Political Quotes

“I have been listening with interest to my two distinguished colleagues discuss this measure, referring to it repeatedly as ``governing American energy.'' But, of course, what it really governs is fossil fuel energy. That is the intention here, and that is the result. Let's start with a basic factual proposition, which is that the price of oil is set by oil companies. In a market economy, the producer of a product chooses the price. And what has happened in this instance is that the oil industry has chosen to depart from market economics, to depart from the costs that were the same just a few years ago, and instead to follow upward the international cartel that our oil industry is a part of. This international cartel has driven world oil prices extremely high. And American oil companies have chosen--have chosen--to follow that price, raise the prices at the pump, punish American drivers, in order to blow out their profits. We know that this is true because the companies themselves are reporting unprecedented profits--massive profits. We know they are not tracking the cost of production at a reasonable profit because their profits have soared as they have chosen--chosen--to pursue this international cartel price and punish American drivers. It is their choice. And then they have the colossal nerve to take their choice, what they have done to American drivers, and then start using that for leverage to try to get other fossil fuel industry prerogatives accomplished politically.…”