Jim Inhofe: “we are going to have a vote this afternoon. It is going to be a procedural vote. Some will be voting different ways.…”

“we are going to have a vote this afternoon. It is going to be a procedural vote. Some will be voting different ways. There is a substance behind the issue at large. Last week, President Obama visited Cushing, OK. It may have been the first time he has ever been to Oklahoma. I do not know. He claimed that under his watch, he said, ``America is producing more oil today than at any time in the last 8 years.'' It seems that in the midst of $4- to $5-a-gallon gasoline, he is trying to convince the American people he is not one to blame. Clearly, he is the one to blame. That is why I think it is important to set the record straight. After all, it was Obama's Energy Secretary Steven Chu--we cannot forget this--who said: ``Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.'' That was his Energy Secretary who was speaking on behalf of President Obama. So the motive is to raise the price of gas. Right now, we are almost over halfway there. We all remember the President's statement during the 2008 campaign when he said: ``Under my plan, electric rates will necessarily skyrocket.'' His policy agenda has been in lockstep with this goal. President Obama has had a 4-year war on fossil fuels, and now we are paying for that at the pump. As to the oil and gas taxes, nowhere has the President been more resolute in stopping oil and gas development than in his tax proposals, every budget since he was sworn in.…”