Political Quotes

“Mr. President, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the average price of gasoline is $3.96 a gallon nationwide. I have my own specially appointed monitor of gasoline prices in the State of Illinois: my wife. I called her yesterday morning and she said to me: Senator, it is up to $4.20 a gallon in Springfield. What are you going to do? So she put me on the spot. Since she is my No. 1 constituent, I said: I will at least make a speech, and that is what I am going to do on the floor of the Senate. In my home State of Illinois, the price is well over $4 a gallon--not just in Springfield but statewide. Every time they go to the pump, families and small businesses feel the pinch. At the same time, the five largest oil companies in the country made $33.9 billion in profit between January and March of this year. ExxonMobil earned almost $11 billion in the first 3 months of this year--69 percent greater profits this year compared to last year. The high oil and gas prices are forcing many American families to make tough choices about what to forgo so they can fill the tank. It gets worse. While operating at substantial profits, oil companies will get an estimated $4 billion this year in Federal subsidies. Think about that. These companies making $11 billion in the first 3 months of the year are asking for Federal subsidies. We don't have the money to subsidize them. In fact, we have to borrow. How do you pay for higher gas prices in America?…”