WASHINGTON, DC – Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke today on the floor of the United States Senate in support of legislation to crack down on speculators who are contributing to the dramatic increases in energy prices. Senator Clinton urged her colleagues to support The Stop Excessive Energy Speculation Act to provide short term relief to Americans feeling the pain of rising fuel prices and also called for bold new steps to break the nation’s dependence on fossil fuels and achieve long term energy independence based on clean, renewable alternative energy.

“I believe we can lower gas prices in the very near term by taking smart, practical, sensible steps to address rampant oil speculation,” Senator Clinton said. “And let's lead our nation to embrace the great next American endeavor, a national effort to change the way we produce and use energy. It’ll serve our economy. It will strengthen our security. It will bring us together as a nation.”

Senator Clinton criticized the idea that additional off-shore drilling would provide any substantive solutions for America’s short or long term energy challenges.

“Drilling is the wrong answer. It will do nothing right now. It is literally a Shell game, or an Exxon Mobile game. It's designed to serve the political interests of vulnerable Republicans and the financial interests of profit-rich oil companies. Average Americans will not see a dime,” Senator Clinton said. “The oil companies say, ‘Drill,’ and the President and the Vice President say, ‘How deep?’ I don't think that's the smartest, most effective answer.”

Senator Clinton outlined her proposal to create a Strategic Energy Fund to jumpstart research and investment in clean energy technologies to promote job growth, energy independence and a cleaner environment. She also underscored her support for providing energy relief to low-income families in New York and across the country. Senator Clinton has long been an advocate of fully funding the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).

Senator Clinton has previously cosponsored the Petroleum Consumer Price Gouging Protection Act and the Close the Enron Loophole Act, which would protect consumers from unscrupulous energy profiteers and increase transparency in the retail and wholesale markets. For more information on Senator Clinton’s work to reduce gas prices, see: http://clinton.senate.gov/issues/environment/gas.cfm.

The text of Senator Clinton’s remarks follows.

Senator Clinton: Mr. President, there’s obviously a lot of discussion and even frustration on the floor. Certainly from our side of the aisle it appears as though there is not going to be a meeting of the minds on this important legislation.

And it is deeply disturbing, because as we have been speaking here today, in my state of New York, a lot of people finished work, started driving home, looked at their gas gauge, realized they were going to have to stop and, you know, fill up either for tonight or for going to work tomorrow, and they experienced what people are experiencing across America: the shock of the rising gas prices, which in New York are now an average of $4.27 a gallon. That's more than a dollar higher than a year ago, and every extra dollar per gallon costs the average family of four an extra $1,500 a year. That's $1,500 that can't be saved for college or retirement. That's $1,500 that can't be used to buy groceries, clothes, or school supplies. That's $1,500 that can't help pay for health care or house payments. That's $1,500 that the people that I represent don't have. It's not just lying around waiting to be used or spent on some luxury; it really goes to the heart of whether people are going to be able to meet their daily obligations.

Statewide in our state, every dollar that gas prices increase costs the New York economy $6 billion in added expenses for our drivers.

Now, that is $6 billion that can't be used to grow local economies, to support local businesses or stimulate new jobs. Our farmers are hurting as higher energy costs shrink profit margins, even with higher market prices. Our commuters and our truckers are hurting. Tourism is hurting. I'm hearing from New Yorkers every day who depend on tourism—at local marinas, for example—where the money has just dried up.

Meanwhile, we are sending $1.7 billion a day out of our country, more than $600 billion a year. And we know where that money is going. It's going to places that are unstable, to governments that use our dollars against us, our allies and our interests around the world.

So, clearly, we need a short-term strategy and a long-term strategy. Now, that should be self-evident. In the short-term, we've got to lower these prices and get relief to the farmers and the truckers, the small businesses, the hard-working families. And in the long-term, what is required is nothing short of an energy revolution, but there's no way for us to do that energy revolution unless we have the political will to begin acting now. And I believe that this debate is too important to be sidetracked by slogans or proposals like opening up our coastal waters to drilling.

So if the question is, as it should be, “What can we do to help lower gas prices right now,” drilling is the wrong answer. It will do nothing right now.

It is literally a Shell game, or an Exxon Mobile game. It's designed to serve the political interests of vulnerable Republicans and the financial interests of profit-rich oil companies. Average Americans will not see a dime.

Now, that is not just my opinion. The Bush Administration's own study found that drilling would not have an impact for more than 20 years. And in 20 years, the impact on prices will be insignificant.

If the question is, as it should be, “what can we do as a nation to end our dependence on foreign oil and begin to harness clean, renewable energy,” drilling is the wrong answer again.

Even if we drill for oil off our east and west coasts, the most oil we could generate when the rigs come on-line in the year 2030 is 200,000 barrels a day. Now, we import 12.4 million barrels a day; 200,000 barrels is barely a drop in that barrel. I heard one of my colleagues, the senator from Washington, Senator Cantwell speaking on the floor earlier today say that that 200,000 barrels a day could be achieved right now by increasing the pressure in the tires of the cars and the trucks we drive.

So, what are the answers?

First, how do we help to reduce the gas prices right now? That's what my folks are asking me. They want relief now. Not next year or in 30 years, but now.

Well, I believe we can lower gas prices in the very near term by taking smart, practical, sensible steps to address rampant oil speculation.

Now, we have all heard recent testimony from financial experts, oil industry executives, the airline in industry, consumer advocates, virtually everyone has said that speculation in oil futures is driving up prices beyond what supply and demand justifies. Some experts believe that speculation accounts for as much as 50 percent of the current price of oil. Others argue that it's less but many experts still agree that it's having a significant impact.

Now, I recognize there are companies that use oil and need to use future markets to hedge against price spikes. And all of us in this chamber believe in free and open markets. But when speculation is allowed to run roughshod over the economy with little oversight and even less transparency, when backroom deals line the pockets of speculators while sending gas prices soaring, literally taking money out of the pockets of consumers, then we've got to do something. We've got to ensure that our markets are honest, open, fair, transparent and accountable.

That's why I support granting the Commodity Futures Trading Commission greater authority to regulate trading in these markets. And I urge my Republican colleagues to join in this effort. We could pass a bill tomorrow and have it on the President's desk before the recess that would immediately give agency watchdogs new tools to crack down on unfair, unbridled, unregulated speculation.

And while we are relieving pressures on the markets as a whole, we need to target relief directly to people who are struggling.

I am proud to support $2.5 billion in energy relief to low-income families in New York and across America. It is shameful that after all the hand wringing about gas prices and energy prices, Republicans in the Senate blocked this bill last week. We need to move ahead with this legislation and I hope we will do so before the August recess.

Second—and this question is tougher—how do we break the bonds of the fossil fuel economy?

Now, I believe America will, and it must, embrace this historic challenge, because it is an historic opportunity. We can create at least 5 million new jobs, green jobs. We can tackle climate change and we can end our dependence on foreign oil.

Last year, we passed landmark legislation to increase fuel economy standards for the first time in 30 years. That will save millions of barrels of oil a day. It's an important step forward but what we need is a giant leap.

I have proposed a $50 billion strategic energy fund paid for by eliminating tax breaks for the oil companies and making sure they pay their fair share for drilling on public lands. The fund could be used to support the deployment of wind, solar, geothermal, biofuels and other clean energy technologies available right now. And the fund would invest in new ideas and new research to encourage our best and brightest, to think outside the box and outside the tank.

But that's just the beginning.

Let's create the right tax incentives to promote renewable sources of electricity production. That's something Al Gore and T. Boone Pickens agree on. If that's not consensus, I don't know what is.

Now, unfortunately, Republican opposition in the Senate prevented the passage of energy tax reform and the American economy is paying the price. One study found that blocking these kinds of tax incentives will cost 116,000 U.S. jobs and nearly $19 billion in U.S. investment in one year alone while we fall further and further behind in the race to lead the world in clean energy technologies.

So let's accelerate the development and deployment of plug-in hybrid vehicles by investing in research and consumer tax credits.

Now, electricity is generated nearly 100 percent from domestic sources, and we have enormous untapped renewable resources we can use to create electricity without contributing to climate change. And a recent study showed that a vehicle powered by electricity releases one-third less global warming pollution into the environment than a gas-powered vehicle even if the electricity comes from mostly coal-fired power plants.

Now, this will save the American people money. According to one estimate, to travel as far as you would on $4-a-gallon gas, you only need $1 of electricity and that's a bargain.

And we don't need to create a whole new infrastructure like we would for natural gas or hydrogen. A recent study by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory found that 70 percent of the 220 million cars, light trucks, S.U.V.s and vans on the road today, could be run on power drawn from existing power plants and grids.

And this is an important point. Drilling may produce 200,000 barrels of oil each day at most in 2030, but if we used electricity to power our passenger cars by moving toward plug-in vehicles, we would save 6.5 million barrels of oil every single day, fully half of our oil imports.

So let's move toward a stronger, smarter, more flexible electricity grid that increasingly relies on wind, solar and other renewables while employing Smart Grid technology to reduce peak demand and conserve energy.

These are solutions that will work. They're solutions that embrace the challenge instead of ignoring it or postponing it, solutions that harness our creativity and talent, that have the potential of creating five million new good green-collar jobs.

It is the calling of our time. It is, as one of my colleagues and friends on the other side said, the moon shot. There isn't anything we can't do if we make our minds up to do it. That's who we are. We're Americans. We solve problems. So enough of the fatalism and the defeatism and more of that can-do spirit to tackle this problem.

Now, we know that President Bush and Vice President Cheney have a different approach. The oil companies say, “Drill,” and the President and the Vice President say, "How deep?" I don't think that's the smartest, most effective answer.

And I hope that we will be able to work out a way forward between our two sides. I know that my colleagues on the other side have a very strong view, as we do, but the American people are depending on us to choose a different course.

So let's cut through all of the talk; let's cut to the chase; let's try to cut out the politics and let's take those bold steps that will relieve pressure now gas prices at the pump and oil prices in the open market.

And let's lead our nation to embrace the great next American endeavor, a national effort to change the way we produce and use energy. It’ll serve our economy. It will strengthen our security. It will bring us together as a nation. And, Mr. President, we sorely need that.

So I look forward to working with my friends on the other side to come up with solutions that will actually work now. So give us the opportunity to make it clear to the American people we can act, we can see results, we can move forward together.

Thank you, Mr. President.

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