Senator Cochran, Ranking Republican of the Senate Appropriations Committee, took the Senate floor on Thursday, July 31, to highlight the failure of the Democrat-led Senate to fulfill its annual appropriations responsibilities or act on meaningful energy reform.

Last week the Senate halted action on the Fiscal Year 2009 Appropriations process because of hesitation from Democrats to vote on appropriations provisions regarding domestic oil production. 

For weeks, Republican Senators have been advocating for consideration of legislation, both in the Appropriations Committee and on the Senate Floor, that would allow for further domestic oil exploration as well as energy conservation.  However, the Senate adjourned last week without a vote on drilling.  The Democratic leadership in the Senate refused to allow the vote to take place on the pressing issue.  This vote was prevented for several reasons:

• The Democratic leadership opposes increasing domestic oil production, and they do not want to be against the 70 percent of Americans who are in favor of it. 80 percent of Mississippians are in favor of domestic drilling as well.  Who would want to be against those numbers?
• The Democratic leadership recognizes that several Democratic senators would vote alongside every GOP senator in support of the bill.  This would result in allowing the bill to pass.
• Also, they know that Senator Obama would vote against that bill, therefore, they don’t want to risk allowing Obama to cast the unpopular vote.

The full text of Cochran’s remarks on the U.S. Senate floor is provided below. 

“Mr. President, two weeks ago today, the Committee on Appropriations marked up three Fiscal Year 2009 appropriations bills.  Those bills would provide funding for programs ranging from agricultural research to veterans health care, and from foreign aid to the infrastructure that supports our men and women in the Armed Forces.  While some members of the Committee had concerns about the overall spending levels in those bills or individual provisions within them, the Committee reported the measures by broad, bipartisan votes.  Those votes reflect the Committee’s collective belief that it has a fundamental responsibility each year to draft, debate, and report to the Senate its spending recommendations for the day-to-day operations of our government.

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GAS PRICE REDUCTION ACT OF 2008

Thursday, the Gas Price Reduction Act of 2008 was introduced on the U.S. Senate floor by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and 42 Senate Republicans.  Senator Cochran is a cosponsor of this bill and is confident that the measures included will reduce the cost of gas for Americans and lessen the United States’ dependence on foreign oil.   

The proposed language includes several measures:  opening new areas for deep sea exploration and oil shale development in the Rocky Mountain West, expanding research for alternatively-powered vehicles, and enhancing the capabilities of the commodities futures market.

“FIND MORE, USE LESS”

Republican Senator Lamar Alexander says, “Our bill can be summed up in four words: Find more, use less.”

Republican.senate.gov says “To find more, the bill allows coastal states the option to explore for oil and natural gas offshore and lifts a federal moratorium on oil shale in western states.  To use less, the bill provides incentives for plug-in electric cars and trucks so that we no longer need to use as much gasoline to power our vehicles.”

Summary of provisions of Gas Price Reduction Act 2008:

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Senator Cochran spoke on the U.S. Senate floor in opposition to climate change legislation in early June.  He shared his concerns about the Climate Security Act of 2008.  Read some of his remarks below.

“Mr. President, My staff members and I hear from Mississippians every day about the crippling effects of high energy prices. We all understand the need for increasing clean energy supplies and I hope that we will continue to work to do that, and to develop other innovative solutions to this great problem. But the bill we are now considering will not accomplish that goal.
 
Instead, this legislation will have a detrimental effect on our economy. It will contribute to higher overall costs of living, and it will be especially harmful to lower income families.
 
According to projections by the Energy Information Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency, energy costs are projected to rise because of this legislation. Energy prices are already at an all time high. We cannot afford to increase these costs even further. By 2030, increased costs for delivered coal could range between 405 percent and 804 percent. Natural gas prices could rise between 34 percent and 107 percent. And, gasoline prices could go up to between 17 percent and 41 percent. Although the substitute amendment we are considering imposes yearly cost ceilings, these high prices will still be realized unless improbable advancements in alternative energy production such as 70 new nuclear reactors and 68 billion gallons of ethanol are produced.
 
Various projections of this bill show that not only will prices increase, Americans could lose jobs as industries struggle to keep costs down. I’m proud of the new era of manufacturing that Mississippi is entering. I don’t want Mississippians to lose jobs we have fought so hard to obtain. The Environmental Protection Agency and the Energy Information Administration suggest that this bill could reduce the United States’ gross domestic product by as much as 7 percent by 2050, and could reduce the United States’ manufacturing output by almost 10 percent in 2030. A reduction in output means that industry will need fewer workers in order to keep their costs down. A need for fewer workers will result in job losses, and unemployment rates in my State are already too high…”

Click here to continue reading Cochran’s remarks on the Climate Security Act of 2008.