Washington, D.C.– U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor Thursday regarding rising gas prices and the effort by Senate Democrats to raise taxes on American energy manufacturers:
“Senate Democrats have put on a clinic this week in how not to run a serious legislative body. And if they’ve achieved anything at all this week, it’s to make Americans even more frustrated with Congress, as if that were possible. Faced with skyrocketing gas prices, Senate Democrats turned to a bill that even they admit doesn’t lower them. And then to make matters worse, they blocked Republicans from offering anything that might.
“That was their brilliant plan on how to deal with gas prices: raise taxes on energy companies; when gas is already hovering around $4 a gallon, then block consideration of anything else — just to make sure gas prices don’t go anywhere but up.
“Somehow they thought that doing this would set up some kind of a political win for them, which I never really understood. I mean, I can’t imagine anybody giving them any high-fives for not lowering the price of gas. But anyway, that was the plan.
“And it appears to have fallen short. Because now they want to move off this issue and onto another political vote, to yet another debate where the goal isn’t to make a difference but to make a point; to increase taxes, not lower the price at the pump.
“Well, I don’t expect this next vote will have the political punch they expect either. But that’s the Democrat plan anyway.
“And it’s getting tedious. Day after day, Senate Democrats ask us all to come out here not so we can make an actual difference in the lives of working Americans and families struggling to fill up the gas tank, but so we can watch them stage votes for show.
“For some reason they thought they’d put some political points on the board this week if the American people saw them voting for a tax hike that we all knew ahead of time didn’t have the votes to pass. That didn’t work; if you have any doubt about that, just ask yourself why they’re moving to get off of it.
“And now they think they’ll score political points by staging another vote on a tax hike we know doesn’t have the votes to pass.
“None of this makes much sense to me, but that’s how the Democrats have chosen to run the place. And if they want to keep trying to distract the American people from the fact that they don’t have any solutions to the problems we face, that’s their prerogative. But that’s not going to keep Republicans from talking about ours. That’s not going to keep us from trying to actually make a difference around here.
“Surveys show that two-thirds of Americans disapprove of the way the President’s handling high gasoline prices. And we know that high gas prices are having a negative impact on Americans’ daily lives. So we think the American people are entitled to this debate. They sent us here to do something other than put on a show, and that’s why we’ll continue to insist on a serious debate.
“The Majority Leader frequently complains that there just isn’t any time to focus on priorities like cyber security, postal reform, and the Export-Import Bank, not to mention maybe passing a budget for the first time in three years. Yet he seems to find the time to hold not one, but two political show votes on tax hikes.
“Well, the way I see it, the American people didn’t send us here to score political points. As I said, they sent us here to make a difference. So I’ll be voting against this tax hike on American energy manufacturers. I urge my colleagues to do the same.
“And I hope that when the Senate returns in April, Democrats will have heard from their constituents and will focus on jobs and the price at the pump — rather than the latest political vote.”