John Cornyn: “aren't prices of gasoline high enough? Why would we want to raise the price of gasoline for the American consumer by…”

“aren't prices of gasoline high enough? Why would we want to raise the price of gasoline for the American consumer by raising taxes and the costs of doing business on the people who produce oil and gasoline for the American consumer? That is exactly the argument I think we heard from the distinguished assistant majority leader: Taxes are not high enough on domestic producers of oil and gasoline. I think this vote we had was a very important vote because what we said is we think prices are too high and should not be any higher. We do not believe we ought to depend more and more on imported sources of oil and gas. We believe we ought to produce more domestically, here in the United States. The kind of arguments we hear from the other side of the aisle so often demonstrate a kind of schizophrenia when it comes to a national energy policy, further burdening those who produce oil and gasoline here domestically and then at the same time railing about the high prices. Congress can pass laws, Congress can repeal laws, but the one law Congress cannot repeal is the law of supply and demand. One of the ways we are going to find our way to a more reasonably priced gasoline at the pump is if we increase the supply. We know we are in a global competition for oil and gas. That is one of the reasons why the prices continue to go up, because supply is not keeping pace.”