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Wyden Outlines Strategy to End “Terror
Tax”
Funds flow from high gas prices at the pump
to governments funding extremist attackers
July 11, 2005
Washington, DC – Today
on the Senate floor, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), a conferee
on the 2005 energy bill currently under consideration, spoke regarding
the "terror tax" Americans pay for our nation's dependence
on foreign oil. In the wake of the London transit bombings, Wyden
discussed how funds find their way from American consumers' gasoline
purchases to extremists who wish to attack the U.S. and other
democracies, and outlined ways to reduce the “terror tax”
in an effort to improve national security.
Following please find the prepared
text of Senator Wyden’s remarks.
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U.S. Senator Ron Wyden
Floor Remarks as Prepared
July 11, 2005
Mr. President, the tragic bombings
in London are a sober reminder of just how vulnerable America
and our allies remain to terrorism. It’s time to get serious
about addressing a major source of our national insecurity: our
dangerous dependence on foreign oil.
I believe what happened in London
last week is likely to be tragically replicated if our country
doesn’t act boldly to reduce what I believe ought to be
called a “terror tax” that is now imposed on the American
people. I call it a “terror tax” because when each
of us pulls up to the corner station and pays $2.40 a gallon or
so for gas, the reality is that a portion of that money is then
turned over to foreign governments that “backdoor”
it over to Islamist extremists, who use that money to perpetuate
terrorism and hate.
What I call the terror tax is
not posted as a price at our gas pump; it’s not calculated
in our balance of payments to foreign governments. It is a tax
measured not in dollars and cents, but in risk and the insecurity
of our people. It is as real as everything else the American people
put their money toward each week.
Of the 20 million barrels of
oil Americans consume each day, almost 12 million barrels of it
is imported. That percentage, now nearly 60 percent, is growing.
It was only about 33 percent years ago at the time of the Arab
oil embargo. Our addiction has nearly doubled since then.
In the next few weeks the House
and Senate will sit down as part of an effort to write a bipartisan
energy bill. I voted against the energy bill because it did not
do enough to reduce our dependence on foreign oil – but
I hope especially at this critical time that on a bipartisan basis
during this conference it will be possible to make the legislation
better.
I believe it’s important
to do as much as possible to reduce the terror tax that comes
with our dependence on foreign oil. It’s not good enough
to accept business as usual when our citizens pay record prices
at the gas pump only to see foreign governments wink and nod while
terrorist groups make off with substantial amounts of the money
and use the funds to target America. In my view, there is an indisputable
link not only between the American dependence on foreign oil and
the price our citizens pay at the pump, but between our oil addiction
and our vulnerability to attack.
For this reason, in the energy
bill conference I’m going to propose five concrete actions
to reduce the terror tax:
1. I want the State Department
to publish each year for the next ten years a report on the flow
of money paid by Americans at the gas pump to foreign governments
that ends up in the hands of Islamist extremists that are targeting
Americans with acts of terror.
2. Since most foreign oil goes
to the transportation sector, I want the American automobile industry
to be required to increase auto efficiency by one mile per gallon
each year for the next ten years. Listen to me carefully: one
mile per gallon. Otherwise, I want to hear the auto industry explain
why they cannot meet this national security objective.
3. For each of the next ten
years the Energy Department should publish a list of the most
energy efficient cars in each of the major types of vehicles so
the auto industry will have to compete on the basis of the most
fuel efficient cars.
4. To increase the responsible
production of oil in America, not overseas, companies that increase
oil production at existing wells shall receive a two percent annual
increase in their tax writeoffs for this production for each of
the next 10 years that the company increases production from existing
wells in the United States.
5. Finally, this bill must promote
new alternatives to oil. I have proposed a no-risk way to kickstart
efforts to get hydrogen fuel cell vehicles on the road within
a decade. By creating tax incentives for selling hydrogen vehicles
and fuel, my legislation would only pay for performance. Only
actions that put hydrogen vehicles on the road or provide stations
to fuel up would qualify for these incentives. In the nearer term,
other alternatives are becoming readily available.
Getting a fair energy bill that
reduces our dependence on foreign oil is about the most red, white
and blue thing Congress could do right now – and I believe
it’s an issue of national security. Experts from a range
of political stripes agree that the single most important step
that Congress can take to make America more secure is to reduce
our dangerous dependence on foreign oil. As a Senate conferee
on the energy bill, I look forward to working with my colleagues
to secure these common-sense steps to end the terror tax brought
about by our addiction to foreign oil.
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