas Shortage Leaves People Panicked.''

Washington Post, ``Gas Shortage in the South Creates Panic and Long Lines.''

It goes on and on. This is very real. This is not something we are manufacturing and it is a direct result of bad policy here in Congress that has restricted the development of our own energy here in America.

Unfortunately, we are still having to wait for a number of Members of Congress to allow this to proceed. It was announced earlier this week that the Democrats had given up on their efforts to block energy exploration, and America celebrated. But then not more than 24 hours later we learned the majority leader here was making plans to rob Americans of this victory by extending the ban on oil shale. Fortunately, that effort was defeated yesterday. Now media reports indicate that Democrats also have a plan to delay any offshore drilling using environmental lawsuits until after the November elections, when the Democrats can reinstate the ban on deep sea energy exploration.

In fact, House Majority Leader Hoyer told cnnnews.com on Wednesday that restoring the ban on new offshore oil drilling leases will be a top priority for discussion next year. If the Democrats retain control of Congress, he said, I am sure it will be a top priority for discussion next year.

This is outrageous. The American people will not tolerate it. That is why I have written a bill that is called the Drill Now Act, which will guarantee access to offshore and oil shale reserves. It will expedite the leasing and production of these energy supplies and provide States with a 50-50 share of the revenues with the Federal Government and prevent frivolous lawsuits from delaying the will of the American people. This is very simple and it is what Americans want. I hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will set aside their desire to punish Americans for buying gas and side with the American people.

Yesterday I asked unanimous consent that we bring this bill up and pass it, but it was objected to by the majority leader. We will continue this effort, to try to pass this bill that will expedite energy production in our country.

I wish to mention a few things we will be voting on in an hour because this is, frankly, an embarrassment in a time we are running around here like Chicken Little saying `` the sky is falling.'' The credit markets are seizing up--this has been a self-fulfilling prophecy. We have created a crisis in our country. But while we are talking about a financial crisis and an economic crisis all around America and the world, it is business as usual here in the Senate. When the Democrats took control 2 years ago, they promised we would end this wasteful spending and cut earmarks dramatically, but the continuing resolution we are voting on today goes right back to where we were, and worse. This bill includes $16.1 billion in earmarks--that is billion. There are over 2,620 earmarks in this bill. For all the appropriations bills last year, there were less than that, and this only includes three. There is more porkbarrel spending today than we did all of last year, at a time when we are saying the country is running out of money.

At this rate, for these three bills, the 2009 fiscal year budgets will see more earmarks than we have ever seen in history. Most Americans are beginning to understand how this wastes their money and corrupts the process. Let me mention a few of the earmarks that are in this bill.

There is $44 million for the National Drug Intelligence Center in John Murtha's district, a project the Defense Department has said repeatedly it does not want or need. But every year it comes back because it is in a Congressman's district.

There is $1.75 million for a heritage center that Speaker Nancy Pelosi put in for a museum that is negligible--it has no value to the men and women in uniform.

There is $1.28 million for a Navy museum included by Congressman Dicks. The military doesn't need another museum, they need the tools to fight the war. If we had billions of extra money sitting around, maybe we could talk about these extravagances, but when we are going into more and more debt, hundreds of billions of dollars a year, it makes absolutely no sense to be including over 2,000 earmarks, wasteful spending, in a bill that includes serious military needs.

Americans are angry. They are hearing we have to bail out Wall Street. They are angry at wasteful spending and they have every right to be. When the Democrats took control, the Congressional Budget Office projected an $800 billion surplus between 2008 and 2017. But after 2 years of Democratic control, that same budget office now projects a $2.6 trillion deficit over the same period. That is $3.4 trillion in deterioration of our budget situation. As I said, even worse; wasteful spending and secret earmarks are back in full force.

Americans have seen, over the last couple of years, this Congress do things and attempt to do things that they know are bad for our country. They saw a massive amnesty bill for illegal immigrants come through, but we were able to stop it because of the anger of the American people. They have seen this Congress for years stop the development of our own resources, our own energy, and now prices are through the roof and shortages are occurring.

But the anger of the American people is beginning to get the attention of Congress. We have stopped this moratorium, and we are making progress. Now we are talking about this massive bailout of Wall Street that was caused by bad policy here in Congress that we still refuse to change.

While this bailout may be necessary for reasons we have caused here in Congress, we need to do it in a way that protects the taxpayer and includes some free market principles. We need to do some things that actually solve the problems that caused what we are dealing with today. We need to do some things that support some free market principles and guarantee that the Government is not going to be a permanent player in our financial markets.

Americans are angry. I hope they will stay angry because the more they call and e-mail, the more we can get things done here that are right for American people. We stopped their amnesty bill, we have stopped the moratorium on drilling, and we have gotten their attention on this bailout. Now they are listening to some of the better solutions that have been brought up. So I thank the American people for being engaged. Because of their action, we have a chance now to make some major changes here in Congress.

I yield the floor.

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