Political Quotes

“What we have here is an amendment that would reverse the decision on CAFE. Make no mistake about it. While I am sympathetic with the appeal, particularly from my friend from Pennsylvania, relative to how history is repeating itself as far as our increased dependence on imported oil, I can't help but look back at what we did in 1973. In 1973, we had the Yom Kippur War. We had a situation where our supply from the Mideast was interrupted. We had gas lines around the block. We were blaming each other. We set up the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to ensure that we would never, ever have a situation where we would became so vulnerable. We thought at the time that, good heavens, if we ever increased 50 percent imports, that would be beyond the consideration of this country from the standpoint of national defense. The problem with the Carper amendment specifically is it has no teeth in it. We are looking at a situation in the Mideast today where clearly oil is a weapon. We have seen statements suggesting they are going to stand behind bin Laden's theory. They are going to stand behind brother Saddam Hussein. We had an opportunity a few days ago to debate this issue about reducing our dependence on foreign oil. It was called ANWR. It was substantial. It was defeated. Now we are talking about a smoke-and-mirrors issue where we have no enforcement mechanism.”