Deficit Reduction

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Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Madam President, I wish to thank the Senator from Washington State for her leadership on this issue and for her eloquent remarks just now, as well as other Senators who have championed this cause, as I have, over years when we have fought rising gasoline prices in the State of Connecticut relentlessly and tirelessly, and now I rise here in support of this legislation, the Close Big Oil Tax Loopholes Act, which would fundamentally restore fairness to our markets and tax system.

Over the last decades, the big five oil companies have taken home about $1 trillion in profits while enjoying tens of billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies, giveaways, sweetheart deals, and preferences which undermine the credibility of our tax system and our economy in the eyes of ordinary Americans. Ordinary Americans, in fact, are still struggling to make ends meet, to stay in their homes, to keep their families together, and to find jobs.

In Connecticut, the price of gasoline now has risen to more than $4.25 a gallon from about $3 just a year ago. There are a number of ways to combat the spiraling cost of gasoline, including going after some of the illegal manipulation and speculation that may be occurring. I have proposed some measures--for example, a Department of Justice investigation that for the first time would effectively and comprehensively pursue the traders and hedge funds that are at an alltime high in their energy positions.

But the ending of giveaways and subsidies is about the fairness of our economic system and our Tax Code. Our families and businesses in Connecticut are paying these higher costs for gasoline but at the same time are providing subsidies that are in no way needed for exploration or refining or any part of the business of these big five oil companies. They have made over $30 billion in profits in the first quarter of this year alone, representing a 50-percent increase in profit from last year. Big Oil doesn't need help from American taxpayers to make unprecedented profits. For better or worse, they know how to do it without corporate welfare, and we ought to end the corporate welfare that makes our job of cutting the deficit and reining in the debt and reducing the size of government all the more difficult.

This call ought to be an easy one. We have difficult choices ahead in cutting spending and perhaps increasing revenue, but this one should be easy for us. I hope it will attract bipartisan support because there is truly nothing partisan about this kind of corporate welfare.

Despite claims to the contrary, ending these subsidies will not increase prices at the pump. It will impose basic fairness because Americans will no longer pay out of pocket for these tax breaks and giveaways to some of the most profitable companies in the world. It will not add to prices at the pump.

In my home State of Connecticut and across the country, people are rightly concerned about reducing our debt and deficit, and we will make those difficult choices just as Americans are making difficult choices in tightening their belts and their budgets as they struggle to find jobs and make ends meet. But as resources remain scarce for some of our most vital programs, we can ill-afford this kind of corporate welfare.

I urge my colleagues to seize this moment, to cut these subsidies, and to protect the hard-earned dollars of American taxpayers. Taxpayers in Connecticut and throughout the country basically want fairness--shared sacrifice, truly shared sacrifice--and I urge my colleagues to demonstrate to the American people that we are serious about tackling unfair giveaways and to take this step toward restoring fairness.

Madam President, I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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