Chuck Schumer: “I think more to the point --or maybe not more to the point but also to the point, many people, certainly the majority I…”

“I think more to the point --or maybe not more to the point but also to the point, many people, certainly the majority I have talked to, believe that even if we were to announce we were going to sell some of the SPR on the open market, the odds are quite high that from that point, the OPEC nations, countries such as Mexico and Norway--that would crack their unity. My main goal, at least, in offering this solution is not simply to temporarily reduce the price of oil but rather to sort of break OPEC. In the past, what our Government would do would be go to the governments of Mexico and Norway and say, hey, help us out. In the past, they would. When they pumped a little more oil, the unity of the 11 OPEC nations would crack. Well, Mexico and Norway are not fulfilling that role for a variety of reasons, some of which I am aware and some of which I am not. So we would be fulfilling the same role.”