Al Franken: “I rise in strong support of Senator Menendez's bill to eliminate subsidies to big oil companies. At a time when we have…”

“I rise in strong support of Senator Menendez's bill to eliminate subsidies to big oil companies. At a time when we have to make tough choices to address our budget deficit, when we are cutting cancer research, at a time when Minnesotans are paying $4 a gallon at the pump, and at a time when oil companies are raking in record profits, we have to stand and say: Enough is enough. It is time to end the subsidies. That is why I am a proud cosponsor of the bill. We have had to make a lot of tough choices, and there are plenty still to come. To avert a government shutdown, Congress enacted billions of dollars in cuts. Some were pretty hard for me to swallow, frankly--cuts such as $182 million from job training, $650 million from community development funds that help communities provide basic services such as roads and sewers and affordable housing, even Pell grants. These are cuts that will be felt by working families and people who are still struggling to find jobs and make ends meet. I voted for the spending bill that contained those cuts, not because they would be the cuts that I choose to make but because it was important to keep the government open. Addressing our budget deficits will take compromise. It will take shared sacrifice from everyone. That includes big oil companies that are making record profits because the price of oil is now at $100 a barrel.…”