Political Quotes

“I thank my friend, Mr. Ryan. You know, gas prices yesterday in Kalamazoo, Michigan hit $3.99 a gallon. You know, I can remember when our imports from other countries for oil and gas crossed the 50 percent threshold. And then it was 60 percent. In a few years, it's going to be 88 percent of the oil that we consume is going to come from overseas. Sadly, I report that this country is woefully unprepared for the future for a country that's going to need 50 percent more energy by the year 2030. Now, we've done some things on conservation. We've done some CAFE standards, but that's not overnight, it's going to take a number of years. We've done some things on building standards and appliance standards, lighting. Those things kick in a few years from now. But you know what? I think all of us here, based on last night's vote, believe in the theory of supply and demand. Worldwide, the demand is going up dramatically. China and India, 10, 15 percent annual growth rates. Our demand has actually declined because of the price by about a percent over the last year, but the supply has stayed the same. Yes, you can talk about more wells drilled, but the old existing wells aren't producing the oil that they used to. From the nineties to now, Alaskan oil has declined by 50 percent. And yet Bill Clinton, when he vetoed the ANWR bill 10 years ago, said, that's 10 years off, we don't need that now. Well, guess what? Ten years later, we need that oil. We need greater supply.”