Jim Inhofe: “I thank the Chair. Madam President, I voted against the motion to proceed to the Menendez bill on Monday because, quite…”

“I thank the Chair. Madam President, I voted against the motion to proceed to the Menendez bill on Monday because, quite frankly, it is just a bill to continue raising gas prices. I talked for quite some time yesterday on the Senate floor about this; that by raising taxes on the oil and gas industry it sounds good to a lot of people because people do not like the oil and gas industry. They have been vilified, so everybody thinks we ought to get the oil and gas industry. What they do not understand is--I think they understand it, but they will not admit it--that is the way to increase prices at the pump. Somebody has to pay for all that stuff. So even Senator Menendez and several Democrats have said this bill is not going to lower gas prices. It would raise gas prices. I do not think anyone who looks at it logically could come to any other conclusion. As I discussed Monday on the Senate floor, the Democrats' plan goes against everything we know about basic economics--higher taxes limits supply. Whenever we limit supply, the price goes up. I do not think there is a person out there right now who does not remember, back in their elementary school days, the basic concept of supply and demand. We have this huge supply out there. But if we cut the supply, then the demand is going to be greater, and the prices are going to go up. The bottom line is, President Obama and his allies do not have an answer to high gas prices.…”