Ron Wyden: “I also want to make sure our colleagues understand the timetable that is behind my resolution. On February 28, 2000…”

“I also want to make sure our colleagues understand the timetable that is behind my resolution. On February 28, 2000, then-Senators Ashcroft and Abraham introduced a resolution calling on President Clinton to pressure OPEC to boost oil production before an OPEC meeting. That resolution passed the Senate by unanimous consent. On June 22, 2000, then-candidate George Bush said: I would hope the administration would convince our friends at OPEC to open the spigots. On February 10, 2004, our current Secretary of Energy said: [It is] very clear we are not going to beg OPEC for oil. On April 1 of this year, at a White House press briefing by Scott McClellan, he said: Let me just continue to reiterate that we remain actively engaged in discussions with our friends at OPEC. . . . We continue to make our view known. The President certainly makes his views known when he meets with world leaders and when he talks with world leaders. High-level administration officials from Dr. Rice to Secretary Powell to Secretary Abraham are always in close contact with producers around the world to make our views known. And we continue to do so. But given that timeline, on April 1 of this year--just a few days ago--the Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia said he had not been contacted by the Bush administration over OPEC's decision to cut crude production by 1 million barrels a day. The Saudi Foreign Minister said: I didn't hear from the Bush administration.…”