“It’s not in the best interest of this country for us to have energy policies that make it more expensive for Americans to fill up their cars.”

Click here to watch Sen. Barrasso’s remarks.

 

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) responded to skyrocketing gas prices and the impact on the economy on the floor of the U.S. Senate. 
Excerpts of his remarks:

“I come to the floor of the Senate to discuss an issue that is critically facing the American people. It is the price of gasoline at the pump in this country.

“It is something that is, in my opinion, going to impact the economic recovery that we are all hoping would continue in this country.

“With every penny that the cost of gasoline at the pump goes up, it’s been estimated that that takes about $1 billion away from the amount of money that can be spent on other things in this country to get back to growing the economy.

“We have an opportunity to be much more secure in our energy resources by developing our energy sources at home and it just seems that this Administration’s policies are making it that much harder.

“A front page story a few days ago in USA Today says ‘If unrest spreads, gas may hit $5 a gallon by summer.’

“We need to find more of our own energy, be reliant more upon ourselves and less upon foreign sources of energy, and that means doing three things: exploring offshore, exploring on federal land and exploring in Alaska.

“We know there are huge reserves of oil, of energy in those locations, and, yet, day by day those efforts are being blocked.

“The impact of this on our overall economy is huge—and it’s because of policies of this Administration.

“It’s not in the best interest of this country for us to have energy policies that make it more expensive for Americans to fill up their cars.

“It does not help the economy of this country when the policies of this Administration do things that make it more expensive and harder for small businesses to create jobs and hire people.

“When the Administration’s policies cut into our ability to use energy sources from within this country, red, white, and blue energy jobs, red, white, and blue energy as well as send money overseas, it doesn’t help us as a nation, it doesn’t help our economy and it doesn’t help strengthen our communities.

“Now, it’s interesting to see who is actually benefiting from all of this, these increased costs. Because we know that the American families aren’t benefiting.

“We know the American taxpayers aren’t benefiting. We know the families trying to get their kids off to school aren’t benefiting.

“Who’s benefiting from the huge increase in the cost of energy and the cost of oil?

“All you need to do is go to the front page of the business section of today’s New York Times: ‘Fears about middle east oil pay off for Russia.’

“Economic policies of this Administration limit our ability and curtail our ability to use American energy and American oil to keep down the cost of gasoline is benefiting Russia.

“Now, we do have a Secretary of Energy, you would think he would be concerned about the cost of energy and the impact on American families.

“Well, not so, when you look at some of the estimates that he’s made.

“In the past he said, ‘somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels of Europe.’   That’s the Secretary of Energy’s proposal.

“Well, how much is gasoline cost in Europe? Well, almost $8 a gallon.

“The American people who try to put bread on the table for the kids and clothing on their backs and get them off to school and then go to work themselves—they know every time the cost of a gallon of gasoline goes up by a penny or a nickel or 38 cents as it has most recently, that the economy will suffer as a result.

“It is the policies of this Administration that are the things that are keeping us from developing the energy security that we need.”