Political Quotes

“I would like to comment, through the Chair, and say to the Senator from Florida that because of the hurricanes we have lost 22 percent of our refining capacity in America. So if you wonder why the price of gasoline is high, higher than it has been historically, that is one of the reasons. I might add, parenthetically, when it comes to the price of gasoline and oil companies, almost any excuse will do to raise the price of gasoline. But in this case, we know that the reduction of 22 percent of our refining capacity means there is less gasoline on hand and, therefore, prices are being pushed upwards. Today at a press conference, I announced a bill that I am going to introduce which will create a national gasoline reserve and jet fuel reserve. Presently, we have 700 million barrels of crude oil which are being held as our National Petroleum Reserve. The President started releasing that. But releasing crude oil does not meet the need for refining capacity. So the crude oil coming into this narrow funnel of reduced refining capacity does not solve the need. What I believe we should do is give to any President a tool to respond to shortages in gasoline in various regions that cause price spikes; the same thing with jet fuel. Three new airlines are in bankruptcy mainly because of the increase in the price of jet fuel.…”